History of Feminism

ismnotwasm

(41,998 posts) Tue Jun 18, 2013, 02:38 PM Jun 2013

Gender Policing the Vegan Woman

(I am not a vegan; I found this article interesting as the author very articulately points out that even in the "anti-speciesism" movement, sexism prevails. It may be very interesting to vegan feminists, I've read a number of great essays by women involved in that movement)

Advocating on behalf of other animals is a political protest that is often hugely influential to a woman’s self-identity. But to challenge the institution of animal use is to challenge the institution of male dominance. On one hand, women who take on “masculine” traits in their advocacy are met with hostility. On the other, women who perform their gender “appropriately” are not taken seriously due to their femininity. Many academics have been critical of PETA’s sexual objectification of female advocates, but only a handful has discussed the sexism that structures the movement as a whole. Even fewer on-the-ground advocates have touched on gender discrimination and policing. For the most part, the female experience is omitted from animal liberation discourse.

Race politics, too, tend to go ignored in Nonhuman Animal rights claimsmaking. A June 6, 2013 post on an anti-speciesism website, Free From Harm, urges readers to “help stop the practice of ‘live sushi’,” which they call “barbaric,” “vulgar” and a “shame to the Japanese people.” I responded with the suggestion that such a campaign reinforces structural racism. Sensationalizing particular acts of cruelty committed by people of color encouraging prejudice and facilitates a sense of white superiority. I received a response very similar to my work against sexism. Advocates, who were mostly white, attacked me viciously, accusing me of “playing the race card” for intentional trouble-making. One even diagnosed me with a mental disorder.

While race plays an important role in the repertoire, people of color are often tokenized. That is, especially atrocious manifestations of racism (like slavery) are drawn upon to make a case for anti-speciesism. Yet, as Dr. Breeze Harper has theorized, the current experiences of people of color are ignored or denied in vegan outreach efforts. Major organizations pay little to no attention to the reality of environmental racism, food deserts, and ongoing human abolitionist advocacy. While Harper and other vegan women of color have been vocal about this marginalization, the Nonhuman Animal rights movement tends to operate as though in a post-racial society where enslavement and discrimination are a thing of the past. This post-racial position presumes that everyone has equal access to vegan alternatives and present-day people of color are disconnected from their history of colonization and racism.

History has shown us that women can prove a powerful force in advocating for social change. Yet, in the social movement arena, what tactics and measures are considered legitimate and helpful are still managed closely by men (and the women socialized to support them). The Nonhuman Animal rights movement has an added layer of complexity in that speciesism is an offshoot of patriarchy and the movement itself maintains a patriarchal hierarchy of command. Policing femininity and omitting feminist critique has the unfortunate consequence of reinforcing sexist stereotypes and limiting women’s potential contributions. This omission makes building bridges to other social movements difficult. Ultimately, the movement’s conception of oppression is fragmentary and anti-speciesism is left anything but inclusive.

http://thefeministwire.com/2013/06/gender-policing-the-vegan-woman/