A few gems:

“I know he sexually assaulted someone but he does really good work.”

“That’s just some relationship drama. I’m not taking sides!”

“My last partner didn’t shave her legs. I really supported her.”

“With your hair pulled back like that, you really look like Frida Kahlo. I’d be honored to sleep with you tonight.”

(via)

“The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.”

(Full disclosure: I received a free review copy of The Moral Lives of Animals through Library Thing’s Early Reviewer program.)

What is the nature of morality? Which behaviors do we consider “moral,” and why? Are humans the only animals to have developed a sense of morality and rules for moral living? Dale Peterson’s The Moral Lives of Animals (2011) attempts to answer these questions, with mixed results. While he presents ample evidence which suggests that nonhuman animals have literally evolved their own moralities, in so doing Peterson demonstrates how terribly disrespectful, cruel, and (dare I say!) immoral human treatment of other animals and the planet we all call home remains, even after thousands of years of evolution and revolution.

When you think of “morals” and “morality,” most likely terms such as “just,” “kind,” “compassionate,” and “fair” come to mind. And ideally, what is considered “moral” in any given society is that which is just, and kind, and fair. However, “morality” differs in time and space; morals are relative and context-specific. Morality (or what we consider “moral”) is not fixed, but changes over time and across cultures. Those behaviors and institutions that were thought “moral” in colonial America, for example, are quite different than what we consider moral today. So too does morality vary across species: elephants, bonobos, mice, chickadees – all have their own moral rules, codified not in language (as human moral codes often are), but written into the DNA of the species by evolution. Sometimes these moral principles resemble our own; other times they do not.* This is the crux of the author’s theory of animal morality.

Peterson looks at animal morality in seven areas of animal life: authority, violence, sex, possession, communication, cooperation and kindness. The first five he groups together to form a system of “rules morality” – i.e., something is moral if it follows the rules – while cooperation and kindness together form “attachments morality” – i.e., compassionate behaviors, or those that encourage attachments among social animals, are moral. He presents a wealth of evidence – anecdotal, laboratory studies, field research – attesting to morality in nonhumans. Since each of these seven areas could easily command its own book, the sections are necessarily brief – but compelling nonetheless. (Curiously, Peterson barely touches upon rape – even though it could fit into two different chapters.) Primates receive quite a bit of attention (gotta love those sexually liberated, matriarchal bonobos!), as do elephants, hyenas, lions, whales, wolves, various species of birds, dogs – and humans.

It’s this last group that many of my fellow LT reviewers takes issue with, and with good cause. Though I take the title of the book to mean “the moral lives of nonhuman animals” (the omission of “nonhuman” when referring to animals being a nice/nasty linguistic trick that separates “us” from “them”), examples of human morality are introduced quite frequently, usually as a point of reference against which to consider nonhuman morality. Along these lines, Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick serves as a framework on which Peterson weaves his own discussion, and passages from the Bible – used to illustrate written human moral codes – abound. As an atheist who Cliff Noted Moby-Dick in high school, I wasn’t thrilled with either device. That said, by the end of the book, I’d come to see the usefulness of Moby-Dick for shaping the structure of Peterson’s book; and, while the endless Biblical excerpts essentially excluded other religions from the text, I suspect that Peterson used them because he expected that Christianity would be the religion with which most of his audience would be most familiar. (Certainly, this seemed true of the author himself.) So I guess you could say that I came around on both points.

But back to the moral lives of nonhuman animals. While human morality isn’t the main focus of the book, Peterson does return to humans time and again – and it’s here that he drops the ball. For instance, while Peterson primarily relies on observational field research to make his case, laboratory research – including vivisection – is also a common element in The Moral Lives of Animals. Peterson describes horrific acts of animal torture in gruesome detail, without so much as hinting at their moral implications. In the chapter on “kindness,” Peterson un-ironically describes an experiment in which “lab” mice were observed physically reacting to another mouse’s pain – deliberately caused by an injection of acetic acid by a human researcher – in an example of “contagious empathy.” (Would that humans would come down with a case of it!) In another study, captive rhesus monkeys chose to forgo food rather than electrically shock a compatriot housed in another “compartment” of their cage. (Here, the scientists could stand to learn a thing or two about compassion from their subjects!) The ethics of such research are never touched, even though the very subject of the book seems to demand it.

