Why the Intersection of Feminism & Liberationism Matters

Home , Josephine Donovan, Pattrice Jones

Sexism & Speciesism: A Love Story

Presented by: Dominique De La Loza, Priya Sawhney, Sarah Foley & Kelly Witwicki THE INTERSECTION OF SEXISM & SPECIESISM

How are speciesism and sexism related to one another?

Speciesism and sexism are biases. speciesism: non-human animals are regarded as inferior to human animals; human supremacy sexism: women are regarded as inferior to men; patriarchy

These biases have given rise to institutions that situate and mormalize males in a dominant role with the control of females, and humans in a dominant role over animals.

Both discriminations are premised on the principle of “might makes right.”

Both raping other humans and eating other animals are premised on the same attitude: “I want it, I am able to take it, and I don’t care how the victim feels about it, so I’m going to take it.”

“... all oppressions are interconnected: no one creature will be free until all are free -- from abuse, degradation, exploitation, pollution, and commercialization. Women and animals have shared these oppressions historically, and until the mentality of domination is ended in all its forms, these afflictions will continue.” (Josephine Donovan & Carol J. Adams) THE INTERSECTION OF SEXISM & SPECIESISM

Why is feminism important to the animal rights movement?

All forms of oppression function in effectively the same way: They all rely on an imbalance of power.

All anti-oppression efforts are ultimately working toward the same objectives. While the target of each movement has a different focus, they are working against the same problems.

Examining the connections between different forms of oppression can be helpful in making more effective strategies for dismantling them and achieving total animal liberation.

”Patriarchy (male control of political and family life) and pastoralism (animal herding as a way of life) appeared on the historical stage together and cannot be separated… because they are justified and perpetuated by the same ideologies and practices.” (Pattrice Jones, “Their Bodies, Our Selves: Moving Beyond Sexism and Speciesism”) THE INTERSECTION OF SEXISM & SPECIESISM

What are these ideologies and practices of domination?

The institution of marriage: In a patriarchal setting, wives (as well as daughters) are essentially seen as the property of their husbands and fathers.

Animal farming: Animals who have been bred by humans to be dependent on us are used as property (which historically meant men’s property).

”The ‘right’ of a man to have sex with his wife whether or not she consents is conceivable only in the context of a worldview in which bodies are things rather than selves” (Pattrice Jones).

This same attitude is what our society uses to justify killing nonhuman animals and using their bodies without regard for them as individuals or subjective selves with interests. THE INTERSECTION OF SEXISM & SPECIESISM

What enables these oppressive trends to take place?

The ideology of ‘the logic of domination.’ Jones explains this in her talk, “Intersectionality in Theory and Practice” (International Animal Rights Conference in Luxembourg in 2013).

The logic of domination “patterns all forms of oppression.”

It does this by dividing the world into binary dualisms, or opposites, where one is valued as better than or superior to it’s opposite. Examples: male/female, human/animal, white/non-white or of color, reason/ emotion, nature/culture. (Plumwood)

”The dignity of humanity, like that of masculinity, is maintained by contrast with an excluded inferior class” (Plumwood, “Women, Humanity, and Nature”).

Sexism and speciesism are both products of this separation between two groups where one is elevated by normalizing the devaluation and subjugation of the other.

Overcoming both speciesism and sexism will require challenging and transcending these dualistic models. LANGUAGE AS A TOOL OF OPPRESSION

Justifying the Exploitation of Other Species

“Otherization” and creating the “animal other.”

Using “difference” as a means of justification.

Setting up a false dichotomy of “animal” vs. “human” and inferior vs. superior.

The false dichotomy of “animal” vs. “human” is so powerful and evocative that symbolically associating women with animals helps in their oppression.

Images of nonhuman animals—who have long been perceived as being inferior—are applied to women, creating a clear dichotomy between nonhuman animals/ women as being less of and men as being superior beings who are entitled to exploit and oppress. LANGUAGE AS A TOOL OF OPPRESSION

Language as a Tool of Exploitation and Oppression

“Discourse is a chain of language that binds us social beings together, it plays a key role in the social construction of reality.”

Language is key in creating a negative image and a distinction between humans and animals and this distinction is the essence of speciesism.

Feminists have long objected to “animal” pejoratives for women and the psuedogenerics man and mankind. These linguistic habits are rooted in speciesism, the assumption that other animals are inferior to humans and do not warrant equal consideration and respect.

Nonhuman-animal expressions and words frequently target woman: catty, shrew, dumb, bunny, cow, bitch, and many more.

“Woman as an animal” is a major category of “patriarchal epithets” and so the question is what attitudes and practices have prompted these epithets?

A nonhuman animal acquires a negative image. When metaphor then imposes that image on women, they share its negativity. LANGUAGE AS A TOOL OF OPPRESSION

Language as a Tool of Exploitation and Oppression

Woman as a “dog” implies that both are inferior and denies both dogs and women individual identities.

Woman as a “chick” reduces her to something to be used, because the hens referred to are exploited as mere bodies. An actual chick is exploited for her eggs and analogously a woman who is referred to as a “chick” is exploited by the sexist male for the sexual pleasure he claims from her body.

