The point of these examples is not to claim that only females are denigrated by use of animal or nature language. That would be false. In the English language, animal terms also are used pejoratively against men. For example, men are called wolves, sharks, skunks, snakes, toads, jackasses, old buzzards, and goats. Nor is it to claim that all uses of animal or nature language are derogatory. That would also be false. In Western culture, it is generally complimentary to describe someone as busy as a bee, eagle-eyed, lion-hearted, or brave as a lion. Rather, the point is that, within patriarchal contexts, the majority of animal and nature terms used to describe women, and the majority of female terms used to describe animals and nature, function differently from the animal and nature terms used to describe men.  Within a patriarchal context, they function to devalue women, animals, and nature in a way that reinforces the unjustified dominations of all three. 