Feminism and veganism

[NEvegan]

I'm currently in Feminist Theory and for my final paper, my professor left the topic basically up to us. Soooo I decided that I would like to write about animal rights, and some how connect it to feminism.

I will largely focus on the treatment of non-human animals. I will argue that speciesism is wrong in the same way that sexism, homophobia and racism are wrong (it discriminates against beings based on characteristics that are not relevant). I would like to focus on why feminist principles are shared with vegan ideologies and why feminists should fight against speciesism just as they fight against sexism because it does not make sense to be more concerned with interests of ones own race or gender because it is sexist/racist and it is not okay to only be concerned about the interests of our own species.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Know any good sources? Anything is welcomed at this point.

[Muvesz]

You should also mention that a feminist should be concerned with the well being of ALL female creatures, and introduce the injustices done to female cows and their babies.

[Cacique]

Perhaps you could talk about how in old times (Biblical, middle ages, etc.) women were treated like cattle.

Good luck with your paper!

[NEvegan]

Thanks guys. I want to focus on things that are going on today. I'm really lost but I just have no motivation to write about anything other than animal rights.

[LouiseAbel]

I love the idea. (And the ones suggested above). Good luck!

[CoolCat]

You should also mention that a feminist should be concerned with the well being of ALL female creatures, and introduce the injustices done to female cows and their babies.

Don't forget the discrepancy in the treatment between day old male and female chicks. Chick sexer is a job description in that sector.

The artificial insemination humans do with other species come to mind as well. Or the controlling of the partner the females of domesticated species are allowed the mate with. The video below shows a human using his own body in the insemination process of a female pig. If this was done to a human female it would be rape. Yet he gets paid for it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q2wKhqdmmw


Full TED video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jx0dTYUO5E (Mary Roach: 10 things you didn't know about orgasm)

[Blueberries]

Have you looked at Carol Adams' 'The Sexual Politics of Meat'? I haven't read it (it's on my list!) but its about the links between feminism and vegetarianism. Your essay sounds like it'll be really interesting :D

[harpy]

If I had to write that paper, I think I'd go down the tack of comparing the oppression of women (past and present) with the oppression of animals. A good way to approach it might be to take some of the specific feminist theories that are covered in your course and show if/how they also apply to animals.

As well as the book Blueberries mentioned, there is more stuff on the web if you look for "feminism veganism" (as I'm sure you already have!). However if it's like the university assignments I've done you will probably get extra marks for tying your argument to the theories covered in the course.

Good luck - please let us know your thoughts.

Muvesz - Personally, being a feminist doesn't mean that I'm more concerned with female creatures than male creatures, it means I'm in favour of equal treatment for female and male creatures :)

[Robinwomb]

Have you looked at Carol Adams' 'The Sexual Politics of Meat'? I haven't read it (it's on my list!) but its about the links between feminism and vegetarianism. Your essay sounds like it'll be really interesting :D

You beat me to it Blueberries! I read this book and it was very interesting. Another one is "Sistah Vegan" by Breeze Harper, discussing veganism from black womens perspectives that includes not only racism and sexism but classism in relation to speciesism and animal consumption.

Currently I am reading "Animals as Persons: Essays on the Abolition of Animal Exploitation" by Gary Francione. He also touches on feminist theory and animal rights and one of his essays exclusively discusses this. There are apparently several ways feminists approach veganism and one of them he disagrees with (feminist new welfarism and ethical care of animals vs. animal abolition and feminism).

I applaud you for choosing this subject for your work! This is not a popular subject and it seems even a lot of feminists get angry over being "compared to animals" but I don't see how we can separate our relationship to one another from our relationship to animals and not see how the use and abuse of one affects the other and even the environment we live in. All are deeply connected. Good luck with everything!

[TarekF]

Good book i just got is "The Feminist Care Tradition in Animal Ethics" edited by Carol Adams and Josephine Donovan.

