Revista de Lenguas Modernas, N.° 25, 2016 / 381-394 / ISSN: 1659-1933

“Strange Coupling”: Vegan and Queer Ecologies in Theory and in Practice CHAPTER 1: A Brief Survey of the Field of Ecofeminism

Adriana Jiménez Rodríguez Escuela de Lenguas Modernas Universidad de Costa Rica

Abstract The present paper is the first in a series of publications that aim to share the results of an ongoing research project that explores the interconnec- tion possibilities, both in theory and application, of the fields of ecofemi- nism and queer ecologies. This particular chapter offers a brief survey of the first of these fields: ecofeminism. The author tries to provide a brief critical look into the main tenets and evolution of the field.

Key words: , ecofeminism, vegan / vegetarian ecofeminism, queer vegan ecofeminism, , environmental justice move- ments, ecofeminist activism, ecofeminist theory, ecofeminist politics

Resumen Este artículo es el primero en una serie de publicaciones que busca so- cializar los resultados de un proyecto de investigación en curso, el cual explora las posibilidades de interconexión (tanto en la teoría como en su aplicación) de los campos del ecofeminismo y las ecologías queer. Este capítulo en particular ofrece una vista panorámica del primero de estos campos: el ecofeminismo. La autora presenta una perspectiva corta y crí- tica de las principales propuestas y de la evolución del campo.

Palabras claves: feminismo, ecofeminismo, ecofeminismo vegano / vege- tariano, ecofeminismo vegano queer, derechos de los animales, movimien- tos de justicia ambiental, activismo ecofeminista, teoría ecofeminista, políticas ecofeministas

Recepción: 12-04-16 Aceptación: 29-06-16 382 Revista de Lenguas Modernas, N° 25, 2016 / 381-394 / ISSN: 1659-1933

cofeminism remains a con- creatures have more in common with tested field, much like queer my other sisters: the more button-down, Etheory, even more so like the we-need-to-look–serious-to-be-respected very-new queer ecologies. I find that political-economic statistics-armed eco- this characteristic is strength rather feminists. I reject most look-ist formality than weakness. The inspiration for this as much as I cannot understand the project comes from a place of comfort idea that human suffering “must come with ambiguity because ambiguity cre- before” non-human suffering, but at the ates a space of endless possibilities. Many same time I am skeptical of certain natu- theorists, critics, activists and academics ralist practices. I do not think that all do not enjoy ambiguity. This is in turn conflicting discourses must necessarily evidenced in any attempt to write a cohe- be unable to co-exist; then again I am sive, uniform theoretical background. called “too radical” at least ten times a There is no agreement on ecofeminism, day. All in all, studying this field has not much, not really. However, I believe been a really interesting experience, one that the interrogations on the lack of that has intersected with all the other uniformity will eventually make the field aspects of my life as a scholar, a profes- more solid and more theoretically sound. sor, a queer vegan, and a . It is This is why I have chosen to highlight fundamental to my analysis and daily differences in theory, practice and appli- use of vegan ecofeminism to include cation in the course of the introduction. myself as a subject in my dealings, and I Hence, what I want to offer in this intro- believe this makes my contribution more duction is more or less a compilation of real2. The struggle is real, to quote queer ideas that enjoy sufficient consensus. expert RuPaul. And if I know anything I clarify this at the beginning so as at all, I know that the queer vegan eco- not to repeat the disclaimer throughout. feminist struggle is that hardest I have Unfortunately, misconceptions about experienced so far, but also the most ecofeminism abound. Fellow feminists’ rewarding. dismissals include claims of essential- ism and a whiff of “tree-hugging, - A working definition is always a useful eating hippie-ness” that strikes them as place to start. Ecofeminism. What is it? un-academic. These reactions are both Salleh describes it in a somewhat clini- humorous and scary. What are the impli- cal way as political framework that can cations of the “bad” reputation of eco- spell out the historical links between feminism? To what extent is it really a neoliberal capital, militarism, corpora- field based on essentialist assumptions? tescience, worker alienation, domestic Do we really have to separate in this violence, reproductive technologies, too? Is that efficient? I would sex tourism, child molestation, neoco- like to address all of these issues, and lonialism, Islamophobia, extractivism, I would like to start with the present nuclear weapons, industrial toxics, work as an offering to my shaggy-haired, land and water grabs, deforestation, perhaps purposefully misunderstood geneticengineering, climate change tree-hugging, tofu-eating hippie ecofemi- and the myth of the modern progress. nist sisters. Also, I would like to show Ecofeminist solutions are also syner- how these more Earth-bound theory- gistic; the organization of daily life JIMÉNEZ. “Strange Coupling”... 383

