The Sexual Politics of Halloween Meat

Halloween has earned a nasty reputation for perpetuating oppression.  Women are encouraged to wear “slutty” costumes that leave little to the imagination and also leave women to freeze in the late October weather (for Northern Hemisphere folk), generally for the enjoyment of men.  Caricatures of Native Americans, disabled people, people of size, Mexicans, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Arabs, etc. all become fair game for costumes.  In other words, Halloween has become a celebration of white male Western dominance, and anyone who has a problem with that “can’t take a joke.”

Gender, class, ability, size, and race all intersect in the multitude of horrendous, problematic costumes, so we should not be surprised to find the same for species.  There are countless costumes that degrade other animals.  One of the most horrific is a strap-on sheep that is made to appear as though she is being raped by a stereotypical “hillbilly” (a derogatory caricature of Appalachian peoples).

Man in red long johns with hat and full beard wears a toy sheep attached to his groinThere are many variations of this costume for men.  But, for women?

Woman dressed in small tight fitting black dress with sheep's earsNotice how the male version, while horribly classist, still demonstrates male superiority over the feminine.  The female version demonstrates female vulnerability/animal vulnerability.  In both cases, the “sheep” is feminized and portrayed as a male sexual resource.  See also American Apparel’s “zookeeper and animals” costumes.

There are several costumes that also juxtapose femininity with animality, sexual availability, and the desire to be consumed.  Check out sexy bacon, sexy pepperoni pizza, and sexy hamburger and hot dog:

Woman in tight fitting mini dress patterned like bacon

Woman in tight fitting mini dress patterned like pepperoni pizza

Two women in tight fitting mini dresses, one patterned like a hamburger, the other like a hot dogThese are brilliant examples of Carol Adams’s sexual politics of meat theory:  Women are animalized, animals are feminized, and living persons become dead objects.  They become fragmented pieces of flesh for those in power to pleasurably consume.  These pieces of meat are made sexy.  They want you to eat them.

In researching this article, I actually came across several “sexy” women’s costumes that sexualized non-animal food items as well.  While sexy hamburgers and hot dogs are especially problematic because they intersect sexism and speciesism, I’m not convinced that sexy corn-on-the-cob, sexy chewing gum, or sexy watermelon is much of an improvement.

Woman in tight fitting mini dress patterned like watermelonSexualized food costumes for women reinforce the notion that women are resources to be consumed.  They are non-persons, they are objects, they are here at your disposal.  At least these costumes leave Nonhuman Animals out of it, but they’re still pretty darn  problematic.

 


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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The New Frontier of Rape Porn in Animal Rights

Trigger Warning: Graphic descriptions of rape and violence against women.

On a public walkway, women are gathered around.  One woman cradles her baby. Suddenly a gang of men dressed in black with ski masks grab her. They pull her child away, place the baby in a crate, and she screams and cries for her child. The assailants rip open her blouse, exposing her breasts. She is beaten, pulled by the hair, and a man forcibly clamps a breast pump to her nipple. She screams in agony, blood pours from her breast. When they are finished milking her, they beat her about the head, tie a lead to her neck, and drag her to a waiting van, where she is dumped inside.

Screaming woman holding a baby surrounded by men in black ski masks

This assault (what Nonhuman Animal rights organization 269 Life describes as a “performance”) is currently hosted on Youtube (not linked to here because it basically amounts to rape porn). As of this writing, it has over 36,000 views. The top comments are:

Stop it boner!

And

Nice tits!

One commenter requested they go further and actually rape, maim, kill, dismember, and cannibalize her:

LOL! Great! Keep doing this so people can see how radical vegans really are. Why stop at branding and milking? Seems kinda wimpy to not go all the way. C’mon, 269, you can do better than this. Let’s see impregnation! Spaying! Neutering! Euthanasia! How about butchering! Fire up the grill along side the branding iron. A video of you radical vegans chomping on some human steaks would really prove how sincere you are about animals being equal to humans.

But 269 Life reassures us that the message we should be gleaning is that dairy consumption is immoral and exploitative.  Really? Because all I got from watching this video was sick to my stomach, fearful for my life, and flash backs to my own experience with rape and male violence. As for the male viewers, they were apparently turned on and hungry for more.

