V for Vegan: easyVegan.info » Animals & Women http://www.easyvegan.info Heathen. Vegan. Feminist. Sat, 11 Feb 2012 01:49:43 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 furkid friday: dogs and books (and books about dogs) http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/06/03/furkid-friday-dogs-and-books-and-books-about-dogs/ http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/06/03/furkid-friday-dogs-and-books-and-books-about-dogs/#comments Fri, 03 Jun 2011 22:05:46 +0000 Kelly Garbato http://www.easyvegan.info/?p=18415 Today we have an extra-special furkid friday/Shout Out two-fer! (Dogs and books, books and dogs; throw in pizza and netflix, and that’s all you really need in life, amirite folks?) I even redesigned the old Colbert Report SHOUT OUT! graphic for the occasion!

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Animated gifs, they’re all the rage. Alas, I was lazy and in a hurry and only used four frames for this one, so it’s a bit choppy. But still, animated Stephen! Times two!

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The props go to Columbia University Press, which kindly sent me a copy of Creaturely Poetics: Animality and Vulnerability in Literature and Film by Anat Pick, a senior lecturer in film and program leader for film and video: theory and practice at the University of East London. From the book’s back cover:

Exploring the “logic of flesh” and the use of the body to mark species identity, Anat Pick reimagines a poetics that begins with the vulnerability of bodies, not the omnipotence of thought. Pick proposes a “creaturely” approach based on the shared embodiedness of humans and animals and a postsecular perspective on human-animal relations. She turns to literature, film, and other cultural texts, challenging the familiar inventory of the human: consciousness, language, morality, and dignity. Elaborating on such themes as witnessing, commemoration, and collective memory, Pick identifies the animal within all humans, emphasizing the corporeal and its issues of power and freedom. Through her poetics of the creaturely, powerlessness is the point at which aesthetic and ethical thinking must begin.

This looks like an interesting read for those concerned with how portrayals of nonhumans in pop culture – literature, film, television – both reflect and inform societal attitudes and ethics towards our fellow sentient beings. (In other words, me!) If you’d like to learn more, check out the book’s listing on Columbia University Press.

I tried my best to snap a photo of Peedee and/or O-Ren with Creaturely Poetics – mock reading it, or some such other cutesy silliness – but neither was feeling very cooperative. (Too hot!)

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That’s okay, though; truth be told, I wasn’t trying that hard anyway. (TOO HOT! Seriously, have I mentioned how hot it’s been lately? We’re looking at a week of 90 degree weather with 70%+ humidity. Ick!)

Probably now is a good time to mention that I recently updated my policy re: gifts for review? Between the books I’ve received through Library Thing’s Early Reviewer program and my various blogs, I’ve fallen woefully behind on reviews. (And just as I’d almost caught up!) While all vegan goods (including topical books) will be rewarded with an on-blog shout out, I can’t guarantee reviews of unsolicited items. If in doubt, contact me first. (Hint: edible vegan nomz and clothing are especially welcome and likely to be reviewed quickly, since they’re much more easily consumed than literature. I especially love pizza and ice cream. I’m also totally into hosting contests and giveaways. THINK ABOUT IT!)

That said, my motto when it comes to books is this:

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Unhelpful advice frog says: “Hugs stack of unread books beside bed. BUY MORE BOOKS.”
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Hey, I’m only human! Weak and undisciplined and uncharacteristically optimistic when it comes to my ability to read all the 3,000+ books I own and continue to accumulate!

And so this week I also ordered and received a copy of The Revolution Starts at Home: Confronting Intimate Violence Within Activist Communities, edited by Ching-In Chen, Jai Dulani and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (2011) and published by South End Press. Given my interest in sexism and misogyny as it relates to animal rights and activism – and recent allegations of sexual assault and partner abuse from within the animal advocacy community (see, e.g., Peter Young and Nick Cooney*) – this seems a timely anthology indeed.

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Here’s a brief synopsis from the publisher’s website:

The extent of the violence affecting our communities is staggering. Nearly one in three women in the United States will experience intimate violence in her lifetime. And while intimate violence affects relationships across the sexuality and gender spectrums, the likelihood of isolation and irreparable harm, including death, is even greater within LGBTQI communities. To effectively resist violence out there—in the prison system, on militarized borders, or during other clear encounters with “the system”—we must challenge how it is reproduced right where we live. It’s one thing when the perpetrator is the police, the state, or someone we don’t know. It’s quite another when that person is someone we call friend, lover, mentor, trusted ally.

Based on the popular zine that had reviewers and fans alike demanding more, The Revolution Starts at Home finally breaks the dangerous silence surrounding the “open secret” of intimate violence—by and toward caretakers, in romantic partnerships, and in friendships—within social justice movements. This watershed collection compiles stories and strategies from survivors and their allies, documenting a decade of community accountability work and delving into the nitty-gritty of creating safety from abuse without relying on the prison industrial complex.

Fearless, tough-minded, and ultimately loving, The Revolution Starts at Home offers potentially life-saving alternatives for creating survivor safety while building a movement where no one is left behind.

Hop on over there for additional info, including a TOC and author bios. The volume also has its very own tumblr, and of course is being covered on the INCITE! blog as well.

The zine on which the book is based – The Revolution Starts at Home: Confronting Partner Abuse in Activist Communities (2009) – is available for download (for free!) @ INCITE! Also, if you haven’t yet read Why Misogynists Make Great Informants: How Gender Violence on the Left Enables State Violence in Radical Movements – written by Courtney Desiree Morris and originally published in make/shift magazine’s Spring/Summer 2010 issue – please do so now. I highly recommend it.

I’ve added both Creaturely Poetics and The Revolution Starts at Home to my list of recommended reading (anthrozoology and intersections, respectively) – which I continue to update, albeit sporadically. If you have a suggestion, I’m all eyes!

Finally, if the half-assed manner in which I’ve pulled off this week’s furkid friday is any indication, this is most likely the series’ finale. I’m just not that into it. Or rather, I’m not into blogging just to blog. No fun! I’d rather wait until I have something worth saying, you know? Even if it only comes once every two months.

Besides, I’m thinking about starting a private, personal blog (DIARY! THERE I SAID IT! BUT IT WILL NOT BE PINK!) where these gratuitous dog pics would be more at home. What do you think? Do any of you still journal? It seems so quaint in the age of twitter and facebook and tumblr; why bother writing if you’re not going to release your every through out into the world in expectation of immediate feedback, hopefully in the form of unadulterated adoration from your peers?

Holy crap do I feel old. Also: hungry. Dinner time, methinks. Happy Friday, y’all!

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* ETA: I’ve no desire to argue the merits of either case in this here space; I’m simply naming each as a recent example of partner abuse allegations, as well as the dizzying, woman-hating clusterfuck that inevitably arises when such accusations are leveled against men.** Any man, really, but particularly men who are wealthy, powerful, and/or well-respected within/idolized by their communities. On a non-AR related note, see e.g. Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

** This is not to suggest that men are never the victims and women, the victimizers. Or that all violence is opposite-sex. Apologism and victim-blaming may vary.

]]> http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/06/03/furkid-friday-dogs-and-books-and-books-about-dogs/feed/ 0 Tweeting Mother’s Day (Again!) http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/05/09/tweeting-mothers-day-again/ http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/05/09/tweeting-mothers-day-again/#comments Mon, 09 May 2011 16:39:46 +0000 Kelly Garbato http://www.easyvegan.info/?p=18284

A vegan vanilla cupcake topped with vanilla buttercream and
shredded coconut. Staked in the middle is a cute, pink and yellow sign
wishing the nom-er a Happy Mother’s Day!
CC image via flickr user mishl982.
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In honor of Mother’s Day, I spent much of yesterday tweeting about veganism, motherhood, and the exploitation of female bodies in animal industries (with an obvious emphasis on agriculture). In fact, those of you who follow me on twitter probably saw your feeds flooded by my steady stream of tweets! (Sorry for that, y’all!) In comparison to last year, I planned ahead this time: the day prior, I queued up a bunch of tweets using Hoot Suite, so that they’d begin posting while I was still snuggled up, all warm and cozy in bed (under a dog pile several layers deep, no doubt). Once I awoke and was reassured that it was working correctly, I scheduled the rest of the day, with a tweet going out every five or ten minutes until nearly 11PM. Way easier and more consistent than doing it by hand throughout the day! (Also, possibly less obnoxious, though only slightly so.)

