I'm offended that The Scavenger, an online self-described "progressive" magazine, is uncritically promoting the 20th anniversary edition of Carol J. Adams' Sexual Politics of Meat. By promoting her book, The Scavenger is perpetuating the dominance of the anti-sex worker, anti-trans, affluent White normative feminism offered by Carol J. Adams. In this respect, there's some sort of cognitive dissonance going on here when The Scavenger promotes Adams, whose work is based almost entirely on the assumed given vilification and misrepresentations of sex workers, while publishing another article opposing the vilification of sex workers. (Read more...)
sexuality
Class Privilege in Anti-Sex Worker, Anti-Homeless Activism
Jenna directed me to an important post by Johanna at Vegans of Color reminding us: "Don't Use Classism and Anti-Sex Worker Rhetoric to Protest Fur." Johanna's post provides a needed look at the anti-homeless and anti-sex worker rhetoric of a few nonhuman animal advocates.
In a post titled "Fur is for Beautiful Animals and Scary Hookers," "Vegan Shoe Lady" proudly quotes PETA's Ingrid Newkirk as saying, "Fur has lost all its cachet. It's yesterday. I see prostitutes in Atlantic City wearing fur." Shoe Lady goes on to suggest that nonhuman animal advocates refer to women wearing fur by saying, "She's probably a hooker. Tacky coat, lower-class manners – no one respectable presents themselves that way." (Read more...)
Mirha-Soleil Ross on Justice for Sex Workers and Nonhuman Animals
Today (Dec. 17) is International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. In honor of this day I'd like to share some excerpts from a couple of interviews with Mirha-Soleil Ross, a vegan, transsexual and sex worker justice advocate, regarding her seven-part monologue, Yapping Out Loud: Contagious Thoughts from an Unrepentant Whore. In Yapping Out Loud, Ross addresses "anti