The Problem with Badge-Allies

The abolitionist faction of the Nonhuman Animal rights movement is unique in the movement because it specifically values intersectionality. That is, abolitionist activists recognize that sexism, racism, heterosexism, and other isms are as morally problematic as speciesism. Indeed, many abolitionists recognize that these systemic discriminations are actually entangled and mutually reinforcing.

Intersectionality is not only applicable to general society, it has relevance within social movement spaces as well. The Nonhuman Animal rights movement is male-dominated with a female majority and sexism has been heavily documented. It is a movement that is also white-dominated with few activists of color offered platform or leadership and a notoriously racist past with regard to campaigning and claimsmaking. Acknowledging these connections in social justice efforts is so very important for counteracting oppression.

In a movement that opposes inequality but still evidences inequality in its interactions with activists and members of the public, a strange situation occurs in which inequality may persist unchecked amidst efforts to resist it. Following many years of social justice campaigning across several social movements, few would openly admit to being bigoted today. Most like to think of themselves as upstanding and moral. Similarly, in an era in which diversity is theoretically embraced as a social good, most people champion diversity. If most agree that bigotry is bad and diversity is a worthy goal, why the persistence of bigotry and exclusion?

Because discrimination is often hidden or abstracted through institutionalized practices, it becomes more difficult to identify. With discrimination hard to “see” (at least to those who benefit from it or who are otherwise not impacted by it), a disconnect between theory (philosophical support for social justice) and practice (physical support for social justice) emerges. Oppression is systematic, and, at least in the West, individualism makes it difficult to understand how each one of us is shaped by that system and how we, in turn, contribute to that system through passive (or active) compliance. Those who are relatively privileged may view themselves as allies against oppression, but will not always recognize responsibility for that oppression or personal benefit from it. 

It gets even trickier in a social movement space in which activists actively embrace intersectionality theory and diversity goals. More than the average citizen, a social justice activist is personally invested in an anti-oppression identity. For some, this means regular interrogation of oppression in all its forms paired with active self-reflection. Being an ally is not easy, as it can require unlearning quite a lot of socialized norms and values, resisting entrenched social systems, and giving up privilege. It takes humility and a willingness to make mistakes and feel uncomfortable sometimes.

For many others, however, the intersectionality identity simply becomes a badge to be worn. Anyone can wear the badge, whether or not they actually do anything to earn it. Even worse, the badge can become a form of authority. With the badge brandished, it becomes difficult to challenge activists who engage in harmful or problematic practices. The badge can also create a psychological barrier for the wearer who may become less willing to acknowledge challenges as valid.

Unfortunately, this is a persistent issue in anti-speciesist spaces, including the abolitionist faction (despite its principled commitment to intersectionality). Privileged abolitionist vegans regularly flash their ally badges while simultaneously blocking intersectionality efforts. Some years ago, Sarah Kistle of The Abolitionist Vegan Society terms these persons “Badge-allies.” Badge-allies create another barrier to meaningful feminist discourse and complicate the possibility of implementing anti-oppression practice.

By way of some examples, women who have critiqued patriarchy in the movement have been accused of “misandry” and subjected to coordinated stalking and bullying campaigns. Women of color introducing conversations about race have been harassed and deplatformed, as their criticism of white supremacy is interpreted as “racist.” The majority of the accusers, bullies, harassers, and gatekeepers in these cases were white men (and many white women). Wielded in these ways, intersectionality becomes a strategic weapon for privileged people to protect their privilege and protect themselves from criticism.

These actions reflect an element of conscious discrimination, but they need not always be intentional. Microaggressions are also heavily used by Badge-allies. Again, few persons today see themselves as bigoted, but they can still engage in discrimination in unintended or unconscious ways. Microaggressions can include interruption, cat-calling, sexualizing, or desexualizing, misgendering, tone-policing, delivering or laughing at a sexist or racist joke, dismissing, downplaying or ignoring the experiences of a marginalized group, and denying the reality of sexism, racism, and other forms of oppression. Badge-allies are less likely to see microaggressions of this kind as aggressive or discriminatory because they have self-identified as intersectionally conscious.