around subsistence fosters food sover- all touched by each other, always. Veg- eignty, participatory democracy and an queer ecofeminism provides us with reciprocity with natural ecosystems. the tools that we need to dismantle the (Mies and Shiva ix) system without neglecting any non- human animal used for unnecessary She does point out the various sub- and cruel experiments, any delicate jects that ecofeminism can and does ad- mangrove ecosystem in a poor town in dress. What this definition is lacking is Nicaragua, or the exploitation of queer the sense of interconnectedness—and Russian minors for sexual trafficking, a lot of acknowledgment of queer ex- to name only a few examples. istence. All the instances of necrophilic Ecofeminism has established mul- patriarchal domination that the author tiple relationships with other fields of mentions inform and are informed by one society and culture. What about the another in complicated, multiple ways, relationship(s) between ecofeminism and perhaps there is no sufficient em- and politics? remains phasis. I also think that one of the main one of the most respected queer vegan connections between violence to women ecofeminist theorists, and with good and to the Earth and patriarchy is the reason, especially when it comes to way in which non-human animals suf- tracking the roots of contemporary fer under a regime of . As a ecofeminism(s). I would like to briefly queer vegan, I gravitate more towards mention her careful classification of a definition of the field that includes what she terms “paths of activism” and non-human animals and their plight in branches that have a more specific way: “Ecofeminism ad- led to the body of contemporary queer dresses the various ways that , vegan ecofeminism. Gaard mentions heteronormativity, , colonial- the peace and anti-nuclear movement, ism, and ableism are informed by and feminist spirituality, animal libera- support speciesism and how analyzing tion activism, environmental activism, the ways these forces intersect can pro- antitoxics activism and the path of duce less violent, more just practices lived experiences3 all as possible win- (Adams and Gruen 1). In my opinion, dows into ecofeminism. It is easy to see this second definition is more ecofemi- how environmental justice movements nist in the sense that it foregrounds played the key role in pre-ecofeminist- the and exploitation of non- articulated activism. One of Gaard’s human animals at the same time that definitions of ecofeminism portrays it as it establishes the interconnectedness of “not a rebellion in any sense of the word all patriarchal oppression, including the but rather a coming together of insights discrimination of people with disabili- gained from various movements and ties and queer people, which is often- historical events; unlike a rebellion, times ignored in ecofeminist texts. The ecofeminism offers both a critique of interconnected nature of all brutal pa- existing conditions and an alternative; triarchal domination is the thread that it is both multiple and diverse” (Eco- will run through the present work, like logical Politics 31) I hope to highlight a spiral of awareness that wants to re- that diversity and multiplicity in the mind the reader constantly that we are course of the present study, however 384 Revista de Lenguas Modernas, N° 25, 2016 / 381-394 / ISSN: 1659-1933 imperfect. In this vein, Gaard offers “ecofeminism bashing” uses cultural an overview of the various strains of feminism and out-of-context quotes ecofeminism, which are important to from Daly to “prove” how essential- consider especially vis-à-vis queer eco- ism is wrong. Yes. is feminism’s engagement with actual wrong. Queer vegan ecofeminism politics, one important aspect that I has evolved and transformed enor- have not covered yet. “Liberal” ecofemi- mously in 45 years since some crit- nism, to begin, falls in the same pitfalls ics used the “women are just more as , which merely seeks naturally nourishing” argument. No the same advantages assigned to men by serious ecofeminist nowadays would patriarchal capitalist society to be as- ever agree with that, yet we are still signed to women. Demanding the right criticized and sometimes ostracized to exploit others without even challeng- as ignorant hippies for it. Again, it ing the overall systematic capitalist never ceases to amaze me. It is my domination structure is certainly not sincerest wish that we can establish radical or transformative. I agree with our distance from such archaic ways Gaard in that there is no such thing as of thinking while at the same time “liberal ecofeminism.” 4 Liberal has be- recognizing that we lose nothing by come a tag for willing participation in accepting that some of these “archa- the patriarchal system, and I for one ic” feminists did pave the way for us am very wary of any “contributions” in loving and significant ways7. from this particular group. Continuing with the list of feminist Radical feminisms5, the second rivers that have historically watered stream that she mentions, have made the field, Gaard then mentions “wom- the most contributions to queer veg- anist ecofeminism” to pay homage to an ecofeminism, helping to thread the peculiar and particular aspects of together ecofeminism, animal libera- ecofeminism that pertain to the experi- tion, and goddess spirituality. How- ence of black women in the U.S. She ever, “some varieties of spirituality explains that she uses “the quality [sic] claiming to be ecofeminist are in fact of racism in the United States makes marred by essentialist claims about it theoretically useful to examine ques- the relationship between women and tions of international racial diversity nature. Some are apolitical or politi- separately” (40). I agree. One cannot cally apathetic” (Idem 39), and most think of Alice Walker’s novels, short of contemporary queer vegan eco- stories, poems, essays or even autobio- feminists that started out as cultural graphical work without thinking about “animal” ecofeminists6 have taken queer (vegan, at times) ecofeminism. care to re-examine some of their ear- Most ecofeminist work is undeniably lier claims that could be deemed es- white; this is both evident and ener- sentialist. I am constantly surprised vating. As usual, there is a lot of work at the fact that the entire body of to be done in this respect. Maybe one queer vegan ecofeminism especially day this almost-mandatory caution is still judged from a position that is will not be needed anymore. “Social- so dated and that has been left be- ist ecofeminism” draws on “socialist hind for so many years. Most of the feminism in bringing their concerns JIMÉNEZ. “Strange Coupling”... 385 about the intersections of race, class, and nuclear wastes, dumping of and gender oppression to an analysis industrial toxic wastes, struggles of the oppression of nature” (42). “So- over water rights and water qual- cial ecofeminism” is very similar in its ity, hazardous work sites and under- aims while it originates more strongly employment, substandard housing, from anarchist feminism, social ecol- toxic schools, transportation, eco- ogy, and the Left. These lest three nomic disinvestment, deteriorating strains, however, curiously emphasize infrastructures, as well as numerous the analysis of the hierarchical struc- other physical / social ills. (2)9 tures of capitalist, racist, classist and sexist oppression without taking into From its beginning, it was noto- account speciesism, and that makes riously impossible not to notice two them severely lacking for queer vegan main factors concerning the environ- ecofeminists like myself. How can any- mental justice movement: poor women one speak of the interconnectedness of and children are the most affected by everything and everybody and forget environmental injustice, and “women, the millions of non-human animals primarily women of color and working- tortured and murdered for human con- class women, compose approximately sumption every year? How can anyone 90 per cent of the active membership of speak of global warming without ad- many organizations (Idem). These are dressing the ’s immense the “street action” roots of both activ- responsibility in the degradation of the ist and academic ecofeminism as I un- planet? How can anyone speak of bal- derstand it today. Stein also argues— anced ecosystems when the consump- in an undeniably queer ecofeminist tion of GMO and antibiotic-laden dead stance—for the connection between non-human animals is destroying bio- environmental justice movements and diversity and human health? I do not the rights of sexual dissidents: “By an- think it is possible, whatever the inten- alyzing how discourses of nature have tion or the analysis of social / cultural been used to enforce heteronormativ- / economic structures. Furthermore, ity, to police sexuality, and to punish Gaard’s later reference in her mapping and exclude those persons who have of ecofeminist roots to “activist ecofem- been deemed sexually transgressive, inism” seems a bit old-fashioned from we can begin to understand the deep the perspective of contemporary eco- underlying commonalities between feminism. All ecofeminism is activist, struggles against sexual oppression necessarily, as I will now explain. and other struggles for environmental justice” (7). Pointing out the relation- Ecofeminism starts in environmen- ship between sexual and land exploita- tal justice movements (and to a less- tion is crucial to ecofeminist analyses er degree in animal rights advocacy that spring from environmental justice movements8). Environmental jus- movements. Extractism, for example, tices, explains Stein, encompass di- informs cheap labor policies that ex- verse issues such as land claims, ploit native people, especially women clear-cutting of forests, radiation and children, who are, also, the ones exposure from uranium mining who suffer the ecological consequences 386 Revista de Lenguas Modernas, N° 25, 2016 / 381-394 / ISSN: 1659-1933 of irrational capital-only-oriented busi- consciousness-raising (Stein 63-77). ness endeavors that commercialize All these strategies are core elements natural resources in their very bod- of activism, and all of them come from ies, often times in sexual violence and grassroots feminism and project into / or disease. In opposition to negative queer vegan ecofeminist activism as claims of essentialism, the reality first well—proving once again, how we all foregrounded by environmental jus- meet in the center of our struggles, tice activists shows how, essentially, that is, in the periphery of the mar- women’s bodies are precisely the site gins. Kaalund has studied the specific of enforced intoxication and disease. incidence of black women in the fight Indeed, “many women’s bodies and for environmental justice. She ex- family homes are now so permeated plains that “when black women stand by toxic threats that they no longer up and demand that there be clean offer safe space to inhabitants” (Stein air and clean water in their neighbor- 11)10 The ecofeminist / environmental hoods and follow these demands with justice struggle begins, as it has often actions (such as peaceful protests, ral- done in feminist struggle itself, in our lies, legal action, work slowdowns, and very bodies, in the land that houses so on), they make concrete the nexus our families’ homes and the health between ideology, moral agency, and of our children and loved non-human what is ‘real’ (Stein 83) This very valu- companions11. Both bodies of knowledge able recognition of the labor of black / activism seek justice, in the streets, women (ecofeminists of color even if infiltrating the guilty man-made-and- they do not identify as such) brings man-owned corporations, in academia us back to the interconnectedness be- and in our own personal, every-day lives. tween theory and activism, and envi- Environmental justice movements ronmental justice and ecofeminism. also remind ecofeminists of the simple Other specific examples in the 13 U.S. yet radical idea that the victims of en- include women’s admirable fight in in- vironmental racism, to name just one vestigating the environmental causes oppressed group (poor, sick women of the breast cancer that kills them, of color and their children) can take or the pollution that makes their chil- on entire governmental institutions dren suffer from pulmonary diseases and monstrous life-destroying cor- such as chronic asthma, or how the porations in saving their little bit of social construction of gayness affected Earth. Even if not every fight is won, the indifferent governmental response the mere fact of the resistance itself is to the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. proof enough of the unbreakable power Environmental justice movements / of those who have been socialized and theory / activist strategies show how represented as “powerless” in capital- these factors are all part of environ- ist patriarchal societies. According to mental racism / sexism / homophobia. Verchick, the processes involved in femi- As such, it is hopefully by now clear nist theory and environmental justice how these movements are worthy pre- require several strategies, such as ac- decessors (or co-siblings?) of the queer cess to , unmasking vegan ecofeminism. patriarchy, contextual reasoning12, and JIMÉNEZ. “Strange Coupling”... 387

