Desensitisation in the Oppressed
Today I am not going to talk about desensitisation in the oppressors; that is a topic for another time, and one well-discussed. Today I am going to talk about a coping method in the oppressed, known by a few names: desensitisation. Self-numbing. Acceptance of place and submission. Dissociation.
What started the idea for this post was the thought, "Wait a minute. Some animals will let you do whatever to them. Some of them will yell at you and glare. Others still will just run away," in addition to reading some online articles of anarchist zines. Once again, I am going to work my magic and tie the suffering of animals in with its human parallel: the oppression of women.
As the coping method I named above is most often seen in those that have been abused, I began to wonder whether the submission that animals learned to affect had an effect on learning to trust humans again when placed in farm sanctuaries. Mind that this does not always apply; for example, abused dogs may not trust humans again. It is simply a generalised analysis of abused women and farm animals.
When you're abused all your life, you get desensitised and numb. I know this; when I was 15 and feeling nothing all of the time, my parents took me to a psychologist and got me tested. The results came out: I was a victim of chronic abuse. The source (traditional schools) is not necessarily important. What is important is that, to this day, I can shrug off or laugh at any insult you care to throw at me. This isn't a thicker skin; this is total numbness. While I'm recovering, I can barely feel anything but the strongest emotions -- love, hilarity, mania, depression.
I begin to wonder if that isn't how it is for animals as well. It seems like it would be; self-numbing is a pretty basic coping method. So when I look at those pigs biting the bars of their cells endlessly, I don't think they're miserable, I think that they're so numb that they just want something to pass the time.
There are lots and lots of variations of dissociation. For many women who are abused, dissociation of the feelings of abuse are separated from the abuser so that they can continue to love him/her. Pigs, I think, must dissociate the food with their abuser so they can continue to survive. Both are survival mechanisms; and, I would argue, they are one and the same. Both have similar dynamics.
The cycle of abuse boils down to "temporary peace, violence, reconciliation," repeat ad nauseum. In both cases, the abused is being "taken care of," supported emotionally , financially, or physically (with food). Sometimes all three. With abused women, being supported emotionally by their abuser is what it eventually comes to be -- they close up to their friends, they don't want to see anyone else, they are fed lies about their friends or their friends are fed lies by the abuser.
With the vast majority of farm animals, there is no one to emotionally support them. They cannot touch anyone, they can only hear and smell terror. Therefore I would suggest that there is a slight variation on their emotional support -- the emotional support is food. Pigs, to my knowledge, are fed all kinds of carbohydrates because they're cheaper, and carbohydrates are the only nutrient that facilitates the production of serotonin. So the pig may be getting a "high" in between bouts of misery/numbness when he or she eats.
If the pig or woman subconsciously associated the abuse with food/emotional support, they would not be able to function. They just.. wouldn't. It would be impossible for them. It would be impossible for any person, human or nonhuman, to function when your basic needs are associated with something or someone that causes you harm. They would starve to death, or they would emotionally shut down.
Now, since they're dissociating their abuser with vital needs, might that not make it easier to trust again? Often, the marks of trauma only begin to show after a period of safety (in its more extreme forms known as PTSD, which is common to all animals). I believe that this is also a coping mechanism. If someone, like the pig or woman, began to show signs of PTSD during the abuse, likely they once again wouldn't be able to function. Worse, they may be killed (not that farm animals aren't always, minus the very few lucky ones that make it to a farm sanctuary) by their abuser. The self-numbing, again, is a coping method: survive, and you will live to another day. Weakness will kill you.
By putting away the hurt for a little while, we can survive and maybe learn to trust again, perhaps someone that won't hurt us. The lucky pigs learn to trust again. The unlucky pigs are scalded alive in boiling water by their abusers. The lucky women get out and learn to trust again. The unlucky women are killed by their abusers.
But it is vital to remember: anyone that will willingly hurt you for no reason is an abuser, whether they like it or not.
That's all I have to say for now. Probably there will be a part two to this. Stay tuned..
What started the idea for this post was the thought, "Wait a minute. Some animals will let you do whatever to them. Some of them will yell at you and glare. Others still will just run away," in addition to reading some online articles of anarchist zines. Once again, I am going to work my magic and tie the suffering of animals in with its human parallel: the oppression of women.
As the coping method I named above is most often seen in those that have been abused, I began to wonder whether the submission that animals learned to affect had an effect on learning to trust humans again when placed in farm sanctuaries. Mind that this does not always apply; for example, abused dogs may not trust humans again. It is simply a generalised analysis of abused women and farm animals.