Dairy farmers do not dress in black with ski masks and dump their victims in vans, the stereotypical rapist does that.  269 Life uses the language of human female rape and murder to tell a story about cow rape and murder.  While there are certainly similarities, 269 Life has botched this job big time.  By the way, the infant used in the rape demonstration was real.  Exposing a baby to this violence, staged or not, qualifies as child abuse.

Incidentally, this group also hosted another street demonstration where three white men were chained and branded with a hot iron.  As with the white woman who was forcibly separated from her child and beaten by her owners, these branded men in chains draw on a history of human slavery.  There’s something disturbing about white skinned activists from a mostly white organization reenacting a history of racial oppression while simultaneously failing to acknowledge it in their narrative.

Man with chain around his neck and a brand on his arm lays on the ground.

In another street demonstration, this time against foie gras (the diseased livers of ducks who are force fed sometimes to the point that their esophagus or stomach ruptures before they are even slaughtered), a male activist forcibly holds down the head of a young woman. Her face shows terror, his shows violent determination. Her hands are bound and a feeding tube is forced into her mouth.  The imagery is, not by coincidence, drawing on the popularity of “gagging” gonzo porn.  Watching a woman gag on a penis, or feeding tube, whichever, is supposed to be sexy . . . especially if she is hurting and humiliated.

Woman in a PETA protest on her knees with her hands tied behind her back, looks scared and in pain, a man is pushing her head down and forcing a feeding tube down her throat

In another demonstration by the Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association, a parade float that is intended to “raise awareness” for homeless kittens is one big mobile strip joint. Nearly naked women writhe and flip on stripper poles down the street. Somewhere in the crowd of nearly naked women, you can make out a sign that pictures a kitten in need. One commenter writes: “Nice pussies.”

Parade float with many women in underwear and lingerie dancing on poles. A kitten adoption group.

Some third wave feminists hail stripping as “empowering,” but for less privileged women who live the reality of sex work, there is nothing glamorous or liberating about stripping at all.  The profession has extraordinarily high rates of sexual assault, rape, and pimping.

Animal rights activism draws on very real violence against women, children, and people of color, aggravating it, normalizing it, and sexualizing it.  It’s clear from the public reaction, their intention to help Nonhuman Animals is getting completely obscured.  Instead of alleviating violence and suffering, they aggravate it.

 


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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Why the “We Use Men, Too!” Excuse Doesn’t Work

In a nutshell:  We do not live in a post-gender society where women’s and men’s bodies are interchangeable.  Men’s bodies are portrayed and perceived in much different ways that women’s bodies.  Women’s bodies are also the vast majority of those bodies that are sexually objectified in the media (over 95%!).  The sexual objectification of women is linked to increased rates of domestic violence and sexual violence against women.

Oftentimes in the Nonhuman Animal rights movement, organizations and their volunteers will vehemently state that their sexual objectification of women is not sexist because they also use men in their campaigning. This doesn’t cut it for two reasons:  1. Women’s bodies are disproportionately sexually objectified in the Nonhuman Animal rights movement just as they are in mainstream media; 2. Men tend to be portrayed in ways that protects their masculinity and social power, whereas women tend to be portrayed in ways that reinforce their submissiveness and sexual availability.

Let’s take a look at some images taken from PETA as examples.  As you peruse them, keep in mind the sexual objectification checklist:

1. Does the image show only part(s) of a sexualized person’s body?

2. Does the image present a sexualized person as a stand-in for an object?

3. Does the image show sexualized persons as interchangeable?

4. Does the image affirm the idea of violating the bodily integrity of a sexualized person who can’t consent?

5. Does the image suggest that sexual availability is the defining characteristic of the person?

6. Does the image show a sexualized person as a commodity that can be bought and sold?

Shows muscular boxer staring at camera wit fists raised.

Tattooed man looks at camera, he is shirtless, hand in fist

Basketball player, shirtless, heavily tattooed, has arms spread out, head faced up, holding a basketball in each hand

Shirtless muscular and hairy man faces camera and has arms folded.