Woman as a “cow” characterizes women as fat and dull. This assumes that that’s what all cows are. Exploitation of the cow for her milk has also created a gender-specific image, since the cow is exploited on her uniquely female capacities to produce milk and “replacement” offspring. Bearing with it the concept of sexual domination and exploitation, the cow’s image easily transfers to human females.

Woman as a “bitch” carries a misogynist implication which becomes even more clear when taken into consideration the ways in which breeders treat female dogs: Female dogs are not only things to use to attain profit, but are treated with contempt, because they actively fight back against their oppressors, refusing to be passively raped. (Note that the word “bitch” is typically used on women in a position of power -- the term is meant to suggest that the woman does not know her “place” as a subordinate.) Using the term also implies that how we treat that animal is inherently her fault -- that she is simply by nature supposed to be raped and used as a machine for profit. LANGUAGE AS A TOOL OF OPPRESSION

Language as an Agent of Exploitation and Oppression

Exploiting the hen for her eggs, the cow for her milk, and the bitch for her ability to produce litters invites demeaning female-specific comparisons.

Comparison between women and domesticated animals are offensive, Baker concludes, because they “reflect a conception of women as mindless servants.” Without speciesism, domesticated animals would not be regarded as “mindless” and forced into servitude.

Our language is more far more speciesist than it is sexist because humans, as the article states, “have a verbal monopoly.” However, speciesism as mentioned above, gives way to sexism.

Speciesist language has consequences, the contempt conveyed towards animals in our discourse “legitimatizes their oppression.” Speciesist and sexist languages both foster exploitation and abuse and they recreate long-embedded ideas that animals and women are object to use and abuse. LANGUAGE AS A TOOL OF OPPRESSION

What does this mean? Why does it matter?

As activists, our motives have been questioned many times. Why are you doing this campaign? Why Direct Action? How come you don’t show images of slaughtered animals? How come we are talking about Animal Liberation and not addressing single-issues?

The answer is simple and it lies in our social environment and the socially constructed norms we have created. Our social discourse and our current social environment is deeply embedded in Speciesism, such that even if tomorrow activists liberated thousands of animals from fur farms and slaughter houses, those animals would be replaced in a heartbeat and the system would still flourish.

Social norms matter, confronting society’s speciesist views matters, discourse and language matter, and the way in which we construct our social world matters.

We take an intersectional approach because all oppression shares the same roots. Until we address speciesism in society by confronting normalized violence in our communities, sexism will not end. As we have discussed, sexism has its roots in speciesism and the two are mutually constitutive. LANGUAGE AS A TOOL OF OPPRESSION

How can we apply this directly to our communities and our activism?

Changing our discourse, changing our world.

Women adopt many of the attitudes, expressions, and language habits which oppress us and nonhuman animals as well. For example, using “bitch” with contempt towards another woman recreates the idea that both nonmale human animals and nonhuman animals are meant to be dominated by male human animals.

As we have learned, our language and discourse constructs our social world and using such expressions does have real consequences for both women and nonhuman animals—it acts in further legitimizing their oppression.

Where changing our discourse is important, it’s also important to confront those who use problematic language. LANGUAGE AS A TOOL OF OPPRESSION

How can we apply this directly to our communities and our activism?

Disrupting the false “animal” vs. “human” dichotomy.

In order to oppress animals, first it needs to be justified, the false difference between “animal” and “human” is created (speciesism) and a negative image is applied to nonhuman animals. When those negative images are then in turn imposed upon women, they share its negativity.

We are all animals. Humans are animals. To create this separation between humans vs. “animals” (a reductive category used to suggest that a chimpanzee is more closely related to a gecko than a human) implies that humans are superior to all other beings. The false dichotomy enables the human supremacy myth.

Identifying ourselves as animals erases the artificial line humans have drawn through the animal kingdom, around the group of beings who are decidedly similar enough to be designated to the “human” species. (Such a construction of reductive categories -- of species, race, or any label -- reduces every unique individual member of that classification to a falsely homogenous group of supposed identical beings, when in truth no two humans -- or two “whites” -- are completely identical, and all members of the category have a great deal in common with all beings outside that classification. Where the outgrouping line of “Other” is drawn is decided, not naturally existing. This is important to be mindful of.) THE ROLE OF FEMINISM IN THE ANIMAL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Feminism is about seeking equality for all sexes and genders, not about hating men. Female and male humans alike should feel empowered to call themselves “feminists” and fight for everyone’s right to not be objectified and subjugated. THE ROLE OF FEMINISM IN THE ANIMAL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Acting Before We Think

“Traumatic knowledge asks that the trauma-provoking experience be stopped and thus acts insistently upon us. At times we feel frantic - there is so much to be done. I must do anything to stop the suffering… but this urgency is dangerous. We sometimes make decisions based on this urgency, losing sight of the need to evaluate.” (Carol Adams, “The Challenge of Animal Rights” Plenary address, Animal Rights West Coast Conference, August 1-5, 2003) THE ROLE OF FEMINISM IN THE ANIMAL RIGHTS MOVEMENT