Isle of Dogs is a sexist disgrace

Over the rainy bank holiday weekend, I decided I would go to see what I assumed was a ‘feel good’ film, Isle of Dogs, a stop-motion animated comedy. I love dogs so much that it looked like my ideal film, despite being aimed at kids. I get to see a story with a serious slant being told by cuddly canines, translated into human language. Instead, from the first five minutes, I was raging with anger about the blatant sexism at the heart of the film.

I have long been irritated with the default position many people have to refer to dogs as male and cats as female. I am always a bit bemused by people stopping me in the park when walking my dog Maisie, asking, “How old is he?” and the like. Maisie became so self-conscious at this blatant misgendering that she went through a period of cocking her leg, and running after bitches on heat.