the radical idea that pain doesn't care what species is feeling it.
means the ethical and legal position that non-human animals deserve protection from suffering and exploitation, not because they're useful but because they're sentient.
from peter singer's 1975 book animal liberation reframed cruelty to animals as a bias called speciesism, borrowing the logic of civil rights and feminism to argue that the capacity to suffer, not intelligence or utility, is what earns moral consideration.
peta founding — 1980, ingrid newkirk, launched with a slaughterhouse video campaign
sandra the orangutan — 2015 argentina case granted her nonhuman personhood
eu cosmetics ban — 2013 outlawed animal-tested cosmetics across member states
nonhuman rights project — steven wise's group suing on behalf of chimpanzees since 1996