Of Ladybugs and Billy Goats: What Animal Species Names Tell About Human Perceptions of Gender

Abstract

Many cultural metaphors based on perceived male-female differences have developed from speakers' attempts to understand and experience gender differences. Animal-based metaphors and symbols, only a few of which are based on actual physical differences between male and female bodies, make up a relatively small portion of our cultural metaphors about gender, but they nevertheless illustrate how deeply speakers are influenced by the underlying symbolic values that, over centuries, English speakers have assigned to masculinity versus femininity. In addition to exploring such questions as why peacock and goose are more commonly used than peafowl and gander, respectively, this study looked at how college students applied 20 animal names to people. Some animal names ("jackass," "wolf," "beast," "pig," "chicken," and "bull") were used primarily for males, whereas other animal names ( "tigress," "vixen," "shrew," "bird," "bitch," "cow," and "peacock") were used primarily for females. One finding was that, when an animal term that is usually sex-specific was used to refer to the unexpected sex, the comparison would not be made to the entire animal but instead, would be made to a specific characteristic or action, as in "She wolfed her food," and "He's always bird-dogging me." Another finding was that society has cultural expectations for certain gender-appropriate behaviors, and when individuals go against these expectations, speakers use animal names to express their disapproval.