There. That got your attention didn’t it? Yeah, you heard that right. I said it!
Actually, I’ve nothing against spaying, just PLEASE no more neutering! Am I making your blood boil yet?
Just another dumb guy
Let me explain: If you’ve been in the rescue business for any length of time, you’ve already learned that it is easier to convince a pet owner to get their bitch spayed than it is to neuter a male dog. And who’s most likely in a couple to resist having their male dog altered? Yep, it is by far “The Guy“. In fact, Ragtag Rescue friend, Nevie Brooks researched this issue during her master’s program at Johns Hopkins University. The data supports the notion that, at least in the deep south, men were more resistant to sterilizing their pets than women. How many times have you asked a woman why she hasn’t had that dog neutered, and the reply starts out “Well, my husband (or boyfriend)…”? If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard this, I could buy a lifetime supply of heartworm preventive for my pack!
Speaking as a southern man, I can empathize and sort of explain this resistance: Most often, us southern men are rather traditionalist: We think it is courteous to hold the door open for a lady. Right now you are thinking to yourself: “Ok, great, but that doesn’t mean we should end the practice of neutering dogs!” Am I right? Stick with me.
“a vast feminist conspiracy”
When you spay a bitch you are not changing or removing her gender. On the other hand, the verb “neuter” means to remove gender and the adjective “neuter” means “without gender”. From a guy’s perspective, I suspect many believe it is unfair to remove the gender of the male, while the female is allowed to retain hers. “Door-holding men” can use this as evidence to support a notion that “feminism” (by some definition) has minimized and reduced the value of masculinity. True or not, I’m telling you: this perception exists, and as we know, perception is reality.
Gender Equality
Like I said, the action of neutering is to remove gender; it can equally be applied to females. But it just sounds weird to say “I don’t want my dog to have puppies, so she has an appointment to be neutered”. For whatever reason, we use the word “spay” for her. Hey, but what happened to gender equality? (And ladies, if you only knew the origin of the word “spay”, you’d be ready to ditch it as well!)
Words Matter
Yeah, words have meaning; semantics and nuance are powerful (c’mon ladies, you know this!). So, to be perfectly clear, I am not against the practice of neutering dogs. Truth is, I fully support it. If I thought that providing free Neuticles would improve acceptance, I’d support that too. No, I’ve simply come to a position where I am viciously opposed to the use of “the N-word”. Henceforth, I will only use it in the context you see in this post: to advocate it’s removal from the animal rescue vocabulary. So, what do we say instead?
The One True Word
There are several words which are gender-neutral that refer to surgical removal of canine reproductive organs in order to prevent the arrival of puppies. One word that comes to mind is “alter”. Well, that kind of misses the point. I mean tail-docking and ear-trimming (go ahead, roll your eyes) are a form of alteration. No, I believe the best word to use in place of the rather awkward “spay/neuter” term is “sterilize“. It is accurate and specific in this usage, and is not only gender neutral but it is “antiseptic”: it does not even imply an alteration of the animal’s gender! I mean lets face it, we don’t use a different gender term on a dog after it is “sterilized”.
“Sterilize” it is, then!
Not only does the use of the word “sterilize” avoid the stigma of “spay/neuter”, it has side benefits: It looks better in print, particularly when using a fancy font like script and is far less awkward when spoken (“we’re starting a spay neuter program” ; the silent “slash” makes the sentence sound stuttery). In addition, there are people who don’t even know what “spay” means, or misuse it (“I got my dog spaded”). Yet, almost everybody has at least some notion of what the word sterilize means. That is why I dismissed “geld” as an alternative, because mostly just horse people know what that means. Another side benefit: if you look at the animal rescue demographics, men are very under-represented. For example, 90% of Ragtag Rescue’s Facebook followers are women. Do you run an animal rescue site or page? Look at the demographics yourself! If we can step away from this (hopefully unintentional, but surely perceived) reverse-mysogyny in our vocabulary, perhaps more men will join the cause.
Parting thoughts…
So there you have it. Now I’ll suggest something potentially more controversial: It is more efficient use of limited resources to focus primarily on sterilizing females. We all know this deep down, but it just feels chauvinistic to say it outright. The factors in support of focusing on spaying ahead of “n**t*ring” are:
- the female will deliver the puppies, leaving her family to deal with it.
- unsterilized male dogs cannot be shamed (or sued) into paying child-support.
- It is more difficult to “sell” sterilization of males for all of the above.
- There will always be an unsterilized male ready to step in and get the bitch pregnant.
(Hmmm, this might be a topic of a future blog post.)
Do I have a commitment?
So will you please join me in dropping the use of the “N-word” and adopting “sterilize” instead? I suppose it is OK to use the “N-word” amongst the tight knit rescue community (I still won’t). But for public ears, we need to be more thoughtful. What say you?