After the jump you’ll find a digest of all of yesterday’s tweets (minus the ones for which I used twitter’s built-in RT feature. For some silly reason, those don’t make it into the list. Sigh.) If you compare this to last year’s round-up – which I totally don’t expect anyone to do! – you’ll find that I recycled many of 2010′s tweets, but also added quite a few new ones as well. This is partially due to laziness on my end, I admit. But also, when I went over last year’s list, I had a hard time trimming it down: so many of the posts, articles, photos, pamphlets, etc. were that compelling. I hope you agree!

I’m already working on a list of resources for Father’s Day (June 19) so if you have a blog, post, idea or theme you’d like to suggest, I’m all eyes!

Smooch!

“Smooch!: Both Tommy (left) and Freedom (right) were rescued from slaughter. Tommy is an Angus, raised for meat consumption. Freedom is a male Jersey, a dairy breed. Male dairy calves are unwanted and sent to auction and raised for veal or backyard slaughter. Now both live at Animal Place and obviously Freedom loves Tommy!”
CC image via Marji Beach on flickr.
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]]> http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/05/09/tweeting-mothers-day-again/feed/ 0 Bittersweet Mother’s Day Kisses & Vegan Birthday Wishes, Redux http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/05/08/bittersweet-mothers-day-kisses-vegan-birthday-wishes-redux/ http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/05/08/bittersweet-mothers-day-kisses-vegan-birthday-wishes-redux/#comments Sun, 08 May 2011 19:29:59 +0000 Kelly Garbato http://www.easyvegan.info/?p=18266
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This morning, I woke to vomit in the bed. Kaylee vomit, to be exact, which makes the situation slightly less bad than it might otherwise have been. (Also, it helps that it wasn’t on my pillow. Yes, that has happened. To Shane! Muahahaha….)

“What’s the diff?” you’re probably wondering; “Puke is puke, is it not?” Actually, there’s a 50-50 chance that I can match a pile of vomit to a dog – or at least one of my dog-kids – based on its content: Peedee likes to steal and nom on my earplugs, Ralphie is a grass and dirt eater, and during the spring and summer months Kaylee turns into a decidedly non-vegan bug hunter – but that’s beside the point. Kaylee vomit – and mishaps involving bodily fluids – is different ’cause it comes from Kaylee. Sweet, sweet Kaylee, who’s suffered so much in her short life – yet harbors not one resentful cell in her entire being – and with whom it’s impossible to become angry. At least, not for more than a split second at a time.

It’s difficult to celebrate Mother’s Day without also mourning for the billions of nonhuman animals whose reproductive systems and maternal instincts we exploit for our own gain: “laying” hens, “dairy” cows, “breeding” sows, and so on. For many vegans, it’s those females farmed for food who have come to symbolize motherhood hijacked and corrupted on Mother’s Day. But for me – a vegan who’s only visited a handful of farmed animal sanctuaries, and has yet to befriend and know a cow, hen or sow on a personal level – Kaylee is the representation of motherhood subverted.

Today I’d like to republish a piece I wrote for her last Mother’s Day. Every word rings as true now as it did then. More so, even: during the last two years, I’ve been struggling with some minor but chronic health issues. Whereas the other dogs – as much as I love and adore them – oftentimes add to the stress with their constant demands for attention and occasional doggy outbursts (bark! bark! bark!), to the point that I sometimes have to hand them off to Shane … not Kaylee.

While I long to comfort, coddle, pamper her – as a down payment on the debt humanity owes her for the pain she and so many like her have endured at our hands – so often, too often, it’s she who takes care of me. Rarely does she ask; never does she take. Most times, she is content to lay beside me, graciously accepting strokes and kisses; laments whispered. She is unflappable in her devotion and, despite all that she’s been through, manages to exude a sense of calmness. Of peace and pleasure, long delayed.

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Always soft but steady in her presence … my rock, made from marshmallows. She keeps me sane.

Happy mother’s day to all the moms in the world: human and non, biological and adoptive, same and cross-species, of all genders, ages and orientations. I hope you have a compassionate and peaceful day! And to those who are separated or estranged from your mother(s), my heart is with you.

P.S. My birthday is tomorrow, but my wish remains the same: live vegan, or at least as vegan as your life circumstances will allow.

Bittersweet Mother’s Day Kisses & Vegan Birthday Wishes
May 9th, 2010 12:40 pm by Kelly Garbato

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This Mother’s Day, I think of Kaylee. Kaylee, the dear, sweet, mild-mannered, infinitely lovable old(er) lady we adopted three and a half years ago. Kaylee, my baby girl. One of three. Seven, if you consider those loved and lost.

This morning, as I cuddled Kaylee in bed, silently wishing her a happy Mother’s Day, I thought of her – and her own babies. In her Life Before Us, Kaylee was not spayed. Nor was she fed, housed, vetted, or otherwise cared for. Her body – large, mushy, misshapen – tells the tale of babies birthed, nursed, and…what? Oftentimes – and especially on days like these – I reflect upon this question. Where are Kaylee’s babies now?

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What do they look like? Short, stocky, white and mushy like her, or…more like their father, wherever he may be? Do their butts wiggle like hers, in anticipation of a meal, a treat, or even just a bowl to lick? Do they experience the same insatiable hunger as their mother, whether for physical or emotional nourishment? Are their barks, so infrequently voiced, characterized by the same pained (at times bordering on hysterical), wookie-like roar of their mother? Perhaps, dog willing, their life circumstances have not fostered within them the same fears that drive their mother.

Have the humans they encountered on their life’s path shown them the kindness and compassion that Kaylee has known from us – or have Kaylee’s babies only seen the cruelty and neglect that marked her own Life Before Us?

Where are Kaylee’s babies now? What became of them? Did they live into adulthood, find partners of their own choosing, and start canine families of their own? Does Kaylee have grandbabies (great-grandbabies?!), scattered throughout the Midwest, rising from a peaceful night’s sleep and celebrating the new day, so beautiful and promising, perhaps pressed up against the warm, cozy bodies of their own people, just as their grandmother is now doing?

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Or have Kaylee’s children fared worse than their mother? Was Kaylee even allowed to nurse her newborn pups – however many “litters” she may have had – before they were taken from her and given to other human families…families who prefer puppies to adults, because they’re “so much cuter,” blank slates to mold, shape and (eventually) discard?

Perhaps, unwanted and inconvenient, they were dumped on the doorstep of the nearest pound: the “luckiest” pups, adopted; the others, euthanized killed. Maybe the day- (hour-?) old babies were simply drowned in a pond or toilet, tossed out like so much trash. Possibly Kaylee’s humans took no notice of her pregnancy, and she and her babies were left on their own, to freeze or starve to death in a dingy backyard, in the depths of winter or during the cold, lonely night.

As I gaze upon Kaylee – into her deep, brown, trusting eyes – I wish desperately that this is not the truth of her existence. I hope she also had a Life Before Them, as well as a life after; that the situation from which she was rescued was just a temporary blip in an otherwise happy and peaceful being. I hope she knew, loved and nurtured her babies, every bit as much as I do her.

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Watching her with Rennie – the perky little piglet to Kaylee’s mama sow – I know in my heart that Kaylee would have been – no, was – a wonderful mother, for however long the humans in her life allowed her to be. Kaylee is kind, patient, gentle and loving; I am sure that she loved and protected her babies fiercely. Her children would have been lucky to have her. I know I am.

I wish I could bring Kaylee’s babies back to her; every mother deserves to know her babies, to raise them on their own terms, and to see them off into adulthood when the time has come…naturally. (Canine, bovine, porcine, human – it matters not. A mother is a mother is a mother.)

Failing that, all I can do is mother her, and let her mother me. She is at once my baby and my second mother: dependent, as all domesticated animals become when we humans “master” them; but also loving, nurturing, maternal – almost obsessively so – like any good mother.

I hope that Kaylee carries her babies in her heart (so large a heart it is! both figuratively and, sigh, literally.), since she could not keep them by her side.

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Happy Mother’s Day, my Kaylee. Dream sweet dreams of your babies today – and may they dream sweet dreams of you.

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Today also happens to be your oh-so-humble blogger’s birthday. Lest you be overcome with the desire to shower me with gifts, I ask instead that you go vegan, if you haven’t already. The flesh you eat, the milk you drink, the eggs you scramble – all come from the bodies of enslaved, tortured, exploited and murdered mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, sisters, brothers and friends. They are someones, not somethings; and they deserve to experience life, in all its splendor and sorrow, every bit as much as do we.

