PETA’s ‘A-gender’
I heard about this one on the radio Saturday, and dug up this article about it:
PETA to AP: Don’t Refer to Animals as ‘It’
The animal activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has written a letter to Norm Goldstein, the editor of the AP stylebook, asking that the book be changed so that pronouns referring to animals always be “he,” “she,” and “who.” AP responded by noting that the stylebook only uses “it” and “which” if the animal’s sex has not been established and the animal’s name is unknown.
I don’t think Goldstein gets it. PETA is insisting that AP know the gender of any animals involved in a story before it reports on them.
That means you can’t report on what that Doberman or German Shepherd did or didn’t do until you see it up close and personal. Tigers, cheetahs, mountain lions, panthers, and bears too. Oh my — PETA says it should be part of a reporters job to know these things, consequences be damned.
If AP buckles, expect frequent applications for hazard pay and very high-powered binoculars.