Muscular man staring at camera with hands together in front of him, to display his muscles

Heavily tattooed, shirtless man with one arm to the side and one hand pulling at a chain around his neck. Making a tough face, in a tough posture

Muscular boxer raises fists to the camera, stares into camera

Muscular football player grimacing at camera, flexing muscles as he holds football with two hands

Mike from Jersey Shore shown surrounded by cats, holding a cat, no shirt, very muscular, kneeling, smirking at camera

The common factors in these images are direct eye contact with the camera, a threatening or powerful pose, and display of strength and prowess.  Indeed, many of these pictures demonstrate hyper-masculinity.  Look at the hand positions of these men:  They are demonstrating command over space, command over their body, and command over the viewer.  Men are not being used as objects, and their personhood is protected.  There is no sexual violation, and there is no compromised consent.  They are not shown as interchangeable, and they are not shown as sexually available.  These images don’t say, “Come and get me,” they say, “I’m coming to get you.”

Some images depict naked men, but these are often shown as humorous.  Because sexually objectifying men is so rare and so abnormal for our understanding of masculinity, it becomes funny.

David Cross is naked and on a fashion runway. He is striking a pose and looking at the camera with a silly face.

Steve-O is naked and jumping in the air. We see him from behind. He is making a goofy face. He has a tattoo of himself making that face on his back.

In images where men and women are pictured, the difference is easily spotted.  Notice how this man is facing the camera head on, displaying no vulnerability.  The woman, however, faces the camera from the side, leans on him, and is standing on one foot on tip toe, demonstrating her vulnerability.  Indeed, many mixed-gender images show women leaning on men for support.

Naked man sitting on stool with guitar covering his bottom half, naked woman at his side leaning on him with one leg latched on to him the other on a tip toe. Her head is tilted against his, he is looking straight at the camera.

See also this image where Corey Feldman is facing the camera head on, playing an instrument, and in command of his space.  His wife is shown leaning on him, and looking at the camera from an upturned face.  Much more of her body exposed.  She is not in command of her space, but rather  she is finding support on the man.

Corey Feldman and Susie Feldman in bed. Corey is playing guitar, sitting cross legged on the bed looking straight at the camera. His wife is leaning on him exposing much more skin.

 


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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Why Can’t Men Be Feminists?

Hanging wall sign the shape of a mustache that reads, "No Boys Allowed"

Can men be feminists? Certainly, this question is a contentious one, and there is little consensus on the matter. As a scholar of gender studies and an activist of fifteen years, it is my position that, no, cis-men* cannot be feminists. And there’s a good reason or two. However, these reasons are complex and there are many points to consider, so bear with me.

Female protester holding cardboard sign that reads: "Smash the Patriarchy!"

While I acknowledge that many disagree with this position, it is hardly a radical one.  Quite a few feminists insist that men can’t be feminists (and the National Organization for Men against Sexism agrees).  To be feminist is to be a self-identified woman fighting for female equality; to be a feminist requires a direct experience of gender oppression. Why? Because it is this unique experience as a member of a targeted group that will inform one’s activism.

Male Territorial Claims

Men who become disgruntled with this definition and demand inclusion only underscore the ubiquitousness of male privilege.  When men reassert their entitlement, they are demonstrating their need to be in control and they are pulling on their patriarchal capital.

But wait! This doesn’t mean that men should hit the road, all men are scum, etc. Men, of course, have a role to play, too. Although cis-men can never fully remove themselves from the privileges of their gender, men can and should absolutely be allies! We should be wary of any man who insists on being included and insults those feminists who deny him inclusion. Individuals who engage this kind of behavior are demonstrating an inability to recognize their male entitlement. These are the very types of people who should never be considered a feminist in the first place, regardless of your position on the debate.

I think it’s a waste of energy to concern ourselves with those men who are irritable at the thought of being excluded.  Truth be told, cis-men have full entitlement to 99% of the world’s social spaces.  They also enjoy the infinite benefits of being male (like better jobs, better pay, more prestige, perceived credibility and authority, etc.). I know in my heart of hearts that men will do just fine without access to feminist spaces.