On the contrary, Peterson sometimes takes the opposite tack, waxing nostalgic about animal abuse and exploitation. Early on (fittingly, in the chapter on “authority”), he describes how loggers in Myanmar capture and train free-living elephants to use in their industry. The process involves corralling a “wild” herd; isolating the baby (or babies, as the case may be), kicking and screaming, from her family; lashing her to a “cradle,” which is essentially a giant tripod constructed to immobilize her completely; and then withholding food and water until she “breaks.” The aim, says Peterson, is to “demonstrat[e] a radically new power relationship.” In other words, torture the elephant physically and psychologically until she submits completely. Or commits suicide. (Some elephants have stepped on their own trunks, thus cutting off all air flow, rather than comply with their captors.) Of this horrific practice, Peterson writes “It is certainly possible to overromanticize this relationship between a mahout and his elephant.” That such torture can be romanticized at all is a testament to the depths of human cruelty.

And speciesism, which Peterson introduces and dismisses in just two pages.** He cites the species boundary – the heeding of which is part and parcel of “human nature” – as the difference between speciesism and other isms, such as sexism and racism. In Peterson’s view, there’s something fundamentally unique about the human/animal divide that makes it more difficult – impossible, even – to bridge than differences based on gender and race.

But as abolitionists and anti-speciesists argue, the species boundary is no less arbitrary than those based on gender, race, class, sexual orientation, dis/ability, or the like. What truly matters is sentience: The question is not, “Can they reason?” nor, “Can they talk?” but rather, “Can they suffer?” If another being is capable of suffering, and suffering is a bad thing, then isn’t it wrong to cause unnecessary suffering?

To use Peterson’s own example: yes, if she must, a human mother will place the life of her baby above that of a laboratory rat – but she’d also place it above that of another human baby. So too will nonhuman mothers. And I know many people who, if pressed, would choose to rescue their own dog and cat friends over a human who they do not know (and particularly a human they do know and do not like. Heck, I’d save a venomous snake over blowhard bigot Rush Limbaugh every day of the week!) But as Peterson himself demonstrates, this preference for one’s own offspring does not negate the ability to feel empathy and exhibit compassion across myriad us/other boundaries. Add in the fact that most animal exploitation – in the Western world, anyhow – is a matter of convenience vs. survival, and Peterson’s argument (for which he offers not a whit of evidence, just conjecture) becomes rather simplistic: the stuff of Defensive Omnivore Bingo.

When asked, most people – and not just vegans and animal rights activists, but also hunters, and ranchers, and your everyday, run of the mill omnivores and pet owners and circus-goers, too – profess to “love animals.” Even as we use them up and spit them out, enslave and exploit them by the billions, we consider ourselves a nation of “animal lovers.” On some level – one founded on nature or nature, it matters not to me – we recognize that it’s a good thing to care about beings other than ourselves … no matter how “other” they may be. And yet, Peterson’s call for “peace” in the parting chapter betrays this value, and in so doing betrays the very animals he himself claims to “love” – humans and nonhumans alike. Rather than calling for the large-scale revolution that the situation demands, Peterson weakly asks that his readers perform small, random, occasional acts of kindness toward the animals with whom we share this planet – you know, when it’s convenient for us.

We might not always seem it, but humans are capable of so much than this.

* This variance in morals – along with ignorance and speciesism – is one reason why it’s difficult for humans to recognize morality in other animals: if a given quality doesn’t match our anthropocentric definition of that quality to a T, then it doesn’t exist. Thus you see humans finding intelligence, emotions and the like only in other humans – and increasingly, primates (our closest ancestors). We simply cannot fathom intelligence that doesn’t look overtly human.

** Incidentally, Peterson also engages in some pernicious, drive-by gender essentialism. As with his lazy dismissal of speciesism, he does his readers no favor by introducing them to a weighty, controversial topic, only to wave it away with a flick of his wrist. I hope his audience researches each subject more fully on their own!

(Crossposted on Amazon and Library Thing.)

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!

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!)

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:

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.

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!

———-

* 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.

