Dr. Best's most eloquent Paper can be summed up with a simple equation:
Power plus Control = Abuse.
Dr. Best states: "We must recognize that the animal question is central to the human question." In my own twenty years' experience of working with adults who were abused as children, this truth has been a constant. I have long recognized that to define the reasons and search for solutions to child abuse, we must also dissect the reasons behind the abuse of all species; the root of which is the human need for superiority.
Humans have always sought to be powerful...over other humans and/or animals..why?...in order to enhance our own self esteem. When one's ego needs
boosting, there is, in some, an overwhelming desire to show dominance over those who are lowlier or less powerful than oneself. Both parenting and theownership of animals often can be a very satisfying experience for those
looking to fill that void in our being.
The premise from the old book: "I'm O.K., You're O.K." shows this in a very clear manner. In order to feel "O.K" (in other words, to have a healthy understanding of one's own worth), some people must reduce another's worth or value by exercising power and control over that person or creature. Thus the theory of: "I'm only O.K. if you're not O.K." Thus the need to take control over that being, and thus creating abusive behaviours, ranging from out-ranking someone, dominating them, criticizing and belittling
(psychological abuse), to overt physical or sexual abuse.
This theory is also borne out by our current knowledge that children who abuse animals are most likely to continue on in their adult years to abuse humans - and always their victims will be younger, weaker, and smaller than themselves. (Read: children, women and animals). Law enforcement and Social Service Agencies have studied thousands of cases of abuse and have
determined that this progression from animal abuse to human abuse is an extremely prevelant phenomenon.
In a study done by Mr. Rix Rogers, then CEO of the Institute for Prevention of Child Abuse in Toronto, it was determined that 95% of children who were abused will have very poor self esteem. When extrapolated, we deduce that a child who experiences abuse will be ripe with the need to exert their very limited superiority over even more helpless creatures: an animal. Why then,
do studies also confirm that in the vast majority of cases, men are the predominant abusers of women, children and animals? Should the need to abusein order to feel powerful be limited only to males? Again, studies have
observed that when a girl has been abused, she will most often become submissive and see herself as weak and hopeless. When a boy is abused, he will most often metaphorically "make a fist"... the statistics bear witness
to this: boys who were abused are 2,000 times more likely to become abusers as adults than boys who were not abused. Therefore, the helplessness of girls and the propensity to violence in boys confirms that these conditions
are inter-generational, and learned behaviour.
Dare I introduce an extremely controversial train of thought here - could the fact that women are more likely to suffer from helplessness and feel oppressed be at the root of our need to be 'animal rescuers'? The vast
majority of those involved with animal rights movements have always been shown to be women - to wit: the often derogatory term: "cat lady" commonly used in society. Are we getting our self esteem 'fix' by nurturing and
owning animals? Certainly, women have been looked upon as the major caregivers in the world. Have we not been at the root of most social movement, leading reforms for human and animal rights? Seen in this light,our involvement is a positive, humane effort. Taken to our ultimate goal of true freedom in the world, however, we now need to liberate ourselves and our 'domesticated' animals from the restrictions we have placed around each
of our existence.
Dr. Best also notes that: "we must not only educate, we must become a social movement." I believe, in order to advance to the idealized level of humanism we must begin to change animal abuse by addressing child abuse.
For decades we have felt we were fighting the good fight by advocating for animal rights; rescuing dogs and cats by the millions; creating Shelters and Associations to house helpless critters; changing laws and bylaws; adopting
animals only to good families. In essence, we were so busy fishing bodies out downstream, we forgot to have somebody go back upstream and fix the bridge. Of course we need to help those in distress - both humans and animals. But until we attack the root cause, or as Dr. Best says: "learn how to rock the structures of power, to shake them until new social arrangements emerge", we will never succeed in liberating the helpless.
With healthy egos, people will no longer need to show their power by physically or psychologically overshadowing those of any species. We will not need to be the richest, the most celebrated, the highest on the corporate ladder, the most titled, the biggest and the strongest, or to be the owner of the most predigest and titled dog or cat in the show. We will be able to embrace freedom for all species, because our own fulfillment and contentment will come from within.
Diane Esther,
Parksville, BC