It is a collection of essays on the topic (so you wouldn't even necessarily need to read it all to get a wide variety of pieces). I just started reading it and it is actually the first and only feminist theory book I have read, though I am somewhat familiar with feminism from high school debate. I think honestly feminism may have the most to offer modern animal ethic theories because of some of the issues associated with rights theories and utility theories. Anyhow, hope that helps!

[LouiseAbel]

God I can't even watch that video, I wish you'd never put it up. :( I hate the world.

[CoolCat]

God I can't even watch that video, I wish you'd never put it up. :( I hate the world.

The video was the wrong version still. Now it's the one from the TED seminar. The sad thing is that it's a woman giving the TED talk in a bit about orgasm. Clearly disconnected from other animals I guess.

I'm sorry if this is shocking or upsetting to you, I feel obligated to witness these things out of respect for the victims.

[NEvegan]

I just ordered an essay book written by Carol Adams. It might be the same book.

[FaerieSuzy]

I've just read Caitlin Moran's 'How to Be a Woman'. Its not got anything to do with veganism or animal rights, but its a relatively new book regarding feminism, might be worth a read in case it provokes new ideas?

Also maybe add statistics of how many vegans are female : male ? Might throw up some interesting ideas if vegans are more likely to be female as we may empathise more as still being discriminated against too ??

[TarekF]

Also maybe add statistics of how many vegans are female : male ? Might throw up some interesting ideas if vegans are more likely to be female as we may empathise more as still being discriminated against too ??

It seems as if there are generally more vegetarian women, significantly (2 to 1 ratio)

However stats that show on par or slightly more males who are vegans (1.4% male to 1.3% female)

http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2006issue4/vj2006issue4poll.htm

Among young vegans, males also are a slight majority it seems (3% to 2%), though I am not sure about this.

I guess most guys still have this stupid "meat-->manliness" stuff floating around in their heads, but as far as veganism goes it is equal. This probably suggests that no matter what gender or sex one is, very strong ethics and strong wills lead to the right conclusion :D

[NEvegan]

OK, I have 10 pages as of now, I need 5 more.

Does anyone have any spare time and would be interested in reading over it a bit? my messenger name is hug-a-tree123@hotmail.com

[Wraithling]

Have you ever read any Martha Nussbaum? She's produced a whole system of liberal justice (the capabilities approach) motivated by existing theories' failure to provide justice for women, the disabled, and non-human animals. If you've not come across her before, I'd recommend a book called "Creating Capabilities", which doesn't talk so much about animals but certainly does discuss women in the developing world at length. Animals are discussed in more detail in Ch. 6 of her book 'Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership', which is a bit more technical.

She's broadly a reformist, and stops short of advocating veganism, so personally I find her a little frustrating, but she is worth a read.

[tammay]

I also took a Feminist Theory class in grad school and I seem to recall some discussion about how the suffragist movement of the 19th century was linked to the vegetarian movement (and I even seem to recall reading something about someone who was taken by a 19th century British suffragist to a neighborhood where there were some vegetarian restaurants, all owned and run by feminists). I'm not sure how far back you intend to go in your paper, but that might be an interesting perspective to explore.

I did find this:

http://www.ivu.org/books/reviews/sexual-politics-of-meat.html

I also found this link:

http://www.ivu.org/history/thesis/feminist.html

I hope that helps!

Tam

[Blueberries]

If you are interested in the intersectionality between femimism and veganism you should read the following blogs run by vegan academic Corey Lee Wren:

http://academicabolitionistvegan.blogspot.com

http://veganfeministnetwork.com/

[MeThe13thDuke]

There isn't really any link. Maybe just focussing on feminism?

[Blueberries]

There isn't really any link. Maybe just focussing on feminism?

There are links between all forms of oppression. Once we make someone, human or animal, an 'other' we can justify any type of oppression and prejudice and that it what all 'isms' have in common. The academic abolisionist vegan blog is a great resource for reading about how veganism intersects with other social justice movements.