OPINION: There is a story out today on the Internet about virginity testing in the UK. It’s being forced on young women to protect their “honour”. My reading of the story is that parents from the Bangladeshi, Pakistani and other ethnic minority communities from Asia, are forcing their daughters to be subjected to virginity tests in order to protect the honour of the family. These are girls and young women who are in a relationship with a boyfriend and their parents are concerned that they have had sex which, as I understand it, would destroy the honour of the family if it took place out of wedlock. There have been well-publicised ‘honour killings’ in which girls have been killed by brothers and fathers. It is utter madness. A culture from the Middle Ages.
One of the young women stated that she was treated worse than an animal when subjected to the test. She begged her father not to put her through it. And now to the point of the article: the phrase “treated worse than animal” is an appallingly outdated phrase clearly signifying the deplorable relationship that humankind has with animals.
It is stating in very clear terms that humans treat animals badly. It is screaming that information to me. It is an admission of the unacceptable state of the relationship between animals and people on this planet. It is an admission that there is an acute state of speciesism in the minds of people. We are treating animals as second-class citizens or worse. We are treating them as objects and not sentient beings with feelings.
And it is shocking that in the 21st-century we have this attitude. I’m generalising of course because there are many people like me who want to see animals treated on an equal basis to humans. There is a surging number of animal advocates across the planet who strongly dislike what they see in the news media. Often when news media reports on animal stories it’s about animal abuse and cruelty. That tells you how commonplace it is.
The phrase that I’m talking about is very similar to the one which states that a person has been treated worse than a dog. It means that dogs are treated incredibly badly which they are. And you can throw into the mix cats as well. Feral cats are treated deplorably in Australia where they are shot at, mutilated, poisoned and killed in any way possible to protect their native species. They just don’t care how they kill them as long as they’re dead and out of the way. Another stark example of how humans simply can’t get it right concerning the animal world. And what about these despicable trophy hunting bastards? They are blinded by bloodlust. They are idiotic and dangerous twits.
It really is time for change. It’s time to tackle climate change which is harming animals and people. It is time to bite the bullet and radically change our lifestyles and our mentalities. This is a time for dramatic change and it’s being forced on us. If we were more sensible and smarter, we would have taken proactive steps 50 or more years ago to protect against climate change. We would have become more civilised in respect of our relationship with animals if we had applied our minds to it. But unfortunately, humankind is yet to be civilised. We are a long way short of it. It’s going to be about a thousand years on my guess before we can claim to be a civilised species of animal able to control our base instincts.
Animals live largely instinctively. Humans think they don’t. Many humans do.
SOME MORE ON THE HUMAN TO ANIMAL RELATIONSHIP:
As always, dear Michael, thank you for your insightful writing… and thank you for always shedding light on the horrific treatment we inflict upon the animals… it is as if we are a demented humanity.
Thank you for all you do to lift awareness.
Thanks Carol for the comment. It is genuinely appreciated.