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!: 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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• …and thanks to everyone for the RTs! :) #
• is off to bed. Wishing moms everywhere – human & non, bio & adoptive, same & cross-species – a joyous & peaceful Mother's Day. #
• @WesleyTech So true! in reply to WesleyTech #
• @exhibitsmith Nice to meet you! @harryjarry is also from KC, and @veganwordnerd lives in St. Louis :) in reply to exhibitsmith #
• & Once more, for Kaylee: Bittersweet Mother’s Day Kisses & Vegan Birthday Wishes – bit.ly/ju9Vjt #happymothersday @furkids #
• On a Lighter Note – Cows Like Grass bit.ly/craGZy Mother cows, too! Happy Mother's Day! #
• Exploitation + Objectification = Conklin Farms. (In other words, business as usual.) by @marlavegan #happymothersday #feminism #vegan #
• Dairy’s Dark Side: A @MercyForAnimals Investigation of Willet Dairy in NY bit.ly/cXOJyY #happymothersday #
• When the love you feel is against the laws of those in control, then love is a political act. bit.ly/mULYud #happymothersday @furkids #
• Intersections: Black female slave vivisection, non-human animal experimentation, & the foundation of Western gynecology bit.ly/kqLXao #
• @Animal_Place Animal Spotlight: Sadie the “dairy cow” bit.ly/kYs4Jm A mother without children. #happymothersday #feminism #
• Dairy cow suffering from a typical case of mastitis: bit.ly/9dEHl1 Stop stealing her milk; www.govegannow.com #
• The Life of One Battery Hen: bit.ly/cXm5Yu These females are mothers, too. #happymothersday #feminism #
• Do you wish what she wishes? bit.ly/bldXuB Make this mom's wishes come true this Mother's Day; go #vegan #
• A downed calf in a stockyard, still wet from birth & already dying: bit.ly/9QIsds #happymothersday www.govegannow.com #
• Dairy, Pregnancy, Leather, and Newborns: What Are You Funding? bit.ly/9fNjpM Stop, for the love of mothers everywhere. #
• Angelo the lamb, an orphan of the meat industry: bit.ly/3sXIKH His mother is not with him today. #happymothersday #
• Meet Karma & her son Mr. Rojas, who are celebrating a #happymothersday – together: bit.ly/4u8EiP #
• The Valentine Pigs – a mother's loss, a stranger's kindness. bit.ly/lZ33fR #happymothersday #govegan – for them (via @WoodstockFarm) #
• A dead hen's resting place bit.ly/aUBj0K She is someone’s mother. #happymothersday www.govegannow.com #
• Milk is white blood – & it comes from a grieving mother. bit.ly/aXC28P There is no #happymothersday for her. #
• This is what becomes of a dairy cow’s sons: bit.ly/cpOTzX Respect mothers everywhere; go #vegan this Mother’s Day. #
• Mother pigs confined to gestation crates: bit.ly/cecgiD Should any mother be forced to nurse this way? www.govegannow.com #
• RT @liberationbc Celebrate All Mothers: Send a Cow Ribbon E-Card | Our Hen House bit.ly/j5bj9C #happymothersday #feminism #
• Horizontal Women: bit.ly/3L7xss Should any mother be forced to nurse her babies from a cage? Mother's Day – what's it to you? #
• Speaking up for mothers, daughters, sons & fathers. bit.ly/aIF7Of #happymothersday www.govegannow.com #
• Cupid and Harrison, Industry Orphans who found refuge @FarmSanctuary: bit.ly/dnEpDN Where are their mothers today? #
• Puppy mills are hell on earth for moms & their pups: bit.ly/aHl6pu Remember them this Mother’s Day; adopt, foster and/or sponsor! #
• Desensitizing Children & Returning to Compassion by @vegancook bit.ly/kmBOtu Inspiring Mother’s Day viewing! #happymothersday #
• On mares, wet nurses & shared exploitations. bit.ly/cOVHwY Subverted motherhood hurts, no matter your species. #happymothersday #
• 300 million egg laying hens are confined in US battery cages every year. They are childless mothers. www.govegannow.com #mothersday #
• A Cow’s Milk Is Not Yours to Take: bit.ly/bHUUmt It is a mother's, to give to her baby! #happymothersday – for whom? #