In 1990 Carol Adams published word. I much prefer the word “vegan,” the seminal work The which unequivocally states the ethi- of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Criti- cal commitment to not eating / using cal Theory. Twenty years later she animals in any way. This includes not re-issued it with three prefaces, the eating animal flesh, not consuming an- original one, the tenth-anniversary imal by-products (dairy, eggs, leather, and the twentieth-anniversary ones. feathers, wool), not purchasing items That is the thing about vegan ecofemi- tested on animals, and not attending nism: it is as relevant today as fifty spectacles that include nonhuman ani- years ago, only that now everything is mals. In general, a vegan rejects any more urgent14. As all the issues that and all forms of the exploitation of vehement ecofeminists have been call- nonhuman animals. This is why in my ing attention to all this time have pre- work I use the term “vegan ecofemi- dictably gotten worse—I will return nist,” a term that in my opinion is suf- to this as I approach the conclusion of ficiently inclusive and appropriately this chapter15. Adams provided vegan describes both my theoretical position ecofeminists with the necessary tools and my personal lifestyle choice. The to analyze the violence to non-human controversial nexus of the issue goes animals parallel to the sexual violence beyond adherence to particular termi- to women, and this is a monumental nology and extends into the practice contribution. In 2003 Adams supple- of ecofeminist itself, espe- mented with The Pornography of Meat, cially when faced with trans-cultural focusing more directly on the visual issues. In other words, how is a vegan representations of patriarchal sexual ecofeminist ethics broadly applied or violence that link the exploitation of not applied in what I could easily call women and non-human animals16. I “non-human animal-eating cultural have decided to center this section of relativism.” Basically, I will try to sim- the ecofeminism survey (the questions plify an extremely complex discussion of and / or veganism) on by referring to three key issues: con- her ideas, as they still are the referent. textual moral veganism, moral repair, There has been plenty back-and-forth and claims of universalism. on the question of the consumption Emmerman speaks about moral and other abuse of non-human animals repair as a means to engage with the within ecofeminism. I think the contro- complexities of inter-animal conflicts17 versy is expectable, especially because in a very useful way. “Moral” here is the use of animal products cuts across understood as favoring what is right ecofeminists’ very every-day lives. over what is wrong. She starts by There is some debate as to the termi- stating her personal position on the nology here. “Vegetarian” means that matter as follows: “ A pluralist, non- a person does not eat animal flesh of hierarchical, and contextualized ap- any type. However, some people use proach to conflicts of interest helps us it broadly to mean that they do not recognize the complexity and plurality consume any animal product either of the interests at stake on all sides of a (like dairy or eggs). Especially in the conflict and it forces us to take a more theory, I have found both uses of the honest look at our dealings with others. 388 Revista de Lenguas Modernas, N° 25, 2016 / 381-394 / ISSN: 1659-1933

