Vegan Feminist Activism Then and Now COREY L. WRENN PHD UNIVERSITY OF KENT PAST CHAIR, ANIMALS & SOCIETY SECTION OF THE ASA COREYLEEWRENN.COM VEGANFEMINISTNETWORK.COM VEGANSOCIOLOGY.COM Feminist Criminology, Green Criminology, and Nonhuman Animals ❖Feminist theory and social justice efforts well aligned, yet… ❖Mainstream criminology historically under-theorized the female experience ❖Green Criminology similarly lacks adequate intersectionality… ❖Increasing attention to nonhumans (Beirne & South 2007, Beirne 2009, Stretesky et al. 2014) ❖But frequently male-authored and lacking gender lens ❖Focuses primarily on free-living species (Taylor & Fitzgerald 2018) ❖Species-inclusive feminist criminology prioritizes themes of domestic violence A. Van Gundy. 2015. Feminist Theory, Crime, and Social Justice. Routledge. Beirne, P. and N. South. 2007. Issues in Green Criminology: Confronting Harms Against Environments, Humanity and Other Animals. Routledge. Beirne, P. 2009. Confronting Animal Abuse : Law, Criminology, and Human-Animal Relationships. Rowman & Littlefield. Stretesky, P., M. Long, and M. Lynch. 2004. The Treadmill of Crime. Routledge. Taylor, N. and A. Fitzgerald. 2018. “Understanding Animal (Ab)Use: Green Criminological Contributions, Missed Opportunities and a Way Forward.” Theoretical Criminology 22 (3): 402-425. Vegan Feminist Theory ❖Symbolic intersections ❖Consumption is key ❖Turned into “meat,” fragmented, objectified ❖Bodies are bought, sold, and consumed by those in power ❖Institutions responsible for violence against animals are male-dominated ❖Resistance is disproportionately enacted by women Adams, C. 2010. “Why Feminist-Vegan Now?” Feminism & Psychology 20 (3): 302-317. Adams, C. and J. Donovan (Eds.). 1995. Animals and Women: Feminist Theoretical Explorations. Durham: Duke University Press. Donovan, J. 1990. “Animal Rights and Feminist Theory.” Signs 15 (2): 350-375. Luke, B. 2007. Brutal: Manhood and the Exploitation of Animals. Champaign: University of Illinois Press. Three Waves ❖1st – Victorian ❖ Vivisection ❖ Dog and cat homelessness ❖ Humane education ❖ Vegetarianism distinct movement ❖2nd – 60s-2000s ❖ Vegetarianism and AR combine ❖ Dogs and cats, vivisection, and farmed animals ❖3rd- 2000-today ❖ Veganism and farmed animals ❖ Animal welfare ❖ Professionalism Women & the First Wave ❖Heavily supported by women volunteers and donors ❖But male-led (women actively marginalized in tightly controlled auxiliaries) ❖Animal advocacy a response to modernization/Industrial Revolution ❖Resistance to masculine ideologies and industry Bates, A. 2017. Anti-Vivisection and the Profession of Medicine in Britain. Palgrave. Animal Advocacy and Gender Politics ❖Relations with other animals had wider social implications ❖Civilization and the colonies ❖Moral, well-kept homefront ❖Many of the leading animal advocates were also key leaders in the feminist movement (and other social justice causes) Bates, A. 2017. Anti-Vivisection and the Profession of Medicine in Britain. Palgrave. Donald, D. 2020. Women Against Cruelty. Manchester University Press. Charlotte Despard As Movement Establishes… ❖Hierarchical movement structures ❖Inequalities emerge ❖Traditional gender role expectations ❖Androcentrism Lousia May Alcott ❖Celebrity-worship Women and the Second Wave ❖Brigid Brophy, The Rights of Animals (1965) ❖Peter Singer as the “father” (O’Sullivan) ❖Women dominate rank-and-file ❖FAR forms in 1981 ❖Calls for women-only collectives Women and Third Wave Animal Activism ❖Autonomous and community-based grassroots collectives of the 1970s and 80s become state- recognized nonprofits (Wrenn 2019) ❖Hierarchical nature of most organizations disadvantaged women; movement took on an increasingly male face (Kheel 1985) ❖Activists of all genders willingly suppress stereotypically feminine behaviour and promote a masculine front to the public (Groves 2001) Groves, J. 2001. “Animal Rights and the Politics of Emotion.” Pp. 212-232, in Passionate Politics: Emotions and Social Movements. University of Chicago Press. Kheel, M. 1985. “Speaking the Unspeakable: Sexism in the Animal Rights Movement.” Feminists for Animal Rights Newsletter 2 (1): 1-6. Wrenn, C. 2019. Piecemeal Protest: Animal Rights in the Age of Nonprofits. University of Michigan Press. Injustices within the Movement ❖Sexual harassment and assault (#MeToo) ❖“I’d Rather Go Naked Than” campaigning ❖Rape culture in advocacy materials and demos ❖Social movement prostitution Wrenn, C. 2016. “Social Movement Prostitution: A Case Study in Nonhuman Animal Rights Activism and Vegan Pimping.” Griffith Journal of Law & Human Dignity 4 (2): 87-99. Wrenn, C. 2013. “The Role of Professionalization Regarding Female Exploitation in the Nonhuman Animal Rights Movement.” Journal of Gender Studies 24 (2): 131-146. Conclusion: What is Vegan Feminist Activism? ❖Female-dominated animal rights movement ❖Recognition of intersecting oppressions ❖Fighting for animal rights with a gendered lens ❖Issues with patriarchy within animal rights spaces.