The uncomfortable comparison
Many animal advocates compare speciesism to racism and sexism. In all three cases, someone is treated worse for belonging to a group.
Some people reject this comparison. They say: "Race is a social construct: people made it up. But species is biological: it really exists in nature. So speciesism is fair and racism isn't."
Problem 1: it doesn't explain why that would matter
The argument doesn't explain why a standard based on biology would be fairer than one based on something made up. It just assumes it.
Problem 2: some biological standards are clearly unfair
Think of a few examples:
- treating people worse because of the sex they were born with;
- refusing someone a job because of their height;
- discriminating against someone because of their eye color.
All of these are based on real biological traits. And they're still unfair. So being biological doesn't make a standard fair.
What makes discrimination unfair
The author shows that the problem with racism and sexism isn't that race is made up or that sex is biological. The problem is something else: putting someone at a disadvantage because of a trait that has nothing to do with what's at stake.
Skin color doesn't change how much someone suffers. Neither does species.
In short
- Saying species is biological doesn't explain why speciesism would be fair.
- Many biological standards are clearly unfair.
- What makes discrimination wrong is using a difference that doesn't matter.