Moral life is in part about recognizing ecofeminist opposition to the hunting remainders as the norm, rather than of whales on the part of some native the exception” (Adams and Gruen cultures can be analyzed from a critique 163). What she ends up offering as a of the practice of veganism within means to cope with the moral ambigu- an industrialized, Western-cultural- ity of having made the choice to use an oriented perspective. Contextual animal product in a particularly life- moral veganism stands in opposition threatening situation is moral repair. to what has come to be known as vegan This strategy may seem like not doing universalism: the belief that everyone anything, really, but I find that it in everywhere in the world has the choice effect counters the linear, patriarchal to be vegan and should therefore reasoning based on the very bipolar become vegan and save non-human oppositions that feminists have spent animals from human exploitation ages fighting to debunk. Moral repair forever. Twine points out how “some is not about structural hierarchical popular proponents within the animal worldviews of domination. It speaks advocacy movement appear to assume to the queer vegan ecofeminist prac- that a universal veganism is a goal tice of constant self-examination and without first opening the question up transformation that echoes in com- for scrutiny” (Adams and Gruen 192). munal ecofeminist endeavors in very This is clearly both a mistake and a real ways. Moral repair should not be “weakness” that has been interestingly dismissed as “sentimental” or “useless” transferred to “those vegan ecofeminist but rather celebrated for focusing on women” in a typical systematic actual vegan ecofeminist practices of patriarchal move. Well, Twine does a daily existence / survival. Emmerman fine job at proving that, while vegan bravely suggests that “recognizing universalism is certainly a problematic that damage [to non-human animals], and limited (and limiting) perspective, seeing it for what it truly is, and con- the attacks aimed in its direction fronting what we might do about it is a tend to be essentialist themselves crucial part of navigating inter-animal and end up minimizing the global conflicts” (Idem 162).18 I believe that impact of an indeed universalizing a moral repair approach to certain cir- trend towards cheap meat-eating and cumstances where vegans have to use its devastating consequences on both non-human animal products is a valid the planet and non-human animals. A resource. point in fact, as he eloquently claims, The concept of moral repair also is “the implication has been for some touches on the key idea of contextual (even in the culturally limited example moral veganism, which basically of academic conference catering) argues, following the work of vegan that to advocate for vegan eating is ecofeminists like Warren, that food ethnocentric, exclusionary, or even practices regarding animals should racist” (Idem 194).19 My point is also not reproduce other social / cultural this: we do not have to accept a neurotic, / economic / ideological structures of bipolar vertical line of privileged choice oppression and / or domination. To / victim choicelessness in terms of the use one of countless examples, vegan eating of dead animals and / or dead JIMÉNEZ. “Strange Coupling”... 389 animal products. There must be ways to cultural relativism in terms of the dan- deal with the fact that speciesism and gers of contesting Western dominance the brutal and ethically unacceptable with defending cultural practices that industry of “meat”-production can be enforce and tackled in an inter-culturally sensitive the environment21. Mies and Shiva’s manner. I dislike relativistic contextual version of ecofeminism claims for care- approaches that are the equivalent of ful consideration of the fact that “the an inherently racist shrugging of the ‘symbioses or living interconnectedness’ shoulders: it is those people’s culture. both in nature and in human society are Yes, but maybe vegan ecofeminists the only guarantee that life in its full- can transcend internalized mental est sense can continue on this planet” obstacles such as ethnocentrism and (13). They are adamant in the premise cultural stereotyping and confront that “the liberation of women cannot be our vegan cultural racism in order to achieved in isolation, but only as part of discover useful and creative ways to a larger struggle for the preservation of overcome transcultural differences that life on the planet” (16) but remain silent blindfold us to the factual reality of the on the interconnectedness of the vio- horrific non-human animal suffering lence against women / the environment that supports and is supported by and non-human animals, which seems the very same macro-structures that to me strange and myopic, as they do are responsible for horrific human not even stop to talk about the capital- suffering worldwide. ist, transnational aspect of meat-eating So what are some of the most con- as an industry that is in effect destroy- temporary issues that ecofeminists are ing the planet. discussing in the now? What is going In spite of this glaring omission, on, other than a severe deepening of the their essays are full of knowledge and ecofeminist problems that they have very effective interconnection exercis- been pointing out for over twenty years? es. Shiva, for example, discusses sci- In yet one more revised edition of their ence-at-the-service-of-patriarchy thus: 1993 book Ecofeminism in 2014, Mies “ The reductionist world-view, the in- and Shiva propose a number of relevant dustrial revolution and the capitalist themes to consider contemporary issues economy are the philosophical, techno- in their introduction. These critics pro- logical and economic components of the pose keeping in mind the difference be- same process” (Mies and Shiva 24)22. tween freedom from oppression and the She goes on to discuss more fully the patriarchally-driven emancipation from major ecofeminist issue of genetic mod- nature that is responsible for so many ification as one of the main destroyers ecological tragedies; rejecting false of life on earth. Her general emphasis strategies such as equalization gender on agriculture, and the vicious corpo- policies that allow some women to share rate overtaking of agriculture is the in the spoils of capitalism while leaving fundamental component in the degen- the system intact; the pull towards the eration of both natural and human global while destroying the local20; and (and non-human, I would add) ecosys- the breakdown of universalist (West- tems23. Shiva threads the connections ern) ideologies and the emergence of between control of life-giving particles 390 Revista de Lenguas Modernas, N° 25, 2016 / 381-394 / ISSN: 1659-1933

