The Sexual Politics of Meat by Carol J. Adams

THE SEXUAL POLITICS OF MEAT A FEMINISTVEGETARIAN CRITICAL THEORY Praise for The Sexual Politics of Meat and Carol J. Adams “A clearheaded scholar joins the ideas of two movements—vegetarianism and feminism—and turns them into a single coherent and moral theory. Her argument is rational and persuasive. New ground—whole acres of it—is broken by Adams.” —Colman McCarthy, Washington Post Book World “Th e Sexual Politics of Meat examines the historical, gender, race, and class implications of meat culture, and makes the links between the prac tice of butchering/eating animals and the maintenance of male domi nance. Read this powerful new book and you may well become a vegetarian.” —Ms. “Adams’s work will almost surely become a ‘bible’ for feminist and pro gressive animal rights activists. Depiction of animal exploita- tion as one manifestation of a brutal patriarchal culture has been explored in two [of her] books, Th e Sexual Politics of Meat and Neither Man nor Beast: Feminism and the Defense of Animals. Adams argues that factory farming is part of a whole culture of oppression and insti- tutionalized violence. Th e treatment of animals as objects is parallel to and associated with patriarchal society’s objectifi cation of women, blacks, and other minorities in order to routinely exploit them. Adams excels in constructing unexpected juxtapositions by using the language of one kind of relationship to illuminate another. Employing poetic rather than rhetorical techniques, Adams makes powerful connections that encourage readers to draw their own conclusions.” —Choice “A dynamic contribution toward creating a feminist/animal rights theory.” —Animals’ Agenda “A cohesive, passionate case linking meat-eating to the oppression of animals and women . [It is] a well-researched, provocative, and stimulating argument.” —Th e [Australian] Age “Th e Sexual Politics of Meat is an excellent book. Combining a knowl- edge of recent work in language studies . with a clearly defi ned moral line, Adams argues that the cruelty and doublethink involved in meat eating is closely linked to the attitudes that have supported the oppres sion of women.” —Oxford Times “With this bold and provocative book, a powerful champion of animal rights has entered the lists, challenging the patriarchal domina- tion of the Western world’s eating habits.” —National Women’s Studies Association Journal “Th e Sexual Politics of Meat couldn’t be more timely, or more dis turbing.” —Environmental Ethics “Th e Sexual Politics of Meat is a book from which those opposed to all forms of tyranny can draw sustenance.” —San Antonio Light “I found this book to be loaded with ideas and connections that I never before read or heard. Drawing on historical and literary paral- lels between feminist and vegetarian movements, Adams details the interrela tionships between meat eating and male dominance. To talk about vegetarianism, she says, is to threaten one of the pillars of patriarchy. Adams also makes a strong case for animal rights.” —Vegetarian Times This page intentionally left blank THE SEXUAL POLITICS OF MEAT A FEMINISTVEGETARIAN CRITICAL THEORY Carol J. Adams TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY EDITION 2010 Th e Continuum International Publishing Group Inc 80 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038 Th e Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd Th e Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX www.continuumbooks.com Copyright © 1990 by Carol J. Adams New material copyright © 2000, 2010 by Carol J. Adams All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publishers. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN: 978-1-4411-7328-7 Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India Printed in the United States of America Copyright acknowledgements will be found on page 329, which constitutes an extension of this page. In memory of 31.1 billion each year, 85.2 million each day 3.5 million each hour, 59,170 each minute and in memory of Mary Daly (1928–2010), my fi rst reader: She opened worlds where we found ourselves at home It is not possible now, and never will be, to say I renounce. Nor would it be a good thing for literature were it possible. Th is generation must break its neck in order that the next may have smooth going. For I agree with you that nothing is going to be achieved by us. Fragments—paragraphs—a page perhaps: but no more. Th e human soul, it seems to me, orientates itself afresh every now and then. It is doing so now. No one can see it whole, therefore. Th e best of us catch a glimpse of a nose, a shoulder, something turning away, always in movement. Still it seems better to me to catch this glimpse. —Virginia Woolf to Gerald Brenan Christmas Day, 1922 We have learned to use anger as we have learned to use the dead fl esh of animals, and bruised, battered and changing, we have survived and grown and, in Angela Wilson’s words, we are moving on. —Audre Lorde “Th e Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism” Say Stella, when you copy next, Will you keep strictly to the text? —Jonathan Swift “To Stella, Who Collected and Transcribed His Poems” CONTENTS Illustrations . xi Preface to the Twentieth Anniversary Edition . 