If you are already vegan, on behalf of the billions of “food” animals slaughtered annually, I thank you.

Finally, throughout the day today, I’ll be tweeting Mother’s Day from the perspective of nonhuman mothers. Please join me, if you can.

]]> http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/05/08/bittersweet-mothers-day-kisses-vegan-birthday-wishes-redux/feed/ 2 furkid friday: happy mother’s day http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/05/06/furkid-friday-happy-mothers-day/ http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/05/06/furkid-friday-happy-mothers-day/#comments Fri, 06 May 2011 20:05:29 +0000 Kelly Garbato http://www.easyvegan.info/?p=18235
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Scenes of compassion, consideration and love from my own life.
Counterclockwise, from top-left: the family of geese who shared “my” pond last year,
and who have returned again this season (no goslings yet though!);
my sister Michelle and brother Mike cuddle and comfort our canine sibling Shadow
shortly after surgery to repair her shattered back leg;
Ralphie and I share a moment during a sentimental visit to
our old neighborhood in Fairport, NY; and
a mother cow licks her baby clean.
Sadly, both were the property of our former landlords, and are most likely ground beef by now. It was a privilege to live next to such lovely creatures – but one constantly clouded by sadness and despair, given their near-certain fate. The knowing can be painful; but the not knowing is far, far worse. Go vegan, for you and for them.
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One does not need to be human to feel the deep-seated instinct to protect her babies, to seek the warmth of one’s mother. When animal advocates point out the obvious – that mothers and their babies suffer profoundly when they are separated, that harming one’s baby causes emotional trauma to the mother – we are accused of anthropomorphizing. We are portrayed as having centers as squishy as marshmallows, as having naive, sentimental, childish minds. In fact, it is a cold biological imperative, not just an emotional one, that drives a mother to want to nurture and protect her young: entire species would be wiped out if not for a mother’s instinct to defend her babies. I think, though, that it’s highly arrogant and self-serving to presume that humans alone have an emotional stake in their babies’ livelihoods. [...]

One also doesn’t need to be a mother to be deeply driven to protect another. Long before I ever had a baby, I felt the same kind of adrenaline surge when someone intentionally whipped a hard rubber ball at my dog as I would have if he had done that same thing years later to my son. I chased that guy down the beach, screaming at him, and he ran away as if his life depended on it. Maybe it did. I’m a non-violent person, but you don’t mess with the ones I love.

For Mother’s Day, I propose that we honor this natural drive within all of us to protect the ones we love, the ones who depend on our consideration, by not consuming the products of exploitation and cruelty. This common thread of wanting our babies to thrive is natural and noble, a key part of our essential being. Whether we are men or women, children or adults, human or hen, that universal mother is in all of us. Let’s celebrate without exploiting another innocent mother who had not only the autonomy of her body but also her babies stolen from her for our appetites. Let’s connect to that profound mothering spirit that links us together. She wants her babies to be well and protected from harm. I think we can understand.

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone.

….with extra special hugs and kisses (and a few odd few bitter tears) to Miss Kaylee, of course.*

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* Usually I stick with the status-neutral “Ms.,” but Kaylee prefers “Miss.” It makes her feel young, yo!

** The quote is excerpted from The Universal Mother… by Marla Rose, the one and only Vegan Feminist Agitator. Read and share, please and thanks.

]]> http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/05/06/furkid-friday-happy-mothers-day/feed/ 0 Consuming Women, No. 6: blender? He hardly knew her!* http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/03/14/consuming-women-no-6-blender-he-hardly-knew-her/ http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/03/14/consuming-women-no-6-blender-he-hardly-knew-her/#comments Mon, 14 Mar 2011 17:06:13 +0000 Kelly Garbato http://www.easyvegan.info/?p=17358 Trigger warning for violent imagery, some of which involves female nudity, under the jump.**

A subsidiary of the department store Beymen, blender bills itself as a “concept store.” (Caution: meat-loving hipsters ahead!) The “concept” (scare quotes because the whole concept of a concept store is way too fucking pretentious for this thrift store shopper to stand), as you may have already surmised, involves the pairing of fashion with misogyny, the conflation of sex and violence, and the linkage of women and nonhuman animals: consumable objects, unite!

With several locations in Istanbul and Ankara, Turkey, blender doesn’t just sell clothing and assorted shiny baubles; oh no! Nor are body dysmorphia and low self-esteem its only wares. Ever the hipster-catering douchebags, each blender store is also home to a butcher shop! Because nothing accents a $500 white angora scarf quite like ghastly blood smear stain. (No, really!)

Curiously, blender attempts to sell its audience on this concept by treating at least half of them like pieces of meat, too!

Blender Concept Store - Butcher Shop

In what is perhaps the most egregious example of the “woman as meat” meme that I’ve seen yet, this ad for “concept store” blender hits a new misogynistic low. Set against a monotone backdrop, a woman – almost mannequin-like in her blankness – hangs suspended in a supine position. Her nearly-naked body – her photographer/exploiter has so generously allowed her a gaudy amount of jewelry as well as black “fuck me” stiletto pumps – is carved into pieces. Each cut reveals a cross-section of “meat” – muscle, gristle, bone – underscoring the similarity between “us” and the “other,” the nonhumans who are our “meat.” Discrete links of chain dangle from the ceiling; at the end of each is a large “fish” or “meat” hook.
In each hook, a dismembered body part.

As always, the model/meatstuff is predictably thin, light-skinned, blond-haired, and conventionally attractive. Her stare is blank, emotionless, creepy;
think Paris Hilton’s “sex tape,” minus the night vision.

The advert’s tag line reads, “The concept store with a butcher shop.”

Fittingly, Ads of the World refers to this ad as “Blender Concept Store: Butcher Shop.”
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Though the misogynist “Butcher Shop” ad above suggests that blender caters primarily to men, it does sell women’s clothing and accessories as well. Once you enter the website past the landing page, the first image to appear is that of a pair of men’s jeans – coupled with a bloody, raw steak.

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The text under the slide reads, “These JBrand jeans | go well with a manly dinner.”

From there, you can continue browsing the men’s clothing items, or navigate (somewhat clumsily) to other categories of goods.

The website’s main feature is a series of four slideshows: one each representing men’s and women’s clothing (rtw) and accessories (shoes & bags). Each individual slide juxtaposes an item of clothing with a concept, feeling, or activity: a goes well with b; if you like x, you will like y. Whereas the men’s slideshows are featured more prominently, more total slides are dedicated to women’s clothing and accessories. (The men get 14 clothing and 2 accessory slides; the women, 20 and 8, respectively. See Appendix A for a rundown.)

The images are somewhat subject to traditional gender stereotyping, with greater potential for gender transgression in the women’s slides. For example, the men’s slides stress danger and adventure; cue: motorcycle stunts, road trips, boxing, and retro acts of rebellion. All served with an unhealthy side of meat.

Oh, the meat! 3 out of 14 of the men’s clothing slides (or 3/16 total) involve thick, “juicy” (read: bloody) hunks of manly meat. (Nothing says masculinity like heart disease, constipation and e. coli!) In addition to the very first slide (mentioned above), there’s:

blender (screenshot 05)

Slide #6, in which a super-sized piece of steak is coupled with a photo of a strutting male model, decked out in black skinny jeans, a black and white checked (flannel?) shirt, a black scarf and matching cap, and a gray (wool? fleece?) jacket. (Forgive me; a fashion maven, I am not.) “If you like our Dukkan steak | you might also like this J.V. Star USA jacket.”

and

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Slide #13, which pairs a thick, greasy hamburger with an image of two jeans-and-tee-wearing teenage slackers hanging out in a industrial park or similar. (There’s lots of graffiti, concrete and metal around.) “If you like our Dukkan hamburger | you might also like this [sic] DeHoghten jeans.”

An additional image of “manly” animal exploitation – a comical caricature of masculinity in and of itself – involves (wait for it!) BEAR WRESTLING!

blender (screenshot 06)

Slide #8 depicts the same red and gray checked flannel shirt, both draped on a hanger and worn by a slightly wild-eyed man. He prowls the forest, fists balled tightly at his side, angrily searching for a hapless bear to brutalize (at least, this is what we’re meant to assume). “This manly John Varvatos Star USA shirt | goes well with wrestling a bear.”