• Cinderella & the hen in the mirror: bit.ly/aw9bi7 #HappyMothersDay #
• An Affront to the Idea of Family by @mary_martin bit.ly/iRJv2b #happymothersday #
• Rescuing “layers”; bearing witness to a mother’s suffering bit.ly/a5Ei9m #happymothersday #feminism #
• Baby cows, packed in veal crates: bit.ly/csV4Wd They are someone’s sons. #happymothersday www.govegannow.com #
• On Motherhood and Pizza, by @mary_martin bit.ly/isQz7L “Go vegan for all mothers, and have a Happy Mother’s Day!” #
• Vegan Peace of Cake for Mother's Day tumblr.com/xfd2fxyjgb #
• Rebirth bit.ly/jJ6Pbl #happymothersday geese. Love your children, fiercely; and for the many of your brethren who cannot. #
• Why wear a Cow Ribbon on Mother's Day? bit.ly/dpPw7H Cows are mothers & have mothers, too! #happymothersday #feminism #
• The Stare of Sadie bit.ly/bT0rbH A haunting story about a haunted mother. This Mother's Day, remember Sadie & her babies. #
• Baby female ducklings are considered refuse by the foie gras industry: bit.ly/90vf5j #happymothersday www.govegannow.com #
• 100 “spent” hens, Coming Home: bit.ly/bcw1fV Celebrate them this Mother’s Day; leave them w/their eggs. www.govegannow.com #
• Domesticating Animals: From Reverence to Ownership by @vegancook bit.ly/k3lq4A #happymothersday www.govegannow.com #
• Animal Photo of the Week: Loretta and Harrison bit.ly/ajhDXG Happy Mother’s Day! #happymothersday #
• Chicken, chicken, why aren't you; With your mother hen so true? bit.ly/dcN3VL A Mother’s Day song. #happymothersday #
• Louise's Passionate Life: bit.ly/bUBwsZ “Louise bloomed like a rose over her egg…” #happymothersday #feminism #
• Photo: “A lone hen escapes the battery cages,” via Farm Sanctuary on flickr. tumblr.com/xfd2fwiydn #
• You Wouldn’t Eat a Baby … Right? by @veganwordnerd bit.ly/jTSudK #happymothersday #feminism #
• Photo: Sound of a Battery Hen tumblr.com/xfd2fwhtvp #happymothersday #
• “No profit, they are just useless eaters,” says the farmer of mothers, fathers, daughters & sons. bit.ly/dqn0jy #happymothersday #
• Ruby Likes to Sit: bit.ly/k9o9tF #happymothersday to Ruby’s adopted family @Animal_Place! #
• Dairy cows are NOT happy cows; they are grieving mothers, them all bit.ly/9ULzuJ #happymothersday www.govegannow.com #
• Female exploitation & maternal instincts: bit.ly/2KGVnc Bear witness to the lives & deaths of nonhuman moms this Mother's Day. #
• Connecting with Animals by @vegancook bit.ly/jRQgWC Mothers, daughters, fathers & sons. #happymothersday www.govegannow.com #
• Photo: Meat is murder, dairy is rape. tumblr.com/xfd2fvxidi #happymothersday #
• Photo: Don't Let Him Kill Me! tumblr.com/xfd2fvvd0n #happymothersday #
• Erica the goat: more than a milk machine. bit.ly/kpBgdJ Sister. Daughter. Mother. Friend. @WoodstockFarm resident! #happymothersday #
• They are someone’s babies bit.ly/9d2uy5 Not products to buy & sell. Adopt, don’t purchase. #happymothersday www.petfinder.com #
• Dahlia and Lena – Two Hens Battle Over One Baby Chick: bit.ly/aECObk Lovely Mother’s Day story from @upcnews #
• Letter from a #vegan world: bit.ly/3ZP0Gt On behalf of mothers, daughters, sons and fathers; let them live in peace. #
• Raining “Veal” Calves: bit.ly/94kyvP What becomes of an enslaved mother's unwanted children. #happymothersday #feminism #
• @mary_martin On the Gift of Awareness bit.ly/mfCzzV #consumerism #parenting #
• “Vegan Pregnancies & Homebirths are Dangerous, C-Sections are Normal” Misguided Fear in Prenatal Care USA bit.ly/jnEALK #
• On the sad, sorrowful bellowing of a mother cow torn from her calf: bit.ly/cAUKNX #happymothersday #feminism #
• Angie & Fiona: bit.ly/b9E9x3 Adoptive motherhood in the pig world. Happy Mother’s Day to all, & to all a good life. #
• RT @liberationbc PROVOKED: Let's STOP! Killing Other Mother's Children bit.ly/iT08Z9 #happymothersday #feminism #