Insisting that Men Can’t be Feminist is Not Sexist

50's comic of a white man in a suit and hat saying to a woman: "Look kitten, I don't give a damn what YOU THINK, If I SAY I'm a feminist then BY GOD I AM ONE!"When men consider it “sexist” to be excluded, it illustrates how little they understand the meaning of sexism. Women–who are an oppressed group living under a patriarchy that privileges men–cannot, by the very nature of their social status, wield sexism against men. Calling a woman sexist, a man-hater, or a misandrist is a counter-tactic that is intended to redirect attention from men–a privileged group that typically goes completely unexamined–back to women where it normally lies. In other words, it is a conscious attempt to divert focus from the oppressor to the oppressed. It is a tactic intended to silence and maintain male entitlement and privilege. Men cannot be oppressed by women under a patriarchy that is structurally designed to benefit men.

In a similar tactic meant to undermine women, some men will insist that these “sexist” or “misandrist” women who exclude men aren’t really feminist themselves because they are discriminating based on sex/gender. The problematic nature of this reaction is put into sharp relief when we consider other identity-based movements like the disabled people’s movement or the Native American self-determination movement. Is it really a right for non-disabled persons or white-identified persons to claim entitlement to inclusion in those movements?  There is a reason why some social justice spaces are semi-exclusive. It has to do, firstly, with the tendency for privileged persons to dominate and create hurt (even if doing so is not intended). It also has to do with a shared experience with oppression.  It is a history that people with privilege cannot fully experience or understand, even if they give it their best effort and best intentions (which is admirable!).

It’s About Gender, Not Biology

Another retort is that a women’s only feminist space relies on biological determinism to maintain boundaries. But this response falsely conflates biology with social construction. Feminism is based on gender, not sex. Gender implies socially constructed roles, expectations, and treatments.  Gender is about experience.  Chromosomal makeup will have only a limited and arbitrary impact on how the social environment will shape one’s gender.  For example, many people are born with penises or with intersex traits, identify as female, and share the female experience.  These people are female (if they identify as such).

Gender is fluid and adaptable. This is what is meant by the feminist emphasis on “experience”; gender distinction relates to socialization processes, social interactions, and cultural meanings.  Gender is not about genitalia, but, rather, it is concerned with the ways in which the world treats people according to the gender they have been assigned or identify with.  In fact, many social identities are ascribed, such as race or species.  Identification with a particular gender, race, or species means differential treatment and differential perceptions of the world. Again, the fluidity of gender means that some people who are ascribed one gender can resist and identify how they feel is most appropriate (and some will choose to reject the gender binary altogether).

It is cis-masculinity in particular that acts as an ideological barrier, and that is what this essay is intended to examine. In an ideal world, gender would be abolished and no one would feel bound by its restrictive and often harmful effects. But we do not live in a gender-neutral, gender-absent world. Differences still exist, and they still matter.

Consider Jane Goodall who studied chimpanzees for 45 years.  She is a human, but she knows chimps well.  She probably knows more about chimps than any other human on Earth.  But does she know what it’s like to be a chimp as well as a chimp would?  No, of course not, because she is a human.  She experiences the world differently.  She has her own history, her own social conventions, her own culture, and her own knowledges that obscure the possibility of ever fully knowing the chimpanzee experience.   She may be an important ally to chimpanzees, but her human privilege will bias how she advocates for them.  Her human privilege also means she can advocate for them when she wants to, if she wants to.  Clearly, chimpanzees are not a direct correlation to human women, as chimpanzees, for the most part, lack the ability to mobilize and advocate for themselves, but the point is that social identity and privilege can impose a barrier that is difficult to overcome.

I argue that genders, too, represent distinct cultures.  Many men will have women in their lives and feel that they know women well.  They might study feminism, attend rallies, and read extensively on gender-based social justice.  But do they ever really know the female experience?  For cis-men, this is unlikely.  They can develop a good understanding of course, but, ultimately, their socialization and personal history with privilege prevents them from ever fully being immersed in womanhood.  This leads us to the crux of the argument: without really knowing the female experience, it quickly gets dangerous when a privileged group of people begin to advocate on behalf of a vulnerable group. This isn’t about putting men down and turning men away. This argument only reflects a desire that men acknowledge and respect that women will be the best positioned to advocate for women. It’s a desire for space and autonomy.

