Speciesism
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![Peter Singer popularized the idea in Animal Liberation (1975).](/Images/godic/202502/12/Peter_Singer_MIT_Veritas3038.jpg")
![The Trial of Bill Burns (1838) in London, showing Richard Martin, MP for Galway, in court with a donkey beaten by his owner, leading to the world's first known conviction for animal cruelty.](/Images/godic/202502/12/Trial_of_Bill_Burns3038.jpg")
![Richard Dawkins argues against speciesism as an example of the](/Images/godic/202502/12/Dawkins_at_UT_Austin_detail3038.jpg")
Speciesism (/ˈspiːʃiːˌzɪzəm, -siːˌzɪz-/) involves the assignment of different values, rights, or special consideration to individuals solely on the basis of their species membership. The term is sometimes used by animal rights advocates, who argue that speciesism is a prejudice similar to racism or sexism, in that the treatment of individuals is predicated on group membership and morally irrelevant physical differences. Their claim is that species membership has no moral significance.