• Sistah #Vegan (@sistahvegan) on maternal health: bit.ly/bx2EMW Queen Afua’s “Sacred Woman” & Decolonizing the Womb #
• Mechanized milking stalls at a California dairy: bit.ly/c1tZda This milk belongs to them, not us. #happymothersday www.govegannow.com #
• 100 million piglets are stolen from their mothers every year; go #vegan bit.ly/ZQ73i & Happy Mother's Day! #feminism #
• Celebrating the Universal Mother in all of us, by @marlavegan. bit.ly/mJJwxk #happymothersday #feminism #
• Photo: Mothers: Take back what's yours! tumblr.com/xfd2fux7tm #happymothersday #
• This Mother’s Day, help @Animal_Place rescue & rehome “retired” “laying” hens. bit.ly/iZQmWZ Also: www.govegannow.com #
• To Kaylee, on Mother's Day with love (and marshmallows!) bit.ly/ju9Vjt @furkids #happymothersday #dearmama #
• Mother’s Day reading from @upcnews – Thinking Like a Chicken: Farm Animals & The Feminine Connection: bit.ly/c2l3kc #
• They love, laugh, rejoice, grieve & share. bit.ly/9unHjW Go #vegan for moms everywhere. Happy Mother's Day! #
• Show compassion for animals with a Mother's Day cow ribbon by @TheVeganRD exm.nr/fS9L3Y #happymothersday #feminism #vegan #
• On “The Circular Glance” and Mother’s Day by @mary_martin on @AntiOppression #
• “Laying” hens are mothers, not machines – stop stealing their eggs & go #vegan bit.ly/OQOk6 #happymothersday #feminism #
• “I’ll make them love it.” bit.ly/i8vUhn A mother is a mother, no matter her species. Go #vegan – for them. #happymothersday #feminism #
• @furkids friday: #happymothersday bit.ly/iNfeQG Scenes of love, compassion & mothering love from my own life. #
• This is how mothers are treated in puppy mills: bit.ly/aCPy0Q Always adopt, never buy! #happymothersday #feminism #
• Becoming Empowered by @vegancook bit.ly/kszT9T It’s not that we CAN made a difference; we DO, w/each meal #happymothersday #
• RT @AntiOppression Happy Mother’s Day from Marji bit.ly/l7CJbu (This is a cute, sweet one!) #happymothersday #
• Meet rescued pigs Patsy & Judy, named after the Woodstock FAS director's mom and grand-mom! bit.ly/kxSR3V #happymothersday #
• To know chickens: “Their everything in between is just like our everything in between” bit.ly/jaIVXs #happymothersday #feminism #
• #HappyMothersDay from The “V” Word: bit.ly/iQp2CD (Bacon: The Early Years) #
• Mother cows gestate their babies for nine months, just like human mothers. www.govegannow.com – For Mother’s Day & for good. #
• Celebrate a #vegan Mother’s Day with a little help from @vegweb! vegweb.com/holiday/ #happymothersday #
• Photo: Please don't kill my baby! tumblr.com/xfd2fsnmf6 #happymothersday #
• A mother cow refuses to leave the side of her dead calf at a California dairy: bit.ly/c1EIoJ Learn more cowribbon.com #
• Mother's Day Secrets @postsecret – www.postsecret.com #
• @vegancook on the exploitation of females & corruption of motherhood in animal ag: bit.ly/inbLKO #happymothersday #feminism #
• RT @ACLU BLOG: For Mother's Day, Screw Chocolate! Give Your Mom Equality! aclu.org/lgT4 #happymothersday #feminism #
• Caring for the Sick, Weak and Injured: bit.ly/b2WT6g A Mother’s Day ray of hope. #happymothersday #feminism #
• Restoration: bit.ly/aXkCUc On healing a flock of childless mothers. #happymothersday #feminism #
• Send Mom compassionate, inclusive Mother's Day wishes w/ecards from the Cow Ribbon Campaign! bit.ly/cCespy #happymothersday #feminism #
• Walle’s Shadow: bit.ly/eWBjyk the turkey who “saved herself” #happymothersday @AntiOppression #
• Dairy is a Death Sentence – Every year, millions of newborns are killed for their mothers’ milk. bit.ly/acNHi7 #happymothersday #
• Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs: bit.ly/hqYPnh The Handmaid’s Tale made real for our nonhuman sisters. #happymothersday #
• Maternal Instincts bit.ly/mzrfT2 @vegancook on “the primal instincts all mammals have for their young” #happymothersday #govegan #