Jane Goodall with Chimpanzee

Caring About It Part-time vs. Living It Full-time

Even the most committed male ally to feminism can walk away at  any time.  He might spend a few days a week advocating for feminist causes, but he will always have the privilege to support or not support women at his whim.  Women, on the other hand, will always be exposed to sexual harassment, sexual abuse, violence, rape, sexism, second class citizenship, etc.  Men can critically examine patriarchy when it is convenient to them, but women have no choice but to endure the consequences of patriarchy at all times.

This is the crucial difference between a feminist and a male ally.  A feminist lives that oppression, but an ally doesn’t have his neck out.  He will always be protected and supported by patriarchy. He has male privilege as a safety net. So many times I’ve seen the most committed of “feminist” men turn their backs on women in need in order to protect their male buddies, to avoid drawing negative attention to themselves, or to escape some other consequence as is convenient to them. And really, men don’t have to walk in women’s shoes to help. That is, there need not be any urgency to experience the female experience. Men don’t need to worry so much about understanding women’s oppression so much as their privilege. Men can help by working on themselves rather than working on women.

Oppressed groups need a safe space where they can have leadership over their own struggles.  There needs to be at least one space where male privilege does not usurp, control, and marginalize women.  This is not a war on men, this is simply working to protect women’s spaces from male co-optation. That doesn’t mean there is no room for men in the feminist movement, it simply means that men will not be granted the full leadership and control they enjoy elsewhere. When we’ve got patriarchy under control, then we can talk about gender neutrality in collective action. But, until then, men should mind the boundaries.

Enacting Male Authority to Define and Police Oppression

Another reason we should be hesitant to include men as feminists is the tendency for men to take it upon themselves to define what feminism is.  For instance, one male-identified Nonhuman Animal rights theorist in particular repeatedly argues that only vegans can be feminists.  However, this person has not (and probably would not) insist that African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, gays, lesbians, trans persons, disabled persons, etc. have a flawed sense of social justice or that they “aren’t real activists” because they are not vegan.

I suspect that men pick on women because women are an at-risk group, and this group still endures horrific levels of discrimination and violence that most people still consider completely normal.  It’s easy to push women around.  We would find it ridiculous if these same men made a similar argument to the Black Power movement:  “African Americans cannot be Black nationalists if they are not vegan!”  It is, if not laughable, then insulting.

Brad Paisley Accidental RacistMen should not enjoy the privilege of defining what feminism is. There is something fundamentally wrong with men attempting to invoke their authority in this matter. Remember Brad Paisley’s “Accidental Racist” song?  Paisley wrote  about how he was rebuffed for wearing a confederate flag t-shirt by a man of color who was serving him at Starbucks.  Paisley didn’t take too kindly to this. In his eyes, it was his hurt feelings that should take center stage; he was the one being discriminated against. What gives him the authority as a white-identified man to define racism? Likewise, what gives men the authority to define feminism?

The Role of Allies

Many movements rely heavily on allies, like the anti-slavery movement of the 18th and 19th centuries and the Civil Rights movement of the 20th century. The difference between being an ally and being a full-fledged activist who gets to share in the identity of the movement is simple: knowing your place and being respectful.

Consider, for instance, the Freedom Buses of the Civil Rights movement.  African Americans and whites rode those buses through the South in the face of life-threatening danger. The white activists in this example were allies. They were very important allies to be sure, but they could not claim for themselves the same space in social justice that African Americans had carved out for themselves. What if the Freedom Bus organizers had asked white activists to stand aside, and white activists responded by berating the African American riders with insults? What if the whites demanded to be included, and accused the riders  of color of racism? It would be difficult to consider these people activists or allies, right?

Men as Feminists Freedom Bus

The Sexual Politics of Supporting Men

Sometimes men will draw on other women to support their entitlement the female space.  Men may commission women to write essays or blog posts in support of their patriarchal position. Or, they may claim, “My girlfriend/wife/female friend/female administrator/etc. agrees and she’s a woman.”   Women supporting these men will often call women “sexist” for asking men to keep their respectful distance.