MANLY, MEAT-EATING MEN ARE SO MASCULINIST AND MANLY AND MERCILESS IN THEIR MASCULINITY! I bet that dude could flagellate a bear into unconsciousness with his bare penis! (The puns, I bring ‘em.)

In contrast, only 1 out of 20 of the women’s clothing slides (or 1/28 total) promote meat consumption:

blender (screenshot 10)

Slide #9 pairs a photo of a female model strutting down a runway with a rather amateurish photo of a plate of meatballs. “This Paul & Joe cardigan | goes well with a dinner of Swedish meatballs.” I don’t know about y’all, but when I see an overpriced, dry clean only cardigan, I immediately start craving greasy finger food!

(This example in particular highlights a key difference between the male and female slideshows: whereas the men’s images seem to be matched on the basis of feelings and emotions, the women’s are more literal or aesthetic. The women’s images complement each other visually, the men’s, viscerally. E.g., in this slide, the shape of the meatballs mirrors the circular, button-like shapes that decorate the runway. Ditto: the brown color of the meatballs and the brown and beige tones found in the model’s backdrop. But I digress.)

Not surprisingly, both the men’s and women’s slideshows also include depictions of positive human-nonhuman relationships with “pet” animals:

blender (screenshot 09)

Slide #6 – This playful Love Moschino blouse | goes well with your best friend. (I.e., an uber-adorable, totally cute and fluffy dog wearing a large, red bow.)
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blender (screenshot 08)

Slide #2 (in men’s shoes & bags) – This retro John Varvatos Star USA boot | goes well with the next punk revival. (As is represented by a kitten sporting a mohawk, striped face paint, multiple ear piercings, and a skull necklace; note to Lemmy: your future Halloween costume, you’re looking at it!)
——————————

thus reflecting our culture’s inconsistent and speciesist attitudes toward different “types” of nonhuman animals: some are for loving; others, eating; and still others, wearing. (And, if blender has its way, some are even potential UFC contestants!) Of course, this dissonance is only compounded by the clothing and accessories available for purchase at blender, many of which appear to be made of animal skins and fibers.

In summary, most of men’s interactions with nonhuman animals are marked by dehumanization, objectification, domination, dismemberment, and/or consumption. Though they receive greater visual representation, only one of the women’s slides overtly shows women engaging in cruelty toward animals. Even while reinforcing traditional gender roles vis à vis our treatment of nonhuman animals, blender tries to hawk its wares – including freshly butchered farmed animals – to men and woman alike.

That they do so using images of human women, similarly butchered and brutalized, is a bit of tragikarma (like a tragicomedy, but minus the lolz) in and of itself. For as long as we accept that some of our sentient kin – brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers – are ripe for consumption, we risk being turned into consumable items ourselves.

Hat tip to Katrina Fox for the image.

—————-

* Hate that “joke.”

** Trigger warnings for images of violence against animals, both human and non: yay or nay? Or are visual and textual descriptions of violence against animals a given on this blog?

—————-

Appendix A: blender Slideshows

Man, rtw

01 – These JBrand jeans | go well with a manly dinner.
02 – This Lot 78 top | goes well with staring out of a Manhattan diner all day.
03 – This Love Moschino coat | goes well with eating a marmalade sandwich.
04 – This Paul & Joe suit | goes well with a good corset.
05 – This DeHoghton jacket | goes well with speed racing.
06 – If you like our Dukkan steak | you might also like this J.V. Star USA jacket.
07 – This Paul Smith jeans-shirt | goes well with an evening listening to Joy Division.
08 – This manly John Varvatos Star USA shirt | goes well with wrestling a bear.
09 – This John Varvatos Star USA jacket | goes well with some vintage badges.
10 – If you like this William Rast outfit | you might also like being a rebel.
11 – This so-edgy-it-hurts Zadig & Voltaire outfit | goes well with an attitude people can feel across the room.
12 – This tight Zadig & Voltaire tee | goes well with a smouldering stare.
13 – If you like our Dukkan hamburger | you might also like this [sic] DeHoghten jeans.
14 – If you like this Paul Smith shirt | you might also like road tripping.

(Slides 1, 6, 8 and 13 include images of animal exploitation; none are suggestive of positive human/nonhuman interactions.)

Man, Shoes and Bags

01 – This John Varvatos Converse | goes well with Babyshambles.
02 – This retro John Varvatos Star USA boot | goes well with the next punk revival. [omg it's a kitten with a mohawk!]

(Slide 2 is ADORABLE!)

Woman, rtw

01 – These super-tight JBrand jeans | goes well with a spot of cowgirl chic.
02 – This Love Moschino designer outfit | goes well with being in charge of a designer office.
03 – The details on this timeless DeHoghten jacket | go well with a knight in shining armour.
04 – This sumptuous Elisabeth & James dress | goes well with a night at the cabaret.
05 – This 3.1 Phillip Lim dress | goes well with getting your priorities straight .
06 – This playful Love Moschino blouse | goes well with your best friend. [i.e., a dog wearing a large, red bow]
07 – This Maison Martin Margiela dress | goes well with a Whirpool galaxy.
08 – These Maje Jeans and long sleeved shirt | go well with a baguette fight.
09 – This Paul & Joe cardigan | goes well with a dinner of Swedish meatballs.
10 – If you like this William Rast outfit | you might like the open road.
11 – If you like this Tara Jarmon dress, you | might like picnics in the country. [the second image is that of a mother cow and her child grazing in a small backyard yard, seemingly on a bucolic "small farm" in the country]
12 – If you like these Tara Jarmon pants | you might like being a femme fatale.
13 – If you like this Williams Rast outfit | you might also like being a rebel.
14 – If you like this Zadig & Voltaire top | you might also like a wild night out.
15 – These Maje Jeans | go well with a ride on the Highway to Hell.
16 – This Paul&Joe jacket | goes well with a girl’s best friend. [i.e., diamonds and other shiny baubles]
17 – If you like this Zadig & Voltaire knitwear | you might like being a little bit spooky.
18 – If you mike this Tara Jamon dress | you’ll like a little bit of mystery. [the second image is of a black horse with inflated black balloons obscuring her head]
19 – If you like this Zadig & Voltaire vest | you might like this very expensive diamond skull.
20 – This gorgeous Elisabeth&James top | goes well with a late afternoon ride on this schwable.

(Slide 9 includes an image of animal exploitation, whereas slide 6 is suggestive of a positive human/nonhuman relationship. Also featuring nonhuman animals, slides 11 and 18 are a bit more ambiguous.)

Woman, Shoes and Bags

01 – This 3.1 Phillip Lim bag | goes well with a perfect shade of red lips.
02 – This Marc by Marc Jacobs bag | goes well with your own private transportation. [i.e., a horse]
03 – This uber-slick Australia Luxe Collective | goes well with a stylish boyfriend.
04 – If you like this Dr. Martens | you might also like digging for gold.
05 – This Pierre Hardy boot | goes well with a walk under the clouds.
06 – This Marc by Marc Jacobs lace up boot | goes well with a quiet boat ride with friends. [on what looks like a fishing boat?]
07 – This velvety smooth Australia Luxe Collective boot | goes well with a midnight rendezvous.
08 – If you like this Pierre Hardy sneaker | you’ll like the new General Elektriks album.

(Slides 2 and 6 include images of what could be interpreted as animal exploitation.)

]]> http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/03/14/consuming-women-no-6-blender-he-hardly-knew-her/feed/ 0 “I’ll make them love it.” http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/03/08/ill-make-them-love-it/ http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/03/08/ill-make-them-love-it/#comments Wed, 09 Mar 2011 00:06:51 +0000 Kelly Garbato http://www.easyvegan.info/?p=17527

I WANT What You’ve GOT by Shell123ey on YouTube
——————————

Trigger warning: while the picture primarily rests on the narrator’s face, there are a few brief flashes of disturbing images, including a “downed” cow and a “dairy” cow suffering from mastitis. You can listen to the audio alone if this is likely to upset you.

——————————

This video made the rounds on Facebook a few weeks back, and – while I meant to post it right away – I wanted to transcribe the audio first, so that those who can’t view the vid can at least get its gist. So if I seem late out of the gate, that’s why.

This is a short but powerful piece; whereas one vegan described it as

Angry and strident, but well-done and packs a wallop.

and, in the same breath,

Likely counterproductive for viewers over, say, age 20, but perfect for pissed off teens.