(seeds) and violence against women, es- only life on earth. We are queer vegan pecially insofar as this corporate control ecofeminists. We fight for liberation annihilates subsistence economies (not of all slaves, human and non-human. even considered “economies” per se by Somewhere along the line, environ- the bank conglomerates that control the mental justice movements have become world’s resources, as their goal is bal- the heart of ecofeminist struggle, once anced survival of all and not profit for again, as everything is interconnected a handful). Seeds and food sovereignty to everything else. There is no escaping are intimately linked to another ecofemi- the complex and beautiful ecosystem of nist concern in terms of non-renewable life that touches us all: resources: the access to water, which, as we see time after time whenever we Across different contexts, in the North step into the field of ecofeminist analy- and in the South, in ecologically eroded sis, is multi-layered and interconnected zones and polluted places, women deeply with many other issues that fur- identify with the interest of the ther ghettoize the sustainability of the earth and their children in finding most vulnerable human and non-human solutions to the crisis of survival. groups: “The declining availability of wa- Against all odds they attempt to ter resources, due to their diversion for reweave the web which connects industry and industrial agriculture and their life with the life of their chil- to complex factors related to deforesta- dren and the life of the planet [and tion, desertification and drought, is a the life of all non-human animals]. severe threat to children’s [and women’s From women’s perspective, sus- and men’s and all non-human animals’] tainability without environmental health and survival” (Idem 81). So-called justice is impossible, and environ- “development,” hand in hand with the mental justice is impossible with- extreme impoverishment of over 80% of out justice between sexes and gen- the world’s population, has been the label erations [and species that share the that patriarchy has given to the devasta- planet!] (Mies and Shiva 85) tion of the environment and the deficient quality of life on earth that we face today. The issues that I have mentioned I ask, with Mies and Shiva, to whom does comprise a very small sample of the the future belong? vast universe of ecofeminist theory / It is easy to focus on the destruc- practice and activism. I will expand tion. But I ask you to look at the resis- more in the course of the analysis of tance as well. As feminists, we are used Ruth Ozeki’s two queer ecofeminist to backlash; we are used to passionate- novels All Over Creation and My Year ly working for years for conquests that of Meats. The diverse voices, the silenc- only our granddaughters will be able to es and the unoccupied spaces are just see fully developed; we are used to be- as valuable as the contradictions and ing vilified, isolated in academia, spat the lack of anti-speciesism and queer on in the streets and even incarcer- awareness. I will work side by side ated, tortured, raped, and murdered. with all to remedy, supplement and ex- We still go on; tirelessly, relentlessly, pand. That, for me, is the shape that we go on. We have nothing left to lose, theory is taking in my life right now. JIMÉNEZ. “Strange Coupling”... 391