Being an ally means more than simply wearing the identity like a badge. True allyship requires action and open dialogue with the marginalized groups that are being represented. Intersectionality is not a means for protecting privilege and shutting down critical discussions. It was developed as a philosophical tool for acknowledging a variety of experiences and how several core systems of inequality and mechanisms of oppression operate in similar, mutually supportive ways to shape those experiences. Intersectionality is a map for resistance, not a manual for maintaining a broken system.

An earlier version of this essay first appeared on The Abolitionist Activist Vegan blog on April 2, 2015.


Corey Lee Wrenn

Dr. Wrenn is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Kent. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology with Colorado State University in 2016. She was awarded Exemplary Diversity Scholar, 2016 by the University of Michigan’s National Center for Institutional Diversity. She served as council member with the American Sociological Association’s Animals & Society section (2013-2016) and was elected Chair in 2018. She is the co-founder of the International Association of Vegan Sociologists. She serves as Book Review Editor to Society & Animals and is a member of the Research Advisory Council of The Vegan Society. She has contributed to the Human-Animal Studies Images and Cinema blogs for the Animals and Society Institute and has been published in several peer-reviewed academic journals including the Journal of Gender Studies, Environmental Values, Feminist Media Studies, Disability & Society, Food, Culture & Society, and Society & Animals. In July 2013, she founded the Vegan Feminist Network, an academic-activist project engaging intersectional social justice praxis.

She is the author of A Rational Approach to Animal Rights: Extensions in Abolitionist Theory (Palgrave MacMillan 2016), Piecemeal Protest: Animal Rights in the Age of Nonprofits (University of Michigan Press 2019), and Animals in Irish Society: Interspecies Oppression and Vegan Liberation in Britain’s First Colony (State University of New York Press 2021).

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On Policing Male Allies

Fake Male Feminist

In 2013, I was the victim of an online harassment campaign. It was a cyber mob attack organized to punish me for publicly criticizing a number of sexist comments made by a leading male theorist in the Nonhuman Animal rights movement (he was avidly supporting women’s sexual objection as a valid tactic). I received hundreds of aggressive and often gendered messages in response with the intent of validating the man’s patriarchal position and silencing my feminism (this is a phenomenon that happens with excruciating regularity in online spaces).

It was a frightening, upsetting, and deeply alienating experience. In the height of the chaos, one man appeared among the crowd of sexist barraging to defend my feminist critique. His support came as a great relief to me. It was much needed and much appreciated. While he would later become a good friend of mine, at that time, he was largely unknown to me. Someone amidst the fray immediately responded, labeling him my “partner.” Others responded understandingly: “Oh, that makes sense now.” Men, it seems, can’t be allies without an incentive.

David FutrelleThis experience, as it turns out, is a common one. For instance, David Futrelle of the anti-misogyny blog We Hunted the Mammoth, an online watchdog project tracking “men’s rights” advocacy, is regularly accused of writing about misogyny to “get laid.” It is as though feminist ideas are so wacky and so unimportant that the only reason men would be interested in fighting against sexism and misogyny would be to get something from women. Some men are so completely indoctrinated with the idea that women exist only as a resource that it becomes unfathomable that any man would want to challenge patriarchy. What rational man could actually take feminism seriously?

When men attack other men for promoting or defending feminism, it constitutes gender policing. Masculinity is protected in defining it by what it is not, and it is not feminine. Boys who play with Barbies, enjoy theater, or otherwise fail to “man up” may find themselves chastised. Similarly, boys who advocate gender equality are also chastised. Masculinity necessitates the rejection or devaluation of the feminine. Under patriarchy, there is no room for women’s rights, and there is even less room for traitorous men colluding with marginalized women.

Policing male allies is hurtful for a number of reasons. First, it dismisses the legitimacy of feminism. Feminism is presented as not worth supporting unless it provides men with sexual favors. Second, it reduces masculinity to the tired trope that men are only interested in sex. Third, it often entails emasculating and heterosexist gender policing. Finally, it discourages men’s involvement. Men are acutely aware that supporting feminism threatens their tenuous position in the patriarchal hierarchy and will solicit policing from other men (and some women). None of these consequences are compatible with the goals espoused by a social justice movement.

