Sydney School of Veterinary Science, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia.
PLoS One. 2019 May 14;14(5):e0216699. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0216699. eCollection 2019.
We propose that the anthropomorphic application of gender stereotypes to animals influences human-animal interactions and human expectations, often with negative consequences for female animals. An online survey was conducted to explore riders' perceptions of horse temperament and suitability for ridden work, based on horse sex. The questionnaire asked respondents to allocate three hypothetical horses (a mare, gelding and stallion) to four riders compromising a woman, man, girl and boy. Riders were described as equally capable of riding each horse and each horse was described as suitable for all riders. Participants were also asked which horses (mares, geldings or stallions) were most suitable for the three equestrian disciplines of show-jumping, dressage and trail-riding. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to investigate people's perceptions about suitability of horse types for particular riders, to evaluate if age, strength or gender were important in rider choice and to investigate riders' allocation of various descriptors to a gelding, stallion or mare. There were 1,233 survey respondents, 94% of whom were female and 75% of whom were riders with at least eight years of experience. Binomial logistic regression revealed the girl had 2.5 times the odds of being allocated the gelding compared to the boy (p < 0.001). Respondents were significantly more likely to allocate the stallion to the man and nearly 50% of respondents did not allocate a horse to the boy, even though they ranked rider gender as least important to their choice (p < 0.001). In a forced choice selection of a positive or negative descriptor from a series of nine paired terms to describe horse temperament, a greater proportion of respondents assigned geldings positive ratings on terms such as calm, trainable, reliable and predictable. In terms of suitability for the three equestrian disciplines of show-jumping, dressage and trail-riding, participants overwhelmingly chose geldings for trail-riding, with mares being least preferred for both dressage and show-jumping disciplines. The results suggest that female riders are entering the horse-human dyad with gendered ideas about horse temperament and view horse-riding as an activity primarily for women and girls. This could have far-reaching implications for equine training and welfare.
我们提出，将性别刻板印象拟人化地应用于动物会影响人类与动物的互动和人类的期望，这通常对雌性动物产生负面影响。我们进行了一项在线调查，以探讨骑手根据马的性别对马的气质和适合骑乘工作的感知。该问卷要求受访者根据马的性别将三匹假设的马（母马、骟马和种马）分配给四名骑手，这四名骑手分别是一名女性、一名男性、一名女孩和一名男孩。骑手被描述为能够平等地骑乘每匹马，并且每匹马都适合所有骑手。参与者还被问及哪些马（母马、骟马或种马）最适合三个马术运动项目：障碍赛、盛装舞步和越野赛。我们进行了逻辑回归分析，以调查人们对马种适合特定骑手的看法，评估年龄、力量或性别在骑手选择中的重要性，并调查骑手对骟马、种马或母马的各种描述符的分配。共有 1233 名调查受访者，其中 94%是女性，75%是至少有 8 年经验的骑手。二项逻辑回归显示，与男孩相比，女孩被分配骟马的可能性是男孩的 2.5 倍（p<0.001）。受访者更有可能将种马分配给男性，并且近 50%的受访者没有将马分配给男孩，尽管他们认为骑手性别对他们的选择不重要（p<0.001）。在从一系列九个配对术语中选择一个积极或消极的描述符来描述马的气质的强制选择中，更多的受访者将骟马评为冷静、可训练、可靠和可预测等术语。在三个马术运动项目：障碍赛、盛装舞步和越野赛的适用性方面，参与者压倒性地选择骟马进行越野赛，而母马则最不适合盛装舞步和障碍赛。结果表明，女性骑手进入马人二元关系时，带有关于马气质的性别化观念，并将骑马视为主要是女性和女孩的活动。这可能对马的训练和福利产生深远的影响。