Notes that is based on “revaluing attributes traditionally associated with women, a 1. I am fully aware that most of the mate- belief in the superior nature of women rial that I am using is from the United for nurturing and for ensuring health States. Rest assured that in future and survival” (Ecological Politics 38). chapter I will address both the spe- 7. One of the most significant moments cific history of ecofeminism in my geo- on my life as a queer vegan ecofemi- graphical location (Central America) nist was attending Mary Daly’s memo- and the racist, capitalist politics of rial service in San Diego, and being feminist publication both in the United able to hear her best friend Linda Ba- States and Latin America. rufaldi’s moving words in honor of her 2. In Gaard’s wise words: “Naming as friend and mentor. Linda told me on that inauthentic the ‘objectivity’ of the tra- occasion, while wiping the tears of her ditional researcher, feminist research face, holding her newly wed wife and methodology requires each scholar to partner of 38 years (you know, back describe her unique subjectivity and when gay / lesbian was not “cool”): suggests that the best scholars are “My one goal in life is to destroy patri- also full participants themselves in the archy.” I strongly believe that dismissing projects they are studying” (Ecological those courageous warrior women who Politics 5). came before us is disrespectful at best, 3. For Gaard, “women who may or may and patriarchal at worst. I honor these not have been activists began mak- women, these feminists, at the same ing the connections to ecofeminism time that my beliefs, theory and practice from their own personal experiences... evolve past them. Both acts of love are [For example:] earth-based spiritual not mutually exclusive or even contra- practices, memories from childhood, dictory. or simply moments of deep insight 8. Numerous ecofeminists have shown into the interrelationship of all life on repeatedly the multiple ways in which earth” (Ecological Politics 29). I think animal rights groups / movements / this quote evidences our different un- theory center around sexism, often derstanding of knowing from multiple exploiting female workers while mak- positions, which is definitely a plus in ing their voices and actions invisible or any counter-cultural movement / ideol- even supporting environments condu- ogy / body of theory. cive to and moles- 4. Gaard does mention the Women’s En- tation, to name just two aspects. While vironment and Development Organi- it is indeed very necessary to analyze zation, which does work to implement and expose these issues from an eco- actual policies to benefit women and feminist perspective, the endeavor ex- the environment but does so without ceeds the scope of the present study. challenging the institutions or the ba- 9. The introduction to Stein’s excellent sic unequal distribution of power in book opens with a quote from eco- patriarchal societies. feminist writer and activist Cherrie 5. Basically Daly and Griffin. Moraga, whose words I simply cannot 6. I agree with Gaard. refrain from transcribing here: “Land is a definite faux pas. It is a 70s strain remains the common ground for all 392 Revista de Lenguas Modernas, N° 25, 2016 / 381-394 / ISSN: 1659-1933

