[public thoughts] On speciesism as a metaphor, and why it (sometimes) bugs me

Okay, so. Thing I've had in my head to ramble about for a little while, partly inspired by these submission criteria-- which I do not think reject allegorical use of species or fantastic race issues for the same reason I'm uncomfortable with them, but still kind of made me squee.

So. What do I mean by this? Well, I am totally okay with use of species/fantastic race issues in fiction. It's actually one of my fiction kinks. I co-wrote a 170,000-word work set in a society where speciesism was the main thrust of the character dynamics and had a fair bit of influence over the plot. I've been thrashing out an awesome story with some people lately which involves the issue of species transition in a world where transspeciesism is (barely) acknowledged. (Well, that and a dozen other things. XD) When it comes to the species issues, I am all up in them.

My bugbear, in this instance, is the popular conception that all such stories must necessarily reduce to allegory or metaphor for "real-world" scenarios. I saw this view posited again today on Slacktivist, and it made my hackles rise such that I had to stomp over here and post about it.

( Cut for long )