Although a number of men will feign interest in search of fame, fortune, or sex, to be sure, the truth is that some men really are interested in social justice, and not because of any personal reward. For that matter, faking feminism would prove to be a poor tactic. Many feminist women are not the easiest for patriarchal, chauvinistic men to get along with. They hold their male friends and romantic partners up to a higher standard of integrity (or, some might say, a standard of basic human decency). It is not as easy as posting a pro-feminist statement in a forum and then sitting back and waiting for the ladies to swarm in. Heterosexual feminists are more likely to be attracted to men who understand the issues, genuinely care about the issues, and can be counted on to fight for the issues. It is not something easily faked.

Writing off a man’s support with the ridiculous suggestion that he’s only interested in sex is about as shallow and lazy as calling feminists “man-haters.” It is not true, but for those committed to oppressive systems, truth is not the point. Rather, the point is to silence women and their allies in order to protect patriarchy. I believe that men claiming to be feminists (especially when they have been informed that doing so is appropriative and hurtful) is a problem, but when men are performing their duties as allies, they can be important sources of strength and support. Perhaps it is predictable then, that supporters of sexism will seek to undermine that relationship by digging deeper into sexism, degrading women as sex objects and the men that help them as hormone-driven lackeys.

 

ARationalApproachtoAnimalRights

This essay is a revision of “Are Male Allies Just Trying to Get Laid?” first published on August 1st, 2013 with a now defunct feminist blog. You can read more about gender and anti-speciesist activism in my 2016 publication, A Rational Approach to Animal Rights.

 


Corey Lee WrennDr. Wrenn is Lecturer of Sociology. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology with Colorado State University in 2016. She received her M.S. in Sociology in 2008 and her B.A. in Political Science in 2005, both from Virginia Tech. She was awarded Exemplary Diversity Scholar, 2016 by the University of Michigan’s National Center for Institutional Diversity. She served as council member with the American Sociological Association’s Animals & Society section (2013-2016) and was elected Chair in 2018. She serves as Book Review Editor to Society & Animals and has contributed to the Human-Animal Studies Images and Cinema blogs for the Animals and Society Institute. She has been published in several peer-reviewed academic journals including the Journal of Gender Studies, Feminist Media Studies, Disability & Society, Food, Culture & Society, and Society & Animals. In July 2013, she founded the Vegan Feminist Network, an academic-activist project engaging intersectional social justice praxis. She is the author of A Rational Approach to Animal Rights: Extensions in Abolitionist Theory (Palgrave MacMillan 2016).

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Essay Reading – Tips for Male Allies

With sexism so endemic to social justice spaces, how do men help push back against interpersonal violence and systemic discrimination while also respecting boundaries?

Reading by Dr. Corey Lee Wrenn; music by Lucas Hayes.

This is the first installment of Vegan Feminist Network’s podcast series, making popular essays more accessible through audio recording. You can access the original essay by clicking here.

Archives of this podcast can be found here.

Conseils pour Alliés Masculins

Translation by Christophe Hendrickx. See more French translations of critical vegan essays by grassroots activists by visiting his blog, La Pilule Rouge. The original English version of this essay can be found by clicking here.

Il ne fait aucun doute, le mouvement pour les droits des animaux non-humains a été compromis par le sexisme et manipulé par le patriarcat. Ce n’est dorénavant plus juste PETA qui mène la danse : c’est un nombre incalculable d’autres organisations (comme Fish Love), de compagnies (comme LUSH), et de pornographes (comme Vegan Pinup). Qui plus est, cela s’est propagé aux interactions individuelles comme le montre la normalité croissante d’activistes masculins tentant de contrôler, manipuler, menacer, ou harceler les militantes féminines.

Beaucoup de féministes insistent sur le fait que les hommes ne peuvent pas être des féministes (et l’Organisation Nationale des Hommes contre le Sexisme est d’accord). Être féministe, c’est être une femme auto-identifiée se battant pour l’égalité féminine. Être une féministe demande une expérience directe de l’oppression de genre, car c’est cette expérience unique en tant que membre du groupe visé qui informera l’activisme. Les hommes qui s’offusquent de cette définition et qui demandent à être inclus ne font que mettre en évidence l’ubiquité du privilège masculin. Lorsque les hommes réaffirment ce droit, ils démontrent leur besoin d’être aux commandes et ils démontrent le patriarcat. Bien que les hommes ne pourront jamais entièrement se soustraire eux-mêmes des privilèges de leur genre, les hommes peuvent tout à fait être des alliés.