(let head-scratching commence), this 32-year-old begs to differ. Angry and strident, yes; but also a heart-wrenching appeal to our shared kinship with nonhuman animals – who, like us, love and care for their families; experience a wellspring of emotions, including pain, fear, joy and empathy; and are traumatized by the unceasing bodily violations to which they are subjected in the name of convenience and privilege. A mother is a mother is a mother. Sisters, us all.

In my estimation, this is a message that only becomes more powerful and potent with age.

###

You’ve got something that I want. And do you know what I’m going to do to get it?

I’m going to confine you in a rape rack and I’m going to forcibly impregnate you. I’ll likely confine you afterwards.

Then, when your baby’s born, I’m gonna kill it. Then I’m gonna take what I wanted from you.

I’m going to hook you up to a machine that’s going to suck your secretions from you until you bleed. You’ll likely get infections. Your body will swell with puss from where the machines have been sucking you. And after a while, you’ll be so sore that you won’t be able to walk.

Then I’m going to market your secretions as a “product.”

I’m going to tell everyone that if they want to be healthy and strong, they must drink your secretions.

I’m going to put posters up in schools.

I’m going to tell parents that if they want their children to grow up big and strong, then they must feed your secretions to them.

I’m going to make your secretions part of the standard food pyramid, so that everyone will accept that drinking your bloody, puss-filled secretions is healthy for them.

I’ll add addictive flavors and sugars to make people drink more and more of your secretions.

I’ll make them love it.

I’m going to make it so ingrained into their culture that anyone who argues that drinking your secretions isn’t healthy is deemed as “crazy.”

You know that this is blatant violation of your rights to your own body – but I’m going to call it “farming.” “Dairy farming.”

And you know why I’ll get away with it?

Because you look different from me.

And you can only moo.

###

]]> http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/03/08/ill-make-them-love-it/feed/ 0 Intersectionality ‘Round the Interwebs, No. 25: Vegan nomz & Bowl-a-thons! http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/03/06/intersectionality-round-the-interwebs-no-25/ http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/03/06/intersectionality-round-the-interwebs-no-25/#comments Sun, 06 Mar 2011 18:00:13 +0000 Kelly Garbato http://www.easyvegan.info/?p=15580
Vegan cookies are distributed

Vegan cookies are distributed at a Prop 8 rally in Riverside, CA, circa 2008.
CC image via Flickr user lierne.

For this edition of Intersectionality ‘Round the Interwebs, let’s start with some shiny happy news for a change, shall we? Namely, cross-movement bridge-building with vegan nomz and bowl-a-thons!

(Take note, carnists and defensive omnivores: vegans are not, in point o’ facts, all single-minded activists who prioritize nonhuman over human animals. Also: we are quite capable of multitasking, thankyouverymuch.)

Vegan Protest Fuel: Feeding the protesters in Madison, WI

Vegan Protest Fuel is the first of two projects I’d like to share with y’all (and, if you happen to have a little extra scratch laying around, encourage you to contribute to). Started just last week in response to the ongoing protests in Wisconsin, the good folks at Vegan Protest Fuel deliver vegan food to peaceful protesters defending their rights – because “Everyone Needs to Eat.” Naturally, their first campaign is feeding “the tenacious heroes in Madison, WI, who are fighting to preserve their precious collective bargaining rights and for economic justice in their state against a radical conservative governor and assembly.” Over time, they hope to expand their program throughout the United States and, possibly, the world.

Powered by tofu: it’s not just a slogan on a tee, yo.

See also: Food Not Bombs, Food for Life Global, HIPPO, A Well-Fed World and Ample Harvest.

Team Vegan Vixens: Bowling for abortions in the National Abortion Access Bowl-a-Thon!

Team Vegan Vixens needs your support in the National Abortion Access Bowl-a-Thon! Held throughout the month of April,

The Bowl-a-Thon is a nationwide series of local events that allow community members (you!) to captain your own bowling team, participate in a kickass national event – and raise money to help women and girls pay for abortions they couldn’t otherwise afford.

Abortion Funds are local, grassroots groups that work tirelessly to help low-income and disadvantaged women who want an abortion and do not have enough money to pay for it. Abortion Funds help women pay for their abortions, help them buy bus or plane tickets, and even offer women a place to stay when they have to travel for an abortion. Abortion Funds make a difference in women’s lives…and you can join them!

With $236 raised so far, Team Vegan Vixens is currently the top fundraiser for the Chicago Abortion Fund, which ranks #8 overall. Help Team Vegan (Vixens!) represent by pledging your support. Or sign up to participate your own bad self!

Fuck yeah, pro-choice vegans.

Katrina Fox @ The Scavenger: Racism versus speciesism: A moral battleground?

In the course of attending a feminist conference in Sydney in April 2010 – and subsequently planning for the next conference in 2011 – the subject of vegan catering became a point of contention between vegan and non-vegan attendees. Vegan feminist Katrina Fox writes of the debate that ensued in online forums; whereas some non-vegan women of color took the position that an all-vegan menu would be racist and colonialist in its imposition of western values on indigenous Australians, vegans argued that defending the exploitation of nonhumans on purely cultural grounds is speciesist. (Incidentally, I’m one of the white vegans quoted in the article.)

While I come down firmly in the former camp (meat and animal byproducts, I asserted, hold great cultural significance in Western societies as well; Thanksgiving Day corpses and attendant family dramas, anyone?), I hope that all vegans and animal advocates will read this piece with an open mind. On Facebook and elsewhere, I spotted a disheartening number of class- and race-privileged comments along the lines of “what’s race got to do with it?,” “why must people be so divisive?,” and (my personal least favorite) “omg special interests!”

Though I disagree that animal exploitation can be justified by “tradition,” I’m also in disagreement that we’ve entered some new “post-racial” era, where race and class privilege (etc.) are suddenly rendered moot. In industrialized nations, for example, people of color, urban dwellers, and those living in poverty face a number of barriers to obtaining fresh, healthy foods – not to mention, health care, a good education, employment and the like – than those with privilege. Recognizing and addressing these issues can only make us stronger as a social justice movement.

On Nonhuman Slavery: Speciesism, Racism and Sexism Intertwined: Presentation by Nekeisha Alexis-Baker

Wake Up Weekend – Nekeisha Alexis-Baker from Calvin Video Network on Vimeo.

Along these lines, Fox also cites this presentation by Nekeisha Alexis-Baker. A self-described black woman vegan, Alexis-Baker links the oppression of nonhuman animals to that of marginalized humans, including women and people of color.

“The same ideology that supports speciesism is present in ideologies that encourage and justify sexism and racism…As a black woman who is vegan, I am particularly sensitive to the ways in which forms of exploitation are intertwined… So rather than being concerned with animal liberation or women’s liberation or black and other people of color’s liberation, I think we need to understand how they are all tied together and to know that we can’t free one group if we allow the same kinds of oppressive ideologies to enslave another group. Liberation has to come for all.”

The presentation was part of Wake Up Weekend 2009, “a two day celebration of animal-friendly food, art, education, and advocacy,” held in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Clocking in at 36 minutes, the video is a bit lengthy – but well worth a watch. (If anyone knows of an online transcript, please share? I was unable to find one.)

vegansaurus!: HOT GIRL-ON-VEGETABLE ACTION! Great move, Peta!;

Time: Cracking Down on the Super Bowl Sex Trade; and

Reuters: Super Bowl a magnet for under-age sex trade

Although I briefly addressed PETA’s 2011 Super Bowl ad last week (see: “PETA is about as feminist as it gets.”), the links bear repeating. In addition to everything that meave said, over on her FB page, Carol Adams observed that sex trafficking – including that of underage girls – was expected to increase in Texas during the Super Bowl:

Because the hoopla surrounding the Super Bowl has expanded beyond Game Day to an entire week of parties and other festivities, large numbers of pimps and their workers flood into the host city each year. In Miami last year, police estimated that as many as 10,000 prostitutes from outside the area arrived for Super Bowl week.

The numbers alone have provided a challenge for law enforcement. But only in the past few years has it become clear that child prostitution is a feature of Super Bowl revelry as well. Two men were arrested last year for an ad on Craigslist’s Miami board advertising sex with a 14-year-old girl as a “Super Bowl Special.” And in 2009, Florida’s Department of Children and Families reported 24 children — most of whom were runaways — as victims of sex trafficking for the Super Bowl.

