Does anyone know if there's any research about the connection between dehumanizing language and the creatures it invokes?
I'm interested in how animals become insults, and then how dehumanization might affect how animals are perceived. Like, are people less likely to be receptive to learning about the animals they compare others others to? Are bugs lovers less likely to fall for dehumanizing language?
Obviously, dehumanizing comparisons aren't always animals, and we should also be fighting for dehumanized groups by emphasizing that they are human. But surely education about stigmatized creatures can be a preventative tool in advocating for people as well right?
At the very least in promoting more critical and less reactionary thinking.