Et nous avons grandement besoin d’alliés dans le mouvement des droits des animaux non-humains. Ce qui est peut-être le plus à blâmer pour le sexisme et la misogynie rampante dans notre mouvement (au-delà de la nature oppressante du patriarcat) est la complaisance. Il est temps de déplacer la responsabilité sur les membres masculins de notre communauté.

  1. Ne Soyez Jamais Complaisants

Si vous êtes témoin d’une femme se faisant brimée, harcelée ou intimidée… exprimez-vous. Si vous restez silencieux, si vous « restez neutre », ou si vous prenez la défense de l’agresseur (ce que j’identifie comme « mentalité de la bande de mecs »), vous êtes tout aussi coupable de sexisme et d’oppression que l’agresseur.

  1. Demandez une Représentation Égale

Si vous participez à un projet qui est principalement mené par des hommes (ce qui est suspect considérant que notre mouvement est composé à 80% de femmes), demandez à savoir où sont les femmes et refusez de participer avant qu’elles soient incluses. Ce problème est également présent dans le mouvement athée/sceptique, et les féministes et leurs alliés ont très bien réussi à faire pression sur les organisateurs d’évènements pour améliorer les proportions de genre.

  1. N’utilisez Jamais la Carte du “Sexisme Inversé”

Les femmes, qui sont un groupe oppressé vivant sous un patriarcat qui privilégie les hommes, ne peuvent pas, de par la nature même de leur statut social, exercer de sexisme envers les hommes. Dire d’une femme qu’elle est sexiste (ou, pire, « misandre ») vise à rediriger l’attention du problème des hommes, un groupe privilégié qui n’est jamais remis en question, vers les femmes. C’est une tactique visant à détourner l’attention de l’oppresseur vers l’oppressée. C’est une tactique visant à réduire au silence.

  1. Ne Mansplainez (Mecspliquez) Pas.

Le fait est que, malgré la sagesse infinie et la formation approfondie que pourraient avoir certains hommes, les hommes ne connaissent malgré tout pas mieux les problèmes des femmes que les femmes elles-mêmes. Le mansplainingsemble avoir frappé notre communauté. Beaucoup d’hommes insistent pour tout expliquer aux femmes, du féminisme au viol, avec l’intention de dominer la conversation ou de remporter le débat. Les expériences personnelles des femmes sont complètement écartées et dévalorisées, quand bien-même ces femmes ont les qualifications irréfutables les appuyant. Le mansplaining n’aide pas, c’est oppressif et irrespectueux.

  1. N’Harcelez pas les Femmes

Bien que cela puisse paraître évident, le harcèlement dans notre mouvement est un véritable problème. A travers des interviews réalisées avec des militantes, Emily Gaarder, dans son ouvrage de 2011 Women and the Animal Rights Movement, a constaté que le problème était plutôt répandu. J’ai moi-même été victimisée par plusieurs hommes vegans qui m’ont harcelée au point de devoir presque appeler la police.

  1. Écoutez

La majorité des hommes ne savent pas ce qu’est être une femme, n’ayant jamais fait l’expérience d’en être une. Tout comme les personnes de couleur blanche ne peuvent jamais totalement comprendre ce qu’est être une personne de couleur, unhomme cis ne peut jamais totalement comprendre ce qu’est être une femme. On considère généralement comme condescendant et peu utile qu’une personne blanche prétende avoir toutes les réponses sur les difficultés que rencontrent les personnes de couleur. Je soutiens que la même chose s’applique aux hommes qui pensent pouvoir comprendre ce qu’est l’expérience féminine et qui se sentent également dans leur droit de privilégié de définir ou de valider le sexisme. Au lieu d’insister, « Ce n’est pas sexiste » ou « Tu exagères », essayez d’écouter. Tentez de comprendre d’où viennent les femmes, les problèmes auxquels elles doivent faire face, et les solutions qu’elles recherchent. De même, rappelez-vous de leur faire de la place. N’essayez pas de dominer la discussion et donnez de l’espace aux femmes pour qu’elles participent sans être noyées par votre voix.