These types of “reverse sexism” comments are sexist.  Yes, even if coming from a woman.  Any person that utilizes the framework of patriarchy to  oppress women is engaging sexism, regardless of gender.  Women are people, too, and they are also indoctrinated with the normalcy of sexism in our society.  Women are taught to think less of themselves, celebrate masculinity, obey men, doubt their own experiences and voices, and basically cater to men as a strategy of survival.  Women are expected to support men; that’s a primary duty of the female gender role.  So, it should not be surprising in the least when men exploit this socialized obligation and encourage women to speak out in the defense of male authority.

What are Some Solutions?

In this essay, I have argued that men’s role in the social movement space is most respectfully that of an ally. The reasons for this position are many, but mostly relate to men’s limited understanding of women’s experiences and their tendency to dominate and abuse power given that we live in a patriarchy. The importance of this position is evidence in men’s aggressive reactions that rely on sexism to shame, insult, coerce, threaten, intimidate, or gas-light women into complying with male authority and male entitlement.

Again, men certainly can participate in their own way. Being an ally takes careful consideration and careful treading, however. Men who want to see an egalitarian future can help the cause by listening, learning, and working on their own attitudes and behavior (and that of the other men). Really, it’s as simple as that. Overcoming oppressive gender privilege is not an easy task, so it will necessitate a conscious effort to appreciate and accommodate the experiences of oppressed persons. It’s also important to be actively involved in making spaces safe for women. Women need support, not co-optation.

 

* This article takes “men” to mean cis-men and “women” to mean cis and trans women.  This article also takes “men” to mean the cis-male perspective.  This could also include women who identify with and support that position. It should also be acknowledged that not all men are cis.


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 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).

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Gender Inequity in the Animal Welfare Movement

Jen here. I recently had the pleasure of meeting (through the Internet) a fascinating scholar by the name of Corey Wrenn. She wrote a paper entitled, “The Role of Professionalism Regarding Female Exploitation in the Nonhuman Animal Rights Movement,” published in The Journal of Gender Studies.

Ms. Wrenn makes one point that it not new- that some animal rights groups get their point across by exploiting women, specifically PETA, LUSH, Fish Love, and Animal Liberation Victoria (ALV).

But she makes a larger point that is the elephant in the room: Even though WOMEN make up the majority of those who support animal welfare, it is MEN who are in the leadership positions.

Does this sell our cause, or does it demean women and diminish our voice?

Indeed, the ASPCA, the Humane Society of the US, the Humane Association, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the World Wildlife Fund, and many other groups are led by men and their top leadership is overwhelmingly male.

But it’s not men that are caring for animals. It’s not men who are lobbying for animals. It’s not men targeted with those emotion-laden commercials begging for money. It’s all about us then, baby.

So why are men running the show in this female-dominated arena? Why are we allowing them to market to us in a way that is demeaning? And does this gender inequity play into our inability to make meaningful changes in the animal welfare arena?

Recently I wrote a blog post where I said I wanted to work in the field of animal welfare. Many posted comments suggesting that I cut back on blogging and show my interest by volunteering for a rescue. Really? I scoop litter boxes every day. Why do I have to prove my worthiness to work in this field by scooping litter boxes for someone else? For free? Do you think Wayne Pacelle, when interviewing to lead the Humane Society, was asked how many litter boxes HE scooped to earn his stripes?

Personally, I’m thinking it’s time for a real change in the path this movement is taking. We need to phase out the Good Old Boy leadership. We need to stop the exploitation of women. Let’s change the face of this movement from the Crazy Cat Lady and clueless co-ed, who each need men to guide them, to that of the Old Crone, the elder who holds the wisdom of the ages.

Painting of an elderly woman wrapped in red.The Wise Crone respects Mother Earth and all of her creations

What do you think? Is Animal Welfare rife with sexism? Do you feel women are respected in the movement, or are we used as funders and cheap labor to promote a male agenda? What do YOU think should be the face of the movement?

 

By Jenny Threet

You can follow her on Twitter and on her blog, Rumpy Dog.

