Can “Pets” be Trans? On Gender Identity and Human Exceptionalism
By: X Bloggs
Tags: Veganism, Animal Rights, Speciesism, Nonbinary, Transgender

“Two grey wolf in love” — AB Photographie

Tw: gender dysphoria; mention of sexual violence, transphobia, substance abuse, depression, self harm

During a late-night-early-morning, I encountered a conversation in a trans forum that shook me.

“I’ve seen some cis people claim their (sic)¹ dogs are trans. This isn’t okay, is it???”

Of course it’s not.

It’s blatantly transphobic, for a start. Human gender identity is (at least in part) a social construct — a complex dance of clothing, hairstyles, makeup, voice inflection, pronouns and more, that trans people become so conscious of when transitioning. These are not nuances the owner (sic) sees in dogs. By extension, they don’t see this in us. We’re erased.

On top of this, we receive an onslaught of cultural violence. Trans people face extremely high rates of domestic abuse, and black trans women experience severe physical violence. One of the most insidious brutalities we face is exceptional to humans — the gender construct itself; the violence of language and the violence of thought.

As a child, I was one of the lucky ones; I was allowed to venture outside my assigned box. However, I was still expected to grow out of it; still detected embarrassment from caregivers; still faced sexual and physical violence from peers.

I still ultimately made the decision to suppress.

As the incredible trans advocate, Evey Winters, noted, this leads to substance abuse, depression, and self harm. We don’t just experience our genders viscerally — we suffer, bleed, and die for them.

When a speciesist compares only our experiences to nonhumans, they use the concept of animality to dehumanize us. To be inhuman is to be “less than” — less “real” than our cis counterparts.

The owner’s (sic) comments are also blatantly speciesist; they fetishize transness to objectify the dog.

Unfortunately, even in the most open and inclusive spaces, speciesist rhetoric is still rife.

“Dog’s DON’T have a gender identity”

“WHAT is this?! Animals don’t have genders!”

“AHAHAHAHAHA”

What’s funny, may I ask?

Yes, “Trans” is an exclusively human construct. Thus, a dog cannot be trans in the sociocultural sense. It’s like saying Kevin the dog is a man, or that he’s fiscally rich —it makes no sense.

However, it's equally meaningless to say our early human ancestors were trans, or that “cavemen” (sic) were, well… men. Calling a human “working class” before class had been constructed is also nonsensical. Though note, they may still be materially deprived.

The issue is these individuals are outside our social context. The ridiculousness of this comparison doesn’t stem from biological determinism².

To deny dogs gender altogether is to make sweeping statements about what gender is. If gender is exclusively human, then it stems from an exclusively human trait — language? Reason? Our sense of self? (Note: none of these are exclusively human)

Many trans people feel their genders aren’t rational or linguistic things. In fact, gender is experienced as a deep rooted, emotional entity, for many.

Personally speaking, I was gender nonconforming before the age of three. I had a blue Donald Duck suit that comforted me so much I’d try to sleep in it. I felt innately similar to my father — an experience I now call “gender empathy”. The discovery I’m nonbinary came not from a higher order understanding, but from letting go of the need for one.

I can question my gender over and over, but what it boils down to is “I don’t feel like a woman or a man.” This is why “logically” explaining it to transphobes is so degrading.

What I’m saying here, is that gender for me is a social identification — to be a gender is to feel aligned with a particular group.

Like us, gray wolves form medium-large social groups. They enter long term, monogamous relationships, and grieve for their late partners. They have social roles determined by their sex. They’re also self aware —i.e, they experience an identity of sorts.

Considering all of this, is it so unreasonable to suggest gender might be a part of their experience? If they can distinguish sex, and they can distinguish themselves, and sex helps to build their social structures, why wouldn’t they understand their own sex in relation to others’?

Following on from this, why should it be the case that male dogs experience exclusively masculine empathies, and female dogs exclusively feminine ones? The “assumption of least assumptions” here is that there’s natural variation across the species — just like for humans. Presumably, the processes which create social gender (empathy, self awareness, sex recognition, desire) don’t all come from one source?

So often, we deny nonhumans their full emotional experiences. We breed dogs in tiny cages, and separate puppies from their parents. Human supremacy around gender must stem from and reinforce this.

Human gender, for me, is a cluster of deep-rooted feelings that have been filtered through our complex society. Why wouldn’t dogs have similar feelings which are filtered through theirs?

Generally speaking, I reject binaries. I don’t believe gender is merely “a complex social construct” or “doesn’t exist”. Surely there’s more continuity³.

This isn’t to say dogs definitely have gender; I just see no reason to rule it out.

The speciesist owner (sic) wasn’t alluding to these nuances; they were fetishizing transness to objectify the dog. Cis people should not take this as an invitation to compare us to dogs.

What I hope people take from this, is that dogs and other nonhumans aren’t nothing (sic)— they’re someone. They have their own social structures, their own relationships, and their own entrenched feelings. We can fight transphobia without denying this.