  1. Ne Gaslightez pas

Le Gaslighting est un outil efficace de contrôle masculin, se manifestant généralement dans des cas de violence conjugale ou de violence psychologique. Le Gaslighting est une tactique visant à faire douter une femme sur sa réalité et ses expériences. Si une femme déclare avoir fait l’objet de sexisme, et que vous lui dites qu’elle en fait toute une affaire pour rien ou qu’elle « exagère », c’est du Gaslighting. Faire en sorte qu’une femme se sente « folle » ou qu’elle apparaisse comme tel aux yeux des autres est un moyen de l’affaiblir et de la contrôler.

  1. Surveillez Votre Langage

Il y a des centaines de termes féminins péjoratifs (et seulement quelques masculins) qui utilisent l’identité féminine comme une insulte. Ils visent à affaiblir. Par exemple, l’association « Defending Pitbulls against Peta » appelle la présidente de PETA Ingrid Newkirk une « vilaine sorcière » et Nathan Winograd insinue qu’elle est une malade mentale. Ces deux exemples ne sont que la continuité d’une longue histoire de femmes ayant été ostracisées, institutionnalisées, et même tuées pour avoir été des « sorcières » ou « folles ». La langue française est vaste et contient plus de mots que la personne lambda n’en utilisera, donc il n’y a vraiment aucune excuse pour utiliser des péjoratifs genrés à moins que l’intention est de s’appuyer sur le sexisme pour renforcer votre argument.

  1. Soyez Critiques envers la Violence

Dans son livre de 2006, Capers in the Churchyard : Animal Rights Advocacy in the Age of Terror, Lee Hall avance que les tactiques violentes sont indubitablement associées à l’expression masculine du pouvoir, de la bravade et de la domination. J’ajouterais que ces approches sont en grande partie anti-féministes. La violence privilégie l’expérience masculine et le contrôle masculin, et, en même temps, rabaisse la féminité et vise à effrayer. Dans un discours présenté lors d’une conférence de 2012 en Italie, « La Paralysie du Pacifisme : En Défense de l’Action Militante Directe et de la « Violence » pour la Libération Animale », l’orateur crie littéralement sur une salle pleine de jeunes militantes, les accusant de pacifisme et insistant pour qu’elles abandonnent la non-violence.

  1. Soyez Critiques de l’Exploitation Sexuelle

Si vous êtes témoin d’une situation dans laquelle des femmes sont encouragées à se dévêtir pour « la cause »… faites entendre votre voix. Le corps des femmes ne devrait regarder personne, mais nous ne pouvons également pas ignorer la réalité d’un mouvement qui, couramment, exploite et objectifie sexuellement les femmes. L’oppression des animaux non-humains ne peut être démantelée via l’oppression des femmes. Faites entendre votre voix, laissez un commentaire, envoyez un email, ou tenez un blog sur le sujet. Ne laissez pas s’étendre l’exploitation sexuelle sans broncher.

 

Prière de reconnaître que ces requêtes ne sont pas une attaque envers les hommes. Ce n’est rien d’autre qu’une tentative honnête de créer un espace sûr pour les femmes dans un mouvement qui devient de plus en plus dangereux et humiliant. Nous devons faire face à l’inégalité là où elle survient. Nous sommes de plus en plus conscients de la manière dont nous traitons les autres groupes à risque, et pourtant nous ignorons si souvent le sort des femmes. Pire encore, ces femmes qui trouvent le courage de prendre la parole sont accusées d’en faire tout un foin. C’est représentatif de l’enracinement du sexisme et de la misogynie. Lorsqu’un mouvement composé à 80% de femmes ne peut se libérer des chaînes de l’oppression féminine, nous devrions être sérieusement préoccupé·es. Mais la charge du travail ne devrait pas reposer entièrement sur les femmes, les hommes doivent également prendre leur responsabilité et s’efforcer d’être des alliés féministes vegans pour le bénéfice de tous et de toutes, hommes, femmes, humains, ou non-humains.

