Posted on 03/28/2002 10:27:43 AM PST by Frapster
Feminism Advanced as Remedy in Panda Mating Incident
By Dover Smeed
CNSNews.com Satire
March 27, 2002
(CNSNews.com) - A national women's group is demanding the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. take measures to provide "a safe and nurturing feministic environment," for the zoo's female panda following an unsuccessful attempt at mating by its male counterpart.
Officials with the zoo Tuesday disclosed that Tian Tian, a 265-pound male giant panda, bit and pinned down Mei Xiang, the zoo's 205-pound female panda, in a furtive mating attempt on March 24.
Zoo scientists reported that Mei Xiang was able to escape to a nearby tree, where she spent the better part of the next day and a half, according to the Washington Post.
The incident prompted harsh criticism of the zoo by the women's group Persons Espousing Equitable Panda Activity (PEEPA), which denounced Tian's actions as "patently misogynistic."
"This is precisely the type of Euro-centric patriarchy that has exalted male pandas as the ruling class of their species," said Darla Marsupial, PEEPA communications director. "To permit this level of domestic violence toward women pandas is disgraceful."
Marsupial said top officials at PEEPA sent a letter to the zoo Wednesday, demanding that Mei "be freed from the oppressive gender roles foisted upon womyn pandas by a misogynistic, heterosexist world built on the foundations of violent, black and white-male trans-panda domination," according to the letter signed by PEEPA Executive Director Corona Van Dyke and General Counsel Floyd Hymen.
Officials with the National Zoo did not return multiple telephone calls seeking comment.
"All sex is rape and this most recent incident proves the sexual blackmail that underlies the risks faced by women pandas worldwide," said Marsupial. "Mei Xiang's inherent nature should be celebrated and empowered by co-habitation with another female, not oppressed by the forced association with a hormone-crazed male."
The newspaper reported that Mei Xiang squealed and resisted Tian Tian's overtures, but was not injured in the incident.
However, the zoo's associate curator for primates and pandas, Lisa Stevens, was quoted as saying the female appeared "uneasy and nervous," following the attempted mating, and the two were separated.
Marsupial said PEEPA hopes to mobilize its 355,000 members nationwide to "correct this injustice and re-equilibrate the gender identity," of female pandas and other large mammals at the National Zoo and other major zoos across the country.
Tian Tian and Mei Xiang are on 10-year loan to the U.S. from China, and international scholars questioned whether the PEEPA effort should be pursued locally or through diplomatic channels.
"These pandas are the property of the People's Republic of China, so I would presume they have jurisdiction on this question," said Dr. Tso Gai Pepperton, associate professor of Sino-American Relations at the University of California-Irvine.
Tso also raised questions about whether the Chinese government would be receptive to PEEPA's position.
"This may not sit well with Beijing," Tso speculated. "It could be viewed as a heterodoxical challenge to the world view of the Chinese leadership."
University of Vermont International Affairs Professor Bob Spindlemeyer echoed a similar perspective. "I'm not saying the notion of celebrating panda lesbianism is wrong, I'm just not sure Beijing is ready to go down that road."
But Marsupial was confidant that diplomacy would sway the Chinese to the PEEPA point of view. "Our proposal is, methodologically, post-Marxist by design, so we don't expect any problems," said Marsupial.
Send a Letter to the Editor about this satire.
Oh well - I tried. :-)
AB
Are they sure the male's name isn't actually Clin Tian?
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