In light of such fears, PETA’s softcore pseudo-porn – complete with sleazy, uncomfortable casting session clips – is especially troubling. Also: decidedly un-feminist.

(fwiw, I refuse to link to the website or embed the video, but you can view a few screenshots here.)

Grist: Male-dominated Big Ag woos women with paternalistic marketing blitz

Grist reports on Big Ag’s new, $30 million campaign to convince the public that women are farmers, too – and since women are apparently so delicate and flower-like, you should go easy on ‘em already! (Certainly don’t strip them of their federal subsidies!) In reality, women operate a scant 14% of U.S. farms, with greater representation in eco-friendly (friendlier) farms, such as small and organic operations. Unfortunately, there’s no breakdown given for animal ag.; much of the focus is on corn, soybean, wheat, cotton, and rice – i.e., “the five crops that together collect 90 percent of federal farm subsidies.” (Even so, subsidies for feed crops help to prop up animal agriculture and keep the price of meat, eggs and milk artificially low.) This new coupling of green-washing with pink-washing (woman-washing? gender-washing? does there exist such a term for this?) is enough to make any vegan feminist gag.

Lauren Denitzio @ I Live Sweat…: “You know what makes me feel unsafe?” Lauren Denitzio of The Measure [SA] on her experiences of sexism in the punk scene

Let’s play a game! Replace the word “punk” with “vegan” (“concert” with “potluck,” etc.) in this kickass article by musician Lauren Denitzio, and see what happens:

No one is perfect, and I don’t expect that. What I do expect, however, is the ability to be held accountable for your actions, to apologize and hear everyone’s experience as valid. If you’re doing something that makes me feel unsafe at a [conference], I don’t care how long you’ve known me, or your history interacting with women, or how much you love [Natalie Portman]. If you can’t be held accountable and apologize, then none of those other things really make a difference to me. This applies to anything from jokes in poor taste to sexual assault. Just because we’ve all known someone for years at [demos] doesn’t change them calling me a cunt, or assaulting their partner. Once people stop making the excuse of “we’re all on the same page” and start being honest with each other, we start creating real, physical, safer spaces for everyone, not just women.

Word.

Non-vegan readers (if you exist!): substitute in your own social movement of choice. It doesn’t matter which; any will do. Like sexism, this analysis transcends borders. Play and learn.

Journal for Critical Animal Studies: Volume VIII Issue 3 2010 (Special Issue – Women of Color in Critical Animal Studies)

The final issue of ICAS’s Journal for Critical Animal Studies in 2010 is a special collection, dedicated to “Women of Color in Critical Animal Studies.” Contributors include A. Breeze Harper, Maneesha Deckha, Claudia Serrato, Laura Shields and Anastasia Yarbrough. You can download an issue (for free!) in either pdf or doc formats.

George Carlin: Pro Life, Abortion, And The Sanctity Of Life

An oldie but a goodie, and one that I’ve been holding onto ever since it made the rounds on Facebook oh, say, eight months ago? Just overlook the pap about chicken eggs being abortions (not unless they’re fertile) and the equation of gang affiliation with moral failings (one word: poverty), mkay?

Here’s another question I have: How come, when it’s us, it’s an abortion, and when it’s a chicken, it’s an omelet? Are we so much better than chickens all of a sudden? When did this happen, that we passed chickens in goodness? Name six ways we’re better than chickens. … See, nobody can do it! You know why? Because chickens are decent people. You don’t see chickens hanging around in drug gangs, do you? Nah. You don’t see a chicken strapping some guy to a chair and hooking up his nuts to a car battery, do you? When’s the last chicken you heard about that came home from work and beat the shit out of his hen, huh?

RIP, George.

I really haven’t been keeping pace with my Google Reader in the last few months – I could blame it on work, but that’d be a lie; in reality, the headlines have just been so damn depressing lately – so please, drop your own links or suggested reading in the comments!

]]> http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/03/06/intersectionality-round-the-interwebs-no-25/feed/ 1 Speciesism-Denying Humans http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/03/05/speciesism-denying-humans/ http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/03/05/speciesism-denying-humans/#comments Sun, 06 Mar 2011 00:29:52 +0000 Kelly Garbato http://www.easyvegan.info/?p=17633 is the name of a new vegan meme / tumblr blog by @VeganMudblood, which you should totes check out. Also: like (favorite? friend? I’m not down with the tumblr speak.*), share, add to, etc., etc., etc.

Here’s my submission. The first of many, no doubt. (Expect a slew to appear the next time I’m feeling particularly lazy, aimless, or in need of a good procrastinating.)

null

To be fair, the speciesism-denying human pictured above never actually proffered this defense on her own behalf – though at least one commenter on her popular feminist blog did. (No, really!) And yes, it is in point o’ facts a square in the upcoming Speciesist Feminist Bingo II.

* Speaking of which, I tried to create a tumblr account so I could follow Speciesism-Denying Humans, but my both of my blog names are already taken! Looks like I’m gonna have to think on this for a bit. URLs are a weighty decision, you know.

Updated to add: I blame the kyriarchy. IBTK, for short.

]]> http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/03/05/speciesism-denying-humans/feed/ 1 “PETA is about as feminist as it gets.” http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/02/28/peta-is-about-as-feminist-as-it-gets/ http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/02/28/peta-is-about-as-feminist-as-it-gets/#comments Mon, 28 Feb 2011 22:58:31 +0000 Kelly Garbato http://www.easyvegan.info/?p=17558 Over the weekend, PETA’s Bruce Friedrich was the featured guest on ARZone’s weekly live guest chat. (You can find a full chat transcript here.) While the primary focus was on veganism and welfare reforms, a few participants dared question PETA’s feminist cred – specifically vis à vis its sexual objectification of women – with, ahem, interesting results. Case in point: Friedrich’s assertion that “PETA is about as feminist as it gets.”

My initial instinct, of course, was to pen a 10,000 word, line-by-line rebuttal of Friedrich’s statements, but just the thought damn near gave me an aneurysm. So not worth the stress! Instead, I decided to pop the vegan maraschino cherry on my Anti-Feminist Vegetarian Bingo card.

The game? It’s on like Donkey Kong, bitches!*

Bingo Card (Anti-Feminist Vegetarian Bingo 1) - Bruce Friedrich's AR Zone chat

Anti-Feminist Vegetarian Bingo: Bruce Friedrich/ARZone Live Chat ed.
FYI: A plain-text version of this card, complete with links to refutations and debunkings, is available here.
——————————

SO CLOSE! We were SO CLOSE to scoring a big fat sexist bingo! Next time, maybe. Probably. Most definitely.

Anyway, let’s take a look at of some of the “feminist” nuggets Friedrich dropped during the chat. The “hits” are labeled with the appropriate square; the non-hits, to be incorporated into v.2!

Square B-1: “Sex sells.”

Regarding our use of sex in our campaigns:

[...]

2) Sex sells and isn’t offensive to most people. That’s the super-brief reply to that question.

Oh, the old “sex sells” cliché! Such a classic, that one.

99.9% of the time, when people say that “sex sells,” what they really mean is that women’s sexualized, dehumanized, objectified, dismembered, and all-around pornified bodies sell. Or, put more succinctly: “sexism sells.”

Speaking of GQ magazine’s recent Glee spread, Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency breaks down the difference between “erotic or sexual images, stories, and video of people engaging in healthy sexual lives and experiences” and “the patriarchal objectification and sexualization of womens’ bodies.” (Transcript here.)

The images in which PETA trades don’t commonly involve healthy depictions of female agency and sexuality, but rather women posed and performing for the male gaze; usually invisible or implied, but sometimes – as with PETA’s 2011 soft-core porno/Super Bowl ad, which is discussed in more detail later on in the chat – fully present, leering, sneering and degrading. Almost all of PETA’s naked women ads are suggestive of mainstream pornography, what with their emphasis on thin, white, conventionally attractive models, bent and contorted into submissive postures, vulnerable, vacant, and ready for a good fuckin’. Bonus points for faux lesbianism for het male enjoyment!

Square G-3: “PETA objectifies / sexualizes / exploits men, too!”

1) We use anyone famous who is willing to do it. Our most recent shoot was with Baltimore Ravens star Willis McGahee (which delighted me, because I live in Baltimore). We’ve used as many men as women, perhaps more.

