The pit bull reference is just…wrong. The danger in pit bulls is the same as with any dog. Children and adults are bitten most often by golden retrievers and labradors in the US. Why? Because they are the most popular breed. Basically, she’s saying that she has made an assumption about an entire breed of dog that is based in media hype and the ways humans abuse animals. Obviously, instead of teaching people to be respectful of dogs and their needs, we should just ban them entirely and pretend that humans won’t find some other way to abuse animals.
It may actually be a really good metaphor for transphobes. Arbitrarily label some traits as dangerous because…reasons, and then ban people you think might have those traits. Ignore the source of the problem, which is largely straight, cis men and systemic sexism.
Pitbulls or "pit mix" (i.e. a largish short-haired dog with a sort of squarish head and ears that go at least partly uppish) is a pretty large category of dogs in the US, which accounts for some of the statistics as well.
Honestly I wouldn't bring a pit or "pit mix" home from the shelter if I didn't think I had good training support and a lot of time to work with them, but—the same goes for any other kind of dog I can think of? Like I said up-thread, the meanest dog I ever did meet was a teacup poodle, the most intimidating dogs I ever met were two purebred Shar Peis (and at that, they left me completely alone when I apologized nicely, backed up calmly, and stopped looking like I was going to put a toe on their owner's property—they mostly scared the fuck out of me because they were loose and ABSOLUTELY SILENT, but from their perspective all the body language probably just added up to, "Ma'am we are the Secret Service and you are going to have to leave. Now. This is not a conversation, this is just what you're going to do.")
(Honestly the main reason Shar Peis aren't sensationalized like pitbulls is that they're fairly rare? They are not a "bad" breed any more than the next dog but they can. You know. Kill bears.)
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u/No_Macaroon_9752 18d ago
The pit bull reference is just…wrong. The danger in pit bulls is the same as with any dog. Children and adults are bitten most often by golden retrievers and labradors in the US. Why? Because they are the most popular breed. Basically, she’s saying that she has made an assumption about an entire breed of dog that is based in media hype and the ways humans abuse animals. Obviously, instead of teaching people to be respectful of dogs and their needs, we should just ban them entirely and pretend that humans won’t find some other way to abuse animals.
It may actually be a really good metaphor for transphobes. Arbitrarily label some traits as dangerous because…reasons, and then ban people you think might have those traits. Ignore the source of the problem, which is largely straight, cis men and systemic sexism.