Horizontal Women, Redux
March 17th, 2009 8:38 pm by Kelly GarbatoThis is extent of interaction allowed between piglets and their mothers “living” on modern factory farms:
If you consume meat, eggs or dairy, this is what you support. The alienation and separation of mothers from their children. The reduction of the female body to a meat- and/or milk-producing machine, wherein babies constitute the “meat,” and the milk meant for them is stolen and sold to humans who have absolutely no need for the stuff. Rape, murder and ecocide.
Parents: how would you feel if someone abused your child in such a cruel manner? If someone tore her from your side, and denied her all but the most basic of maternal comforts?
Women: have you really no sympathy for your animal sisters, singled out for especially brutal abuse and exploitation – all because they’re capable of giving rise to new life? Some miracle.
100 million pigs. 100 million mothers, daughters and sons. 100 million reasons to go vegan.
Photos via Animal Rights Advocates Inc.
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See also:
“A cow is so much like a woman”
“…even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings…”
Book Review: The Pig Who Sang to the Moon by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (2003)
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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare meat food pork factory farming intersections parallel oppressions animals and women Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson the pig who sang to the moon pig sow piglet ethology animal behavior flickr photos farm sanctuary books farmed animals
March 31st, 2009 at 5:16 pm
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March 31st, 2009 at 5:23 pm
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March 31st, 2009 at 5:24 pm
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April 1st, 2009 at 9:04 pm
And I love how supporters of this certain type of cruelty are like, “If we don’t cage pigs like that they’ll roll on top of their babies.” Umm? GIVE THEM MORE ROOM! Oh my goodness…
April 2nd, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Krista – It’s interesting you mention it, as Masson refuted that justification for farrowing crates in the book. In nature, mother pigs build straw nests for their babies; in the event that they *do* “roll onto” a piglet (or a piglet’s otherwise jostled about), the piglet simply slips through the loosely packed straw and finds his way back to the nest.
On the other hand, if a mother pig rolls onto her youngster on a concrete floor, of course she’ll crush the piglet. The solution isn’t to crate her to floor, it’s to give the family more natural surroundings – dirt floors, access to grass and hay, etc. (or, better yet, to not imprison them at all).
To fault the pigs for their abusive situation and to claim you have to “protect them” from themselves – it’s the height of victim blaming and arrogance.
April 4th, 2009 at 10:51 am
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