 


Corey Lee WrennDr. Wrenn is Lecturer of Sociology. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology with Colorado State University in 2016. She received her M.S. in Sociology in 2008 and her B.A. in Political Science in 2005, both from Virginia Tech. She was awarded Exemplary Diversity Scholar, 2016 by the University of Michigan’s National Center for Institutional Diversity. She served as council member with the American Sociological Association’s Animals & Society section (2013-2016) and was elected Chair in 2018. She serves as Book Review Editor to Society & Animals and has contributed to the Human-Animal Studies Images and Cinema blogs for the Animals and Society Institute. She has been published in several peer-reviewed academic journals including the Journal of Gender Studies, Feminist Media Studies, Disability & Society, Food, Culture & Society, and Society & Animals. In July 2013, she founded the Vegan Feminist Network, an academic-activist project engaging intersectional social justice praxis. She is the author of A Rational Approach to Animal Rights: Extensions in Abolitionist Theory (Palgrave MacMillan 2016).

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Jamie Kilstein, Vegan Male “Feminist” Explains Feminism to “Dumb” Women

Content Warning: Contains ableist language and male-on-female aggression 

Not Safe for Work: Contains cursing.

Jamie Kilstein

By Professor Corey Lee Wrenn

Jamie Kilstein, comedian and co-host of Citizen Radio, announced that he would be doing an interview with PETA and PETA 2.  A feminist questioned him on this, asking why he chooses to collaborate with a notoriously misogynistic organization.  He then proceeded to dismiss her and berate her.

KilsteinIn the middle of the above interaction, Kilstein peeked into her profile, which listed her interest in Marxism.  He then referenced it, insinuating that she was “dumb.”

Kilstein 3

Kilstein then reminded readers that he’s discussed PETA’s sexism and fat-shaming on the show.  For that matter, PETA has done awesome things for the kids.  His dismissive and aggressive reaction insinuates that women who continue to have a problem with his position are demonstrating ignorance and simply don’t understand the wonderful things PETA has done.

Kilstein-21

PETA promotes violence against women and girls by regularly using pornified images of women and girls to represent either violence against women and girls or violence against animals. How many episodes of his show do we have to listen to before we understand that supporting PETA is consistent with feminism?  How many episodes until we find his behavior towards women acceptable?

Kilstein 4

This is not the first time I’ve gotten an uneasy feeling about Kilstein.  He once posted that he found men’s rights advocates (a hate group) “funny.”  I replied saying that, as a woman,  I didn’t find them very funny at all, but rather quite terrifying. He responded with condescension, gas lighting, and mocking.  Like the woman above, and he also told me that I must not listen to his show. Again, he positions feminist criticisms as a matter of ignorance or irrationality.

This man has made a career from feminism, but he approaches honest feminist criticism of his decidedly anti-feminist behavior with abuse and aggression.  This behavior is what is referred to as tokenizing. Tokenizing is when men use women’s experiences for their own personal gain while simultaneously doing little to challenge gender oppression.  Kilstein makes fun of sexism in his stand-up, then signs on to Twitter after the show and berates women who find it problematic that he collaborates with organizations that routinely hurt women.

When men self-identify as feminists, this is generally the result. Too often, they have little understanding about women’s experiences, and, sometimes, are the very perpetrators women are seeking to escape. Self-identified male feminists generally use this feminist identity to shield their sexist behavior (and there is also a frightening trend in men using feminism to sexually harass and assault women). Read more on why I argue that men cannot be feminist here and how men can be better allies here.

 


Corey Lee WrennMs. Wrenn is the founder of Vegan Feminist Network and also operates The Academic Abolitionist Vegan. She is a Lecturer of Sociology with Monmouth University, a part-time Instructor of Sociology and Ph.D. candidate with Colorado State University, council member with the Animals & Society Section of the American Sociological Association, and an advisory board member with the International Network for Social Studies on Vegetarianism and Veganism with the University of Vienna. She was awarded the 2016 Exemplary Diversity Scholar by the University of Michigan’s National Center for Institutional Diversity. She is the author of A Rational Approach to Animal Rights: Extensions in Abolitionist Theory (2015, Palgrave Macmillan).