Feminism, Speciesism and my little Doom's "spay"

Bear with me I have to ruminate on my dog's spay. They call it a spay but if she were human we'd call it a 'total abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral oophrectomy'. She had a general anaesthetic and I gather some pain relieve post procedure, but since then (Monday), nothing. I asked the staff about pain medication and they said they prefer them to feel some pain so they don't overextend themselves. I guess that makes sense. It didn't make me feel any better though when she screamed while trying to get up on a bench, or climb stairs, position herself on the sofa or really do anything, that first day. I do know that my 4 yo dog didn't have the same pain response, or didn't express it that way.
I guess dogs are like people, with a certain level of sedation they get either dopey and, well, sedate; or they get a little agitated. Poor Doom was the latter.

But getting this done reminded me of how sometimes when you ask people what gender their dog is they'll say something like "well he used to be a boy/girl"--the implication being that the spay/neuter procedure erased the gender. And I think that's fucked up!

I just finished reading a great book called 'Living Dolls' by a UK author Natasha Walter. It's sort of generally about a backlash of sexism as manifested partially in this kind of body fascism that encourages and rewards women for looking like dolls.
She goes into detail about this, plus other stuff about how the trend of de-gendered toys in the 1970s that was a legacy of second wave feminism is kind of done and over. Now it seems that gender roles are even more rigidly circumscribed.

The last part of the book she talks about how research into gender differences is one of the best-funded types of non-pharmaceutical type research (ie; research that a drug company isn't banking on to make them billions of $). And goes on to explore why, who's invested in scientific evidence to demonstrate that women and men are difference physiologically and psychologically. She talks about how studies demonstrating how women/girls prefer pink and men/boys prefer blue; or studies that attempt to show women's superior language skills, men's superior math aptitude etc etc are continually reported on whereas studies that disprove these differences (even if these studies are bigger, more scientifically sound/replicate-able etc) are more ignored. So when you see a headline that says "SCIENCE PROVES WOMEN PREFER PINK'--it's worthwhile to examine what the sample size was, whether the study is published in a peer reviewed journal, and if it's ever been replicated. Basically she's saying that science (and western culture) is very invested in perpetuating ideas of gender differences. It's a little like eugenics I guess.

But getting back to Doom, it made me think about how gender is completely ignored in animals! I mean I can't imagine me getting a hysterectomy etc and then claiming that I'm a neuter, or genderless, because my 'plumbing' is gone. But for animals not only do we think there is CLEARLY no difference between a female and a male dog, but the procedure of removing reproductive organs is coded as erasing that gender completely. It's so stupid. I mean, either it's important, or it's not. I guess part of it is that we live in a culture that devalues animals outright, and part of it is that we live in a patriarchy that has a great deal invested in maintaining the status quo.

Anyhoo, it made me think again about feminism and speciesism, and how both are fucked up and fucking wrong.

Lorna Doom, age 19 weeks and 5 days

When I agreed to adopt a 'potcake' puppy in April, honestly I had totally forgotten what it was like to have a really young dog. Our other dog, Crowley, is just over 4 years. For the most part the aggravation is over, it's just a pleasure to have her.

My partner and I had talIked in the abstract about getting another dog, the operative word being DOG. I don't think either of us thought of a puppy. We were really lucky to get Crowley from the Toronto Humane Society but I think both of us had a notion that puppies are a lot of work.

My boss was getting a 'potcake' dog from a rescue society in the Bahamas. There is a diaspora of mutts who live on the beach in the Bahamas and Turks + Caicos. Evidently they need to be culled periodically and hence these rescue societies (the one that brought ours over was 'Baark Bahamas'). I would never have adopted a mutt from the Bahamas (knowing there are lots right here in Ontario that need homes), but my boss was adopting one through a contact at Baark. Turned out the dog she adopted had a sister who would be able to come as well, which is how we got Lorna Doom.

Toronto is a really dog friendly (crazy?) city. When you have a dog, especially a puppy, people love to talk to you and ask about her. People love to tell you their dogs are 'rescues' and that any behavioural issues are because of that. It alwyays makes me want to tell them I got my dogs through a puppy mill for some reason. I find it a little odd. I know dogs aren't kids but I can't imagine a parent announcing to anyone who'd listen taht their kid was adopted, or preferably 'rescued'. I'm not someone who could ever imagine going to a breeder for a dog, I just would never care about that. Knowing that mutts are usually healthier and better tempered it seems crazy to me, not even considering the likeliehood of mistreatment or other ethical concerns relating to dog breeding.

Anyway, April 24, of this year, we were out at Pearson airport to pick up our new puppy. She was fucking cute. She has an incredibly endearing way of completely relaxing into the arms of whomever is holding her. It can take you by surprise if you're expecting her to support anypart of her own weight. She loves being picked up and cuddled, she loves curling up with you on the sofa or bed. She likes to wedge herself between you and the sofa cushion. I imagine she would be fond of Temple Grandin's hug machine.

This puppy is incredibly cute and smart. She even helps keep her older sister in line.

She's 95% housetrained, accidents are now ascribed to our lack of discipline in taking her out, it's a work in progress. She still gets us up every night between 3-5am. Usually if your alarm is set for 6:30a; she'll choose 5am. I would never claim she's as much work as a human baby, however friends with kids have said it sounds way worse. Which is funny, I would never think I could manage a newborn. Then again they don't move around and they shit in a diaper. Unlike Doom who is content to shit under a coffee table if the fancy strikes.

She also has those 'sundowning' moments where she's just a blur of teeth, fur and flashing eyes. Kind of annoying.

We have to start going to the dog parks again. Both myself and my partner aren't that fond of going. The other owners, for the most part, are annoying. They either ignore their dogs completely, leaving you the awkward task of notifying them when their beast turds. Or they're wanting to talk to you. Among the memorable inanities are 'Don't you love dog park culture?', asked with no irony at all; or another woman asked my partner 'Have you read all the Harry Potter books?'--mysteriously assuming he'd read any. Pretty much torture. My other pet peeve is the wrong headed misinterpretation of dog behaviour--'Oh look, she's so proud of her new haircut!', 'He's trying to protect the little dog from all the others', or 'She's getting jealous!'--so irritating. They're fucking dogs people, if you could read their thoughts you wouldn't understand them anyway. They're operating on a series of evolutionary cues and sensory stimuli that you and I couldn't begin to understand or interpret.