1 Preface to the Tenth Anniversary Edition . 9 Preface to the Original Edition . .25 Foreword by Nellie McKay . .33 Acknowledgments . .38 Part One: Th e Patriarchal Texts of Meat Chapter 1 Th e Sexual Politics of Meat . .47 Chapter 2 Th e Rape of Animals, the Butchering of Women . .64 Chapter 3 Masked Violence, Muted Voices . .92 Chapter 4 Th e Word Made Flesh . 117 x CONTENTS Part Two: From the Belly of Zeus Chapter 5 Dismembered Texts, Dismembered Animals . 135 Chapter 6 Frankenstein’s Vegetarian Monster . 148 Chapter 7 Feminism, the Great War, and Modern Vegetarianism . 162 Part Th ree: Eat Rice Have Faith in Women Chapter 8 Th e Distortion of the Vegetarian Body. 191 Chapter 9 For a Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Th eory . 216 Epilogue: Destabilizing Patriarchal Consumption . 240 Notes . 247 Select Bibliography. 289 Twentieth Anniversary Bibliography. 310 Index . 319 ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1 Ursula Hamdress . .65 Figure 2 Liberate Your Language . .95 Figure 3 Mrs. Pig, horrifi ed by her son’s choice of words. 101 Figure 4 He as a Major Power; She as a Minor Power . 103 Figure 5 Joseph Ritson as his contemporaries saw him. 139 Plate Section 1: Top: “We’re about to reveal something you’ll really drool over,” Arby’s in Sports Illustrated; bottom: “classic double breast burger,” Nando’s, Australia. xii I L LUSTRATIONS 2: Top: “X-Stream Stripper,” Carruthers Equipment Company in Poultry; bottom: “Hot Chick” billboard. 3: Clockwise: Ludacris album cover, “Chicken N Beer;” Dixie Chicks Escorts, Atlanta; Hooters billboard; Heinz Hot Ketchup; Rachachuros Seasoning; Food Service Buyer. 4: Clockwise: “Eat Beef” bumper sticker; Father’s Day ad, Dallas Morning News: America’s Top Model (2008) photoshoot; “Eat me” magnet; Burger King ad distributed through the Internet. 5: Left : public service ad for Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 2008; right, top: Ribs N’ Blues ad; bottom: title of book review from the Times Literary Supplement. 6. Top: headline from the New York Times Men’s Fashion Magazine (2008); left : temporary tattoo; right: photo of a sausage, Czech Republic, 2009. 7: Left : “Roo Raper,” Australia; right “F-You Tofu,” newspaper ad, College Times. 8: Clockwise: feminist-vegan culture jamming; Soy Milk? Bumper sticker; “Feminism and Meat eating: a contradiction in terms!” button; “Milk comes for a grieving mother” poster, Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary; “Animal Liberation is a Feminist Issue” button. Preface to the Twentieth Anniversary Edition of The Sexual Politics of Meat Imagine the day when women walk down streets and are not harassed, stalked, or attacked. Imagine the day when we don’t need battered women’s shelters. Imagine the day when the most frequent mass murderers in our culture are NOT those who kill their families. Better yet, imagine the day when we live in a world where women are safe wherever they are, family members are safe within their homes, and we don’t have mass murderers. Imagine the day when people respond to someone who says “but I need my sausage in the morning,” by saying, “oh that’s so 20th century. You know, the century when some of the earliest people talking about climate change were animal activists who understood the interconnections between environmental destruction and animal agriculture.” Better yet, imagine the day when people no longer feel they need a “sausage” in the morning. Imagine the day when women and children are not sold into sexual slavery or prostituted or pornographed. Better yet, imagine the day when equality, rather than dominance, is sexy. Equality isn’t an idea; it is a practice. We practice it when we don’t treat other people or other animals as objects. We practice it when we ask “what are you going through?” and understand that we ask the question because it matters to all of us what some are experiencing. Once upon a time, people thought vegan food wasn’t tasty and that feminists were puritans. Th ey thought that if you accepted the 2 THE SEXUAL POLITICS OF MEAT logic of Th e Sexual Politics of Meat it meant you had to give up things, you had to “sacrifi ce.” Th e entire point of the sexual politics of meat is that there is something on the other side of this culture of oppression—and that something is better, better for us, better for the envi- ronment, better for relationships, better for the animals.

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