While it’s true that PETA’s celebrity spokesmodels split roughly 50/50 men/women, a) a vast majority of the men get to keep their clothes on, while women are just as likely to appear partially or fully naked as not and b) when men do appear in the nude, their ads tend to be fun, funny, humorous, and full of personality – in direct contrast to the women, many of whom could easily be mistaken for Real Dolls.

(Also humorous is Friedrich’s insistence that,

As noted previously, PETA uses men and women in our adverts and our street campaigns; for the former, it’s anyone famous. For the latter, it’s anyone who wants to do it.

Uh, yeah. It’s not like PETA screens us no-name rubes for fuckability or anything. *snort*)

Along these lines is Square I-3, “Makes violence against women look sexy.” Though not directly addressed in the chat, there’s an especially pernicious subgroup of PETA’s imagery that does just this (and Friedrich’s blanket defense of PETA’s tactics makes this square fair game, I think).

In order to stress the similarities between human and nonhuman animals, PETA (and, increasingly, other animal advocacy groups) sometimes swaps human for animal victims in common scenes of animal exploitation.

For example, women might be shown symbolically “carved up,” with dotted lines painted onto their bodies in order to indicate different “cuts” of “meat,” in much the same way that butcher shop posters depict cows and other farmed animals:

PETA (Pamela Anderson 4)

(An eerily common image, this one.)

While others, chained, bloodied and beaten, function as stand-ins for imprisoned “circus animals” such as elephants:

PETA Germany (Imogen Bailey 2)

Additional acts of violence inflicted on women (and the occasional man) in place of nonhumans include vivisection, imprisonment in cages (bonus points if it’s a person of color), factory farming, and force-feeding, such as this especially disturbing campaign poster designed in protest of foie gras:

PETA Germany (Brooke Johnston)

(Forced fellatio, anyone? I MEAN FOR SERIOUS!)

My issue isn’t with the comparison of women to animals – we are animals, after all, and there’s no shame in this – but rather with the conflation of sex and violence. These ads – and others like them – are part and parcel of the “Sexy Dead Woman” trope, described here (with transcript) by Anita Sarkeesian:

(Yes, I am a huge Feminist Frequency fangirl. Guilty as charged.) A small number of the images – such as those featuring sexy female corpses who/that would rather be caught dead than in fur – are literal representations of this meme.

That PETA unironically and with little self-reflection churns out images designed to both repulse and arouse by making violence against women look sexy is appalling. Doubly so when you consider that we are a culture steeped in violence against women – not just in the imagined realm of pop culture, but in the “real world” as well. Hundreds of women are beaten, raped and murdered every day in the U.S. alone; why does PETA feel it necessary to reinforce this abuse visually, and to further couple it with gratuitous T&A?

Returning to Square B-1, if this is PETA’s idea of “sex,” we’re all fucked.

Square O-4: “Accuses vegan feminists of trying to control / oppress / veil other women.”

Really? I thought it [PETA's "banned" 2011 Super Bowl ad] was funny. Anyway, the women at PETA who conceptualized and shot the ad would suggest you’re telling women what to do with their bodies, which could be seen as more “reducing them to things” than the ad (I think).

Certainly the women who volunteered to be in the advert would suggest that they didn’t feel like “little more than flesh and blood sex toys.” And they would wonder at your desire to tell them what to do with their bodies.

Ah, yes! Because criticizing PETA – as an institution and social justice organization** – for perpetuating arguably sexist and misogynistic memes is EXACTLY THE SAME as telling individual women that they cannot be seen in public unless 75% of their skin is covered by clothing. EXACTLY. Vegan feminists are like the American Taliban in this way, dontchaknow.

Feminism 101 FAIL: “Women can’t be sexist.” / “Women are de facto feminists.”

First: feminism—Two of PETA’s three board of directors are women; the other is a gay man. PETA’s top two people (Pres and Exec VP) are women, and are four of our top six people (the other two are gay men).that was supposed to be “as are four of our top six people” (of course).

So is Friedrich suggesting that women and gay men (“Gay men,” WTF! that’s a new one for me! Sex and the City stereotyping, holla!) aren’t socialized into the same sexist and misogynist culture as are the dudebros? Or that we’ve some magical immunity to the indoctrinating powers of our collective social institutions?

As if. Women and gay men can so be sexist/misogynist/anti-feminist! See, e.g., Ann Coulter, Phyllis Schlafly, Jill Stanek, Naomi Wolf, and Kate O’Beirne. (Shall I keep going?) Also: Andrew Sullivan and the Log Cabin Republicans.

And it’s worth nothing that even the “best” of feminists fuck up sometimes.

LOL FAIL: [Insert strict patriarch joke here.]

Brooke Cameron [again in response to the aforementioned Super Bowl ad]: You thought simulating oral sex, with men behind the cameras sneering at them, funny?

Do you have daughters, Bruce? How would you feel if they began simulating oral sex with vegetables because it was deemed “a fact of life”?

Bruce Friedrich: I did think it was funny, yes. I don’t have daughters, no. I do know a lot of young women who think it’s great (and none, including the ones in the ad who didn’t like it). I am sorry that you don’t like it though.

Brooke Cameron: I am sorry that you find it acceptable, but thank you for your response

Bruce Friedrich: The eternal struggle of fathers continues, BTW. :-) Of course.

YOU’RE GOING TO WEAR WHAT!? :-)

In which Friedrich responds to Cameron’s concerns that women are being sexualized and objectified – and simultaneously, literally mocked and degraded, i.e. verbally by men – by cracking a joke about fathers who attempt to control their daughters’ sexuality and sexual agency out of fear and disgust (and a vague, retro sense of ownership, no doubt).

Kind of like this uber-obnoxious Tide commercial (appropriately titled “Too Short“), which is currently in heavy rotation and makes my stomach curl every time I see it:

So not funny, dude.

And fuck you very much, Tide.

Finally, for the coup de grace (if not the win), Square O-3: “Responds to criticism w/ Can’t we all just get along?; We’re on the same side here.; etc.”

While I totally support an open dialog about anything and everything (why I like ARZone and am on again), I do wish that we could spend less time arguing (okay, to be totally honest, I wish people would stop using their precious time to criticize other animal activists); on the one hand, open discussion is great.

This argument assumes that we are all on the same side, all united against a common evil, namely: speciesism and the oppression of animals. And that’s one big fucking assumption. ‘Cause you see, there’s a lot of inequity in this old world, and not all of it is based on species membership. Some is rooted in gender and sex; some in sexual orientation and identity. Still other forms of oppression stem from differences in race, ethnicity, nationality, ability, size, physical attractiveness, and the like. Some authors and activists posit that all these bigotries share a common link or mechanism, such as the willingness of humans to categorize their fellow beings into “us” and “the other” based on meaningless, arbitrary criteria. (Intersectionality, look it up!)

Even though speciesism is the most pervasive and destructive (quantitatively speaking, that is), I find all “isms” equally abhorrent. Vegans who perpetuate discrimination against marginalized humans in the name of “animal rights” are no more “on my side” than are, for example, feminists who engage in speciesism.

Also, why is everyone so down on criticism? A little self-reflection now and then is healthy – it helps you to grow and evolve, as a person and as an activist. Most of PETA’s critics operate out of a sense of love: not for PETA itself, but for the nonhuman animals on whose behalf we are working.

To continue with the above quote:

On the other hand, if we make our points and the other side disagrees, there’s a lot to be said for saying “maybe they’re right.”

It seems to me that a lot of people in this (and every other, of course) movement are totally convinced that they’re right, and they denigrate people who disagree.

Well, that certainly cuts both ways, doesn’t it? Listen, Bruce (et al.): if a cadre of angry women (and assorted male allies) keep telling you that they are offended by PETA’s sexist campaigns, perhaps it’s best to STFU and listen to them? Seriously consider their arguments? Read an intro to feminism book or take a women’s studies course, maybe? It’s obvious from your comments above that you’ve quite a bit to learn about the subject, my friend.

Look. There was a time when – as a newbie vegetarian and a seedling feminist – I uncritically supported PETA’s campaigns and tactics. I donated to PETA, proudly wore its tees, even still have some of its ’90s-era magnets plastered on my spare freezer. (I actually do like some of PETA’s campaigns, absent their larger context.) And then I became engaged in feminism and transitioned to veganism, and had many of my beliefs and assumptions challenged. My positions on these (not to mention, a whole host of other topics) changed and evolved. Continue to evolve. For me, my views on human rights and animal rights go hand-in-hand; one influences the other and vice versa. And I simply cannot accept the ways in which PETA treats women (and other marginalized groups) in the supposed service of animals. It’s an affront to veganism, frankly. We’re all animals, yo!