This post was originally published on  Rumpy Dog on July 8, 2013.

Male PETA Employees Make Women have Sex with Vegetables “For the Animals”

Not Safe for Work: Discusses pornography and contains sexualized imagery.
Trigger Warning: Discusses pornography

Some may recall that PETA launched a pornography site a few years ago, interweaving graphic scenes of violence with sexualized images of women. Fortunately, it removed the images of women, and the porn site is nothing more than short video clips of factory farms. But that wasn’t the end of the story. The porn is back, now under a new campaign called “Veggie Love Casting Session.”

A bright-eyed white woman simulating oral sex on a cucumber. Meant to resemble an internet porn advertisement. Reads: "Can't get enough veggies? Join now!!! All access starting at $16/year."

On the campaign’s website, various clips of women performing sex acts on vegetables are featured. In the television commercial, women are paraded in front of the camera and inspected for the audience like human meat ready for consumption. The project is orchestrated by men who we hear in the background calling the shots, directing the women to show the audience how much they love their assigned vegetable, then laughing at the woman’s humiliation at the end of her session. Photos of the women are listed at the bottom of the page where viewers can rate them with a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down,” adding another level to the women’s objectification.

Image depicts two women in bikinis performing oral sex on a carrot. From PETA's Veggie Love campaign.PETA even manages to mimic the prevalence of racism in pornography.   The only African American woman featured is shown animalized, crawling across the couch to some broccoli where she devours it with no hands.

An African American woman in a bikini and high heels crawling across a couch towards broccoli.

Many would view this campaign and argue that these women are participating “by choice” and they’re “enjoying it.”  But this is missing the point.  We need to consider what shapes those choices, that being an environment that sees women as sex objects and resources for male enjoyment.  Women are under immense pressure to perform the gender roles they have been assigned.  Under patriarchy, women are socialized to be servants to men.  Women are groomed as little girls, taught that providing sex and pleasure for men is both expected and required of them.  Women are given so few opportunities in this world to achieve and succeed based on their skills, knowledge, and other dignifying qualities, sex work is one of the only options available to them. The vast majority of sex work, incidentally, is high risk, low pay work with very little job security and very little agency (most sex workers are pimped or otherwise trafficked). Importantly, this is an option that’s not even on the table for men.

Pornography and other forms of sexual exploitation also target especially vulnerable women, predominantly girls and women from low-income backgrounds or abusive families, girls and women with little occupational or educational opportunities, and girls and women who are suffering from addictions.Pornography hurts all women, but it particularly hurts at-risk women.

A white woman in a bikini and high heels spanking herself with a stalk of celery.

How does this imagery educate the public about speciesism?

After viewing videos of women performing sex acts on vegetables, videos of Nonhuman Animals being beaten and killed automatically pop up on the PETA website. In other words, images of sexualized and humiliated women are juxtaposed with dying animals. PETA is tapping into a new form of sexuality, one that has been popularized by porn culture: subjugating and hurting the vulnerable for the pleasure of the privileged.  Seeing someone humiliated and suffering for our enjoyment has become sexy.

A woman (possibly of color) in a bikini and high heels leaning against a couch on the floor. Her head is back and her back is arched. She is rubbing herself with tomatoes.

PETA is sexualizing the degradation and humiliation of women. PETA is sexualizing the exploitation of vulnerable people. PETA is sexualizing violence against women.  PETA is sexualizing oppression.

A white woman stuffing radishes into her mouth with painfully stretched cheeks.

The director encourages this woman to stuff as many radishes as possible into her mouth to demonstrate to the audience how much girth she can withstand.

The research is overwhelmingly clear: pornography leads to the degradation of women, the objectification of women, the dehumanization of women, and violence against women. It leads women to internalize this devaluation, and women begin to objectify themselves.  It disempowers women, it leaves women susceptible to domestic violence, and it feeds rape culture.  For more information on how pornography hurts women, check out The Price of Pleasure (warning, the material on the website and in the film are extremely triggering and graphic).  I also recommend Gail Dines’ Pornland or Robert Jensen’s Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity (this book is freely available on his website).

A white woman deep-throating a cucumber.

 


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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