radical action. But land is more than ecofeminist struggles in my land. The rocks and trees… For immigrants and recent murders of turtle-defender Jairo natives alike, land is also the factory Mora in Costa Rica and river activist where we work, the water our children Berta Cáceres in Honduras are very drink, and the housing project where painful, real reminders of the extreme we live. For women, lesbians, and gay patriarchal violence continues to inflict men, land is that physical mass called not only on the environment but on the our bodies.” Here I see queer ecofe- very bodies of the people of color—MY minism in a (beautiful) nutshell. Once PEOPLE—who have bravely defended again, even if for analytical purposes innocent ecosystems and innocent we have to separate the two fields, it is non-human creatures from disgusting, evident that we cannot really do so, for corrupt corporate / governmental both are interconnected in deeply inti- unchecked greed and hatred of Life. mate (and political) ways. I met Moraga However, we will not stop fighting. This in San Diego State University and her and every single one of my individual talk revolved around women’s bodies, or collective offerings to the cause of race and sexuality and oppression. She justice will always keep Jairo, Berta, remains one of my biggest inspirations. and the countless murdered sisters 10. Here it is useful to refer to the same and brothers alive. author’s use of the term “sovereign- 14. “What makes today’s crisis different from ty,” as she explains, it “underlies many earlier ones is the exhaustion of the re- land and struggles and land claims, so sources which could earlier be used for that it includes the rights of women, the recovery of the economy,” says Mies gays and lesbians [and transgendered (xxix). The meat industry market has people, I must add], and people of co- also exploded (forced even into cultures lor to ‘inhabit’ their own bodies” (Stein that traditionally leaned more towards a 14). vegetarian diet via capitalism and its ma- 11. I believe this is environmental justice rriage to the media and advertising), with movement’s most disappointing limita- its accompanying environmental, health, tion: the hierarchical manner in which and non-human animal cruelty ecologi- it places non-human animals’ suffering cal / ethical disasters. in second place to humans. We should 15. In very simple terms, the sexual poli- be side by side, displaying the common tics of meat is a concept phrased by roots of our suffering, as queer vegan Adams which “means that what, or ecofeminists strive to show every day. more precisely who, we eat is deter- 12. Contextual reasoning is a feminist mined by the patriarchal politics of method that “enables activists to link our culture” (Preface to 10th Ann. Ed., environmental threats to racism, se- location 216, par. 21). I consider this to xism, and other forms of discrimina- be the crux of the patriarchal matter, tion” (Stein 67). as well as the reason I decided to be- 13. As a Latina, and even more, a come a strict vegan transformed into Central American queer ecofeminist theoretically-coherent language. I cannot not mention the obvious fact 16 I want to mention only one aspect that that I am personally very aware of Adams discusses in this text, macho “hu- environmental justice / queer vegan mor,” within her larger analysis of how JIMÉNEZ. “Strange Coupling”... 393