The point is, I didn’t always think this way. I was not “totally convinced that [I'm] right.” Even now, I understand and accept that my views will continue to change and evolve. I welcome it, because it means that I’m growing.

I think it high time that PETA stop digging in its heels and do the same.

—————

* Don’t hate, reappropriate!

** Allegedly.

—————

Update, 3/2/11: This piece has since been crossposted on the ARZone blog – so feel free to join the discussion over there as well!

]]> http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/02/28/peta-is-about-as-feminist-as-it-gets/feed/ 15 Consuming Women, No. 5: Il Corpo delle Donne, Il Corpo delle Animali * http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/01/29/consuming-women-no-5-il-corpo-delle-donne-il-corpo-delle-animali/ http://www.easyvegan.info/2011/01/29/consuming-women-no-5-il-corpo-delle-donne-il-corpo-delle-animali/#comments Sat, 29 Jan 2011 22:57:58 +0000 Kelly Garbato http://www.easyvegan.info/?p=14321

Best known outside of Italy for his role as prime minister – or, more accurately, the many sex scandals surrounding his prime ministership – Silvio Berlusconi is also “a successful entrepreneur” (as Wiki so nicely puts it). In 2010, Forbes magazine ranked him the 74th richest man in the world (and the 3rd richest in Italy), with a net worth of $9 billion. While he started out in construction, much of Berlusconi’s wealth comes from his vast media holdings, which encompass “television, newspapers, publishing, cinema, finance, banking, insurance, and even sport.”

Not surprisingly – given both his own conduct, as well as the media culture in which we live – much of what Berlusconi trades in is women. Young, white, conventionally attractive, eminently fuckable, and oftentimes objectified and humiliated women. Italian television has a reputation for routine sexism and misogyny – most commonly expressed in its gratuitous displays of women’s naked or scantily clad bodies – and the programming on Berlusconi’s channels is no exception. (In fact, Berlusconi acts as a lightning rod for much of this criticism. Just today, for example, Italians saw anti-Berlusconi protests in Milan.)

Writes Tom Kington in a piece appearing in The Guardian, circa September 2009:

After a summer of sleaze in which Berlusconi has been variously accused of “frequenting minors”, sleeping with an escort girl and holding debauched parties at his Sardinian villa, a feminist backlash is gaining momentum. The target is not only Berlusconi but the wider culture of a country in which a prime minister could survive such allegations.

According to Chiara Volpato, an academic at Milan’s Bicocca University, matters hit rock bottom when Berlusconi’s lawyer said his client would never pay for sex with an escort because the prime minister is merely an “end user” of women: “The choice of language really summed up how far we have sunk.”

This summer a group of academics, including Volpato, persuaded 15,000 people to sign a petition asking the wives of world leaders to boycott the G8 conference in Italy in protest at the plight of women in Berlusconi’s Italy.

The most recent sex scandal – involving the exchange of money for sex, most notably with a then 17-year-old girl – served as a reminder that I’d yet to blog about Il Corpo delle Donne (“Women’s Bodies” or “The Body of Women”; embedded at the top of the post), a short indie feminist documentary about sexism in Italian television. In it, director Lorella Zanardo narrates a veritable clip show of misogyny, all of which appeared on daytime and prime time Italian television:

  • a pair of women, clad only in lingerie and high heels, dances sensually for the camera (cue: Everyman’s faux lesbian fantasy);
  • one particularly large-chested woman is subjected to a shower in a see-through Plexiglass stall (while wearing slinky white dresses, natch);
  • another large-chested woman, this time allowed only a satiny towel to cover her torso, is asked to toss the host her bra; in doing so, the fabric cover her top “slips,” revealing her naked breasts (oops!);
  • two women, tits and ass busting out of impossibly short and low-cut mini-dresses, “ride” a mechanical surfboard (strategically placed at eye level of the mostly-male audience), while trying to stay on the board – and in their dresses; and
  • in a number of clips, women are verbally degraded, most commonly by male hosts: one woman’s worth is called into question by her male co-host because, compared to the female guests, she is relatively flat-chested; another woman is called stupid and told that she should work in pornography, as it’s “more money for less trouble”; yet another (seemingly, an audience member!) is called to “like a dog” by the male host.

    Naturally, nearly every woman, young and old, seems to have had “work” – cosmetic surgery – of some sort: Botox, breast enhancements and face lifts abound, while frown or laugh lines are nowhere to be seen. In contrast, many of the men pictured are older, and look it: peppery gray hair and wrinkles are not uncommon sights on men. Men, too, are allowed to keep their clothing on (and in layers, to boot!). The prevalence of and disparity in plastic surgery remains the primary focus of Zanardo’s critique; however, sexualization, dehumanization and objectification are all evident and problematic as well.

    Il Corpo delle Donne first came to my attention via an article in the Summer ’10 issue of Bitch magazine (my procrastinating skills, they are legendary!). In “Body Check: Standing up to Berlusconi’s boob tube,” Amanda Hulse begins the discussion with two particularly egregious clips from Il Corpo delle Donne, in which women are treated like nonhumans:

    A woman sits, smiling, under a boxlike Plexiglas table with holes for breathing, not unlike those provided a caged animal. The table is loaded with a mountain of fruit from behind which the host reads the “news.”

    On another channel, a woman wearing a tuxedo top and bikini bottoms hangs by a hook, her own legs dangling among haunches of ham, which are also clad in bikini bottoms. She kicks and squirms as a man brands her buttocks with a stamp.

    Regarding the first example, Zanardo suggests that the producers of the program themselves draw the comparison between a woman imprisoned in a Plexiglas box (of which there are actually four instances in the film) and an animal imprisoned in a cage:

    When the programme was first shown some people complained but the authors of the programme and the presenter Mumuccari said that “the girl is a living sculpture, she is in a cage, and even has breathing holes.”

    How very humane of them.

    Clocking in at just over 24 minutes, Il Corpo delle Donne is a bit on the long side; plus, it can be difficult for non-Italian speakers to catch everything, since attention is divided between video footage and subtitles. The Plexiglass clips appear multiple times, most notably around 4:00 minutes and 11:30. Here are a few screenshots for those who can’t or don’t want to watch the entire film:

    Women's Bodies, Screenshot01

    Women's Bodies, Screenshot02

    Women's Bodies, Screenshot03

    Women's Bodies, Screenshot09

    Women's Bodies, Screenshot10

    Note in the first screenshot how the woman must crawl around (“like an animal”) at the male host’s feet in order to climb into her cage; this positioning seems particularly demeaning.

    Moving on, the second example is one I’m more interested in, at least in relation to this post. It’s yet another in a long line of imagery that links consumable animals with consumable women, by either sexing up farmed animals and/or disembodied “meat” products in a uniquely feminine way, or by depicting women as one might a piece of “meat.” Each practice is equally despicable, as neither women nor animals are objects to be exploited at will: both are sentient beings who can think, feel and suffer; love and are loved; and value their own families, lives and wills. A cow is more like a woman, than she is a carrot. Like a human woman, she deserves to live unmolested, in peace.

    The “woman in a butcher shop” footage is shown at the end of the film, perhaps because it’s among the most appalling examples of misogyny included therein.

    Women's Bodies, Screenshot14

    Women's Bodies, Screenshot16

    Women's Bodies, Screenshot17

    Women's Bodies, Screenshot18

    Note the bemused gentleman who appears in on the bottom of the screen in the second screenshot. The “meat’s” father, I presume?

    For what it’s worth, I doubt that many porcines derive pleasure from the suffering of their sisters, daughters, mothers and female friends. Nope, that’s primarily a human trait, my friends. “Humanity,” indeed.

    —————–

    * I’ve no idea whether this phrase translates as intended (i.e., Women’s Bodies, Animals’ Bodies), but it represents my best guess given Google Translator’s (characteristic) absurdity.

    ** I filed this post under “Sexy Meat” as well as “Consuming Women” because the final segment of the video involves elements of each: not only is the woman shown hanging from a meat hook “like pork”; the many haunches of “ham” sport bikini bottoms, like the woman. Each form of oppression enforces and reinforces the other; no one is free while others are oppressed.

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