• Lovely! A Mother’s Loving Protection, A Father’s Dedication: A Family Like Any Other bit.ly/a4g2sS #happymothersday #
• Mother’s Day & The Feminist’s Dilemma by @VeganAri bit.ly/k2MKPe #happymothersday #feminism #
• Female “breeding” turkeys are lined up & inseminated artificially on breeding farms. bit.ly/cljGaD #happymothersday #
• Lessons from Mom. Breakfast in Bed Menu. And a Song. bit.ly/l4ICny #happymothersday #vegan #
• Photo: Wear your Cow Ribbon and join hundreds of compassionate animal lovers in showing support for all… tumblr.com/xfd2fr86c6 #
• @Animal_Place Animal Spotlight: Howie the cow bit.ly/ihas2f After his mom died in childbirth, he was dumped at the local shelter. #
• 55 Billion Reasons to Live #Vegan many of them are mothers: bit.ly/9unHjW Celebrate this Mother's Day with compassion. #
• Breast Milk to Share, Breast Milk Not to Steal by @veganwordnerd #happymothersday #feminism #
• "A cow is so much like a woman" – & dairy cows are mothers, too! bit.ly/cAUKNX #happymothersday #feminism #
• A Mother’s Love by @EVOLVECampaigns bit.ly/kyklMj I dare you not to cry. #happymothersday #
• Meet Fern, a baby goat who was born at a goat milk & meat facility in Upstate NY. bit.ly/lv5vMa Now she lives free @WoodstockFarm. #
• RT @pcrmlf: For #MothersDay RT this and help chimpanzee moms and babies like Jody and Levi ow.ly/4NXZT #
• No Mercy: A @MercyForAnimals Investigation of E6 Cattle Co. in Hart, Texas bit.ly/javmgz They are their mother’s children. #
• Forget About Equal, How About Alive by @mary_martin bit.ly/mA6HTg Too many people see machines where there are mothers. #
• Mother Love: bit.ly/bucPgf – A Mother’s Day Sanctuary Tail from @FarmSanctuary #happymothersday #feminism #
• New Beginnings for “Old” Hens bit.ly/aWTDoQ Happy Mother's Day to these 45 rescue hens. May all moms live free one day. #
• Check it: the @vegnews guide to celebrating a #vegan Mother's Day: bit.ly/hwqMFh – TO BRUNCH & BEYOND! #happymothersday #
• @vegancook on “the violence inherent in a system that is built on killing living beings day in and day out” bit.ly/kw26Mx #
• A #vegan on Mother's Day (and every other day) by @marlavegan exm.nr/gwUN6I #happymothersday #feminism #
• How do YOU say “Don’t kill my baby!”? Should any mother have to? Make this a #happymothersday – for all moms. bit.ly/c6g9Jb #
• Make this Mother’s Day a beautiful one; go #vegan w/a little help from @upcnews bit.ly/bq1V6r #happymothersday #
• A lovely vid by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau (@vegancook) on awakening to the suffering of animals: bit.ly/mBo9Cw #happymothersday #
• Your #Vegan Mom’s Mother's Day Brunch: bit.ly/gxMXHg #whatveganseat on #happymothersday #
• Sarah’s Diary: Remembering nonhuman mothers on Mother's Day bit.ly/bc5jEp #happymothersday #feminism #
• Millions of moms will spend this Mother’s Day confined to battery cages: bit.ly/a3670e Go #vegan for them: bit.ly/jiWByu #
• Forgotten Mothers, Disappeared Daughters: Remember them this Mother's Day bit.ly/d3JzFN #happymothersday #feminism #
• Photo: Milk comes from a grieving mother. tumblr.com/xfd2fprrbc #happymothersday #
• RT @IAmDrTiller Best Mother’s Day Gift Ever: Reproductive Rights ow.ly/4PGKM #happymothersday #prochoice #
• Why animal rights are (still) a feminist issue by @katrinafox bit.ly/mhrEss www.govegannow.com, and have a #HappyMothersDay #
• Gilly’s Story (from egg machine to rescue hen): bit.ly/e0RYFm Excerpted from novoiceunheard.org #happymothersday #govegan #
• Sweetie & Me: bit.ly/aLRQ4j On rescuing a broiler chick/Hurricane Katrina refugee. Daughter, friend, person. #
• Young pigs who died while confined: bit.ly/lWHpm Notice the mothers who grieve from their crates? www.govegannow.com #
• Sistah #Vegan (@sistahvegan) on consuming love as a way to find love: bit.ly/ik9gvO #happymothersday #
• 9 million mothers are imprisoned in US dairy farms every year. They are not allowed to nurture their babies. www.govegannow.com #
