History Main / ItIsDehumanizing

* Happens in a way in ''VideoGame/Persona3 Portable'' where [[RobotGirl Aigis]] corrects Yukari referring to her as a girl because, well, she's a robot. However, this is used to show how unlike a human she is. At first, at least. Later on, she starts to refer to herself as a "she".

** The serial killer Garland Greene is referred to as "that".

** The serial killer Garland Greene is referred to three times as "that".

--->'''The First''': "Not "it". ''Me''."

* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'': The Mayor and Mr. Kornada (as seen in the page image) call Florence 'it' because, as an UpliftedAnimal, she's an ArtificialIntelligence product rather than a [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman legal person]]. The Mayor comes to see the error of her ways, but Mr. Kornada is [[ItsAllAboutMe far too self-centered]] to see ''other humans'' as people, never mind an AI.

-->'''The First''': "Not "it". ''Me''."

* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', the Initiative refers to vampires as "it". Of course, vampires aren't human anyway, but everyone else uses gender-specific pronouns, and since vampires otherwise appear to be human, it would take a bit of mental training to think of one as an "it" by default.

* Cleopatra in ''Series/{{Rome}}'' uses "it" to refer to her brother/husband's eunuch advisers.
-->"It must not speak. It must die!"

** Johnny-23 asks "What the fuck is that?" when he first sees the serial killer Garland Greene.

* In ''Film/ConAir'', Falzone finds Poe's picture of his daughter.
-->'''Falzone''': "What's this shit?"
-->'''Poe''': "That's my daughter".

* In the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "[[Recap/AngelS01E13She She]]", male demons from a NoWomansLand refer to females as "it".

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Reek is constantly referred to as a "pet" and a "creature".

* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'': Everyone who knows the protagonist's nature, including [[spoiler:their own mother]], refers to them as an "it" when interacting with them. The same goes for [[spoiler:all other Vessels in the game aside from the protagonist, including the titular Hollow Knight]]. This is a plot point as [[spoiler: They were made in an attempt to [[SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan seal the Radiance in a bug-shaped can]], and in order for that to work they had to be [[EmptyShell completely hollow]] so she couldn't influence them. If they were treated as people, then they might get the idea that they were people with wills and desires of their own, and that would leave a weakness for the Radiance to exploit. The current Hollow Knight had such an "idea instilled" because the Pale King raised them as his child, which is why the Black Egg Temple is a LeakingCanOfEvil.]]

*** Averted in the case of Solas; he repeatedly calls a particular spirit "it" while making it clear he considers the spirit very much a person and a dear friend. He just doesn't believe in assigning it a gender. Interestingly enough, Solas refers to Cole as "he".

* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'': Everyone who knows the protagonist's nature, including [[spoiler:their own mother]], refers to them as an "it" when interacting with them. The same goes for [[spoiler:all other Vessels in the game aside from the protagonist, including the titular Hollow Knight]]. This is a plot point as they [[spoiler:were all created to be perfect and pure empty voids containing no minds to think with, no wills to break, and no voices to cry suffering. All to be as hollow as possible, to better serve as containers for [[MysticalPlague the infection]]. The reason the Hollow Knight failed as a container was because it was tainted by "an idea instilled": The Pale King, the creator of the Vessels, failed to completely dehumanize it, coming to regard the Hollow Knight as his child]].

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Literature/GoingPostal'', when [[MoralGuardians Miss Maccalariat]] objects to {{golem}}s cleaning the ladies' restrooms, the protagonist Moist von Lipwig tries to explain that they often use honorifics like "Mister" with the golems employed at the post office because "it" seems wrong. That said, Miss Maccalariat still has issues because a "Mister" should not clean the lady's restrooms. So Moist gets around this by having the golem who would clean the bathroom as "Miss" and wear dresses. The next time we see this golem in ''Literature/MakingMoney'', [[HumanityEnsues the golem (now called Gladys) is a unique entity]].
** In ''Literature/TheTruth'' [[spoiler:Lord De Worde]] considers any non human this, and after calling [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Otto Chriek]] this, he loses his composure.
-->'''[[spoiler:Lord De Worde]]:''' Keep it away from me!
-->'''[[OurVampiresAreDifferent Otto]]:''' You think I am an "it"? [[VampireVords Vell]], let me ''act'' like an "it"!

--> '''Curator''': There is no need for any unnecessary violence, Nine. The League of Villains will take full responsibility for Wolfram's blunder and we'll ensure that the Steel Sabers are compensated for this unfortunate turn of events.\\
'''Mummy''': Compensation?! Half of our entire organization is ''dead'' because of that ''thing''!

--> '''Curator''': There is no need for any unnecessary violence, Nine. The League of Villains will take full responsibility for Wolfram's blunder and we'll ensure that the Steel Sabers are compensated for this {{Understatement unfortunate turn of events}}.\\

--> '''Curator''': There is no need for any unnecessary violence, Nine. The League of Villains will take full responsibility for Wolfram's blunder and we'll ensure that the Steel Sabers are compensated for this [[Understatement unfortunate turn of events]].\\

--> '''Curator''': There is no need for any unnecessary violence, Nine. The League of Villains will take full responsibility for Wolfram's blunder and we'll ensure that the Steel Sabers are compensated for this [[Understatement unfortunate turn of events.]]\\

* In ''WebAnimation/{{Glitchtale}}'', Betty is commonly dehumanized and called "it" and "that thing" by all the characters because of her horrible, ''horrible'' actions. It still comes across as mean of them all anyway, if only because no other character gets this treatment.

** In ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'', Cylon characters (even some who were generally recognized as allies by the humans) were often referred to as "it" by human characters. [[FaceHeelTurn Athena's]] growing acceptance by the other characters can be tracked by when people switch from calling her "it" or "thing" to "her" and "you".