culture is constructed on patriarchal non-human animal companions alive rules of domination of women and non- and healthy. As I write these words, I human animals alike: “Sexual humor am filled with distress and anxiety— about women’s and nonhuman’s bod- again, as I constantly revisit and hope- ies teaches men how to look at women fully will one day be able to change and teaches women how to be looked this situation. I am also aware of the at and used” (28). financial privilege I enjoy to afford such 17. In her specific case she is referring to specialty brand-name foods. However, her dilemma, a strict vegan who was I also refuse to be judged (by others— physically incapable of breastfeed- especially non-vegan others—or my- ing her newborn son at a time when self) with extreme harshness because high-quality vegan formula for infants of all my minority identities. This is a was unavailable. Her choice to feed patriarchally-socialized, internal self-de- him cow milk-based formula made her structive mechanism that I refuse to par- confront the issue of contextual moral take in. I hope this exercise somehow veganism face to face. I would like to illustrated the daily ethical plights of this highlight the ways this brave vegan one queer vegan ecofeminist . ecofeminist uses a very painful, inti- 19. Tell this to the (I am sure countless) mate misfortune to problematize theo- queer vegan ecofeminists like myself retical vegan ecofeminist issues. who have eaten (probably pesticide- 18. I am going to use a very painful ex- ridden, GMO) rice for days at con- ample. I am a strict vegan, but not ferences while having to put up with strict enough to feed my non-human either the typical macho “vegan jokes,” companions vegan food. That is, my or dead animals being shoved in your dogs and cats eat processed food de- face to prove the “delectability” of the signed for metabolic excellence that meat, or the cold accusations of being comes from the exploited bodies of a privileged elitist for not eating animal other non-human animals’ dead bod- products. ALL of these are examples ies. I have had numerous devastating of institutional and socially-sanctioned health experiences with my compan- violence against us as dissidents to ani- ions that have convinced me that in mal cruelty and environmental murder. order to keep them healthy I have to 20. I could not agree more with the authors’ feed them those foods—those foods assertion that “ contrary to what it su- have at times saved their lives during ggests, the global does not represent critical life-threatening episodes. Am I universal human interest but a particular to be considered a hypocritical vegan? local and parochial interest which has A speciesist vegan? Simply a very self- been globalized thought its reach and ish contextual vegan? Another impor- control” (9). tant aspect to take into account is that 21. Mies and Shiva explain how grassroots in Costa Rica I cannot easily purchase movements that oppose the exploita- safe, high-quality vegan “pet” food. tion of local resources for global profit What can I do? For now I resort to some purposes are accused of “universa- variation of moral repair to those non- lism,” when in reality, “the universalism human animals that die and one of the that stems from their efforts to preserve consequences of their death keep my their subsistence—their life base—is 394 Revista de Lenguas Modernas, N° 25, 2016 / 381-394 / ISSN: 1659-1933

different from the Eurocentric universa- Bibliography lism developed via the Enlightenment and the rise of capitalist patriarchy” (13) Adams, Carol J. The Pornography of 22. Science, as one of THE major insti- Meat. Continuum, 2003. The Sexual tutions of patriarchy, is responsible Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegeta- for many of the horrors of ecological rian Critical Theory. 20th anniver- destruction in the world, but maybe sary edition ed. Continuum, 2010. a tad worse, because it has done so Adams, Carol J., and Lori Gruen, edi- with an amazing lack of remorse AND tors. Ecofeminism: Feminist Inter- even prestige! Shiva discusses the sections With Other Animals and responsibility (or lack thereof) in scien- the Earth. Bloomsbury, 2014. tific ethics committees, where “the Emmerman, Karen. “Inter-Animal profoundly immoral marriage between Moral Conflicts and Moral Re- science and force, science and mili- pair: A Contextualized Ecofeminist tarism, science and patriarchy” (Mies Approach in Action.” Adams and and Shiva 50) is never addressed. Gruen, 159-173. 23. Shiva is famous for her passionate Gaard, Greta Claire. Ecological Poli- defense of the seed, the seed of Life tics: Ecofeminists and the Greens. (impossible not to reach for the meta- Temple UP, 1998. “Toward a Queer phors here) and what its horrific gene- Ecofeminism.” Stein, 21-44. tic modification has done to the Earth: Kaalund, Valerie Ann. “Witness to “Modern -breeding is primarily an Truth: Black Women Heeding the attempt to eliminate the biological obs- Call for Environmental Justice.” tacle to the market in seed: its inhe- Stein, 78-92. rent ability to regenerate and multiply. Mies, Maria, and Vandana Shiva. Seed that reproduces itself stays free, Ecofeminism. (Critique. Influence. a common resource and under the Change.) ed. Zed, 2014. farmer’s control. Corporate seed has a Stein, Rachel, editor. New Perspectives cost and is under the control of the cor- on Environmental Justice Gender, porate sector or agricultural research Sexuality, and Activism. Rutgers institutions” (Mies and Shiva 29). UP, 2004. Unger, Nancy. “Women, Sexuality, and Environmental Justice in American History.” Stein, 45-60.