When you're abused all your life, you get desensitised and numb. I know this; when I was 15 and feeling nothing all of the time, my parents took me to a psychologist and got me tested. The results came out: I was a victim of chronic abuse. The source (traditional schools) is not necessarily important. What is important is that, to this day, I can shrug off or laugh at any insult you care to throw at me. This isn't a thicker skin; this is total numbness. While I'm recovering, I can barely feel anything but the strongest emotions -- love, hilarity, mania, depression.
I begin to wonder if that isn't how it is for animals as well. It seems like it would be; self-numbing is a pretty basic coping method. So when I look at those pigs biting the bars of their cells endlessly, I don't think they're miserable, I think that they're so numb that they just want something to pass the time.
There are lots and lots of variations of dissociation. For many women who are abused, dissociation of the feelings of abuse are separated from the abuser so that they can continue to love him/her. Pigs, I think, must dissociate the food with their abuser so they can continue to survive. Both are survival mechanisms; and, I would argue, they are one and the same. Both have similar dynamics.
The cycle of abuse boils down to "temporary peace, violence, reconciliation," repeat ad nauseum. In both cases, the abused is being "taken care of," supported emotionally , financially, or physically (with food). Sometimes all three. With abused women, being supported emotionally by their abuser is what it eventually comes to be -- they close up to their friends, they don't want to see anyone else, they are fed lies about their friends or their friends are fed lies by the abuser.
With the vast majority of farm animals, there is no one to emotionally support them. They cannot touch anyone, they can only hear and smell terror. Therefore I would suggest that there is a slight variation on their emotional support -- the emotional support is food. Pigs, to my knowledge, are fed all kinds of carbohydrates because they're cheaper, and carbohydrates are the only nutrient that facilitates the production of serotonin. So the pig may be getting a "high" in between bouts of misery/numbness when he or she eats.
If the pig or woman subconsciously associated the abuse with food/emotional support, they would not be able to function. They just.. wouldn't. It would be impossible for them. It would be impossible for any person, human or nonhuman, to function when your basic needs are associated with something or someone that causes you harm. They would starve to death, or they would emotionally shut down.
Now, since they're dissociating their abuser with vital needs, might that not make it easier to trust again? Often, the marks of trauma only begin to show after a period of safety (in its more extreme forms known as PTSD, which is common to all animals). I believe that this is also a coping mechanism. If someone, like the pig or woman, began to show signs of PTSD during the abuse, likely they once again wouldn't be able to function. Worse, they may be killed (not that farm animals aren't always, minus the very few lucky ones that make it to a farm sanctuary) by their abuser. The self-numbing, again, is a coping method: survive, and you will live to another day. Weakness will kill you.
By putting away the hurt for a little while, we can survive and maybe learn to trust again, perhaps someone that won't hurt us. The lucky pigs learn to trust again. The unlucky pigs are scalded alive in boiling water by their abusers. The lucky women get out and learn to trust again. The unlucky women are killed by their abusers.
But it is vital to remember: anyone that will willingly hurt you for no reason is an abuser, whether they like it or not.
That's all I have to say for now. Probably there will be a part two to this. Stay tuned..
posted by Avian Mooch, or a Really Angry Cow at
8:27 AM
1 Comments:
Excellent insight. Conditions in factory farms are a form of psychological torture. You're deprived of normal coping mechanisms and must improvise to keep sane, or to fend off madness. If you show signs of wanting to be free, to run, to do something to alleviate the boredom and confinement, you may be punished. The confinement, deprivation, and physical and emotional pain would mess up anyone's mind. We know that after a while, many animals in such conditions shut down; they become listless and lifeless.
Coming out of a factory farm or abusive situation, an animal may suffer something akin to post-traumatic stress syndrome. Their whole lives have been physical and psychological punishment.
So yes, part of farm sanctuary animals' complacency may be a result of their tortured earlier lives.
But I also think that some animals do rebound. They show a genuine interest in food. They develop bonds with others of their kind, and engage in normal, desired, stress-reducing activities. Part of the reason they may be so friendly to people is because people are so friendly to them. Also, as they get older, they may get more mellow and sedentary.
That so many do manage to regain some sense of normalcy (not complete normalcy - they're still genetically predisposed to obesity, they were pulled from their mother prematurely or forced to grow up without a mother, etc.) is an inspiration. That so many never fully recover is an indictment of us.
By
Gary, at 10:47 PM
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