• This Mother's Day, call for peace for the mothers and daughters of eastern Congo. Watch Javier Bardem's video: bit.ly/lfOU7D #
• Chico ♥s Dorothy: bit.ly/amVQqe Animal families, human families – it’s all the same. We all love and grieve. #happymothersday #
• Animal Photo of the Week: Mother and Child: bit.ly/cchble Goats! #happymothersday #feminism #
• Cows are among nature’s most protective mothers. Let them exercise their maternal instincts. www.govegannow.com #happymothersday #
• A Mother’s Day Soirée from @vegnews bit.ly/hwqMFh #whatveganseat on #happymothersday #
• Ari Solomon is a #feminist & he has a (Mother's Day) dilemma: huff.to/bDgwZW #happymothersday #
• For every dairy cow, many veal calves: bit.ly/9bZ6cF Respect these mothers & children; www.govegannow.com #
• Vegan Dad’s Annual Mother's Day Neighbourhood #Vegan Brunch: bit.ly/fSWlK8 #whatveganseat on #happymothersday #
• This Mother's Day, remember: Milk Comes from a Grieving Mother bit.ly/bDZ8BJ Go #vegan – for her. #happymothersday #feminism #
• Babies should not come into the world like this: bit.ly/ayymwX Go #vegan for Mother’s Day & for life: bit.ly/jiWByu #
• Her puppies are not yours to take: bit.ly/9Xyi7Y Adopt, don’t buy. #happymothersday – to moms everywhere. www.petfinder.com #
• 10 billion chicks are hatched in the US egg & meat factories every year. They will never know their mother’s touch. www.govegannow.com #
• Treat mom (& dad) to a Picnic on the Prairie next Sunday @ www.peacefulprairie.org – bit.ly/fIZaVT #vegan #
• She is someone's mother – NOT someone's dinner. bit.ly/buPHj2 Happy Mother's Day to moms of all species. #
• When Marcie arrived, she had already lost everything; her freedom, her family, her youth, every baby she had ever had. bit.ly/8XAkGf #
• To My Son on Mother's Day, 2010… by @marlavegan bit.ly/hM4evM #happymothersday #feminism #vegan #
• On Mother’s Day, many moms are Uninvited to the Party: bit.ly/imk5dq (by @abortiongang) #
• VegNewsletter, #Vegan Mother's Day Edition! bit.ly/fD9pnH #whatveganseat on #happymothersday #
• Animal Farms, Animal Factories bit.ly/4uF8Mo Using art to give voice to nonhuman mothers. #happymothersday #feminism #
• This Mother’s Day, @FarmSanctuary Encourages Public to Honor Mothers of All Species tinyurl.com/2bu6csn #
• This Mother's Day, celebrate all mothers! cowribbon.com #happymothersday #feminism #

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.

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

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?

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?

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.

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.

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

—————–

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.

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.
——————————

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.*

* 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.

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!

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.”
——————————

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.

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:

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

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!

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:

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:

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.)
——————————

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.)

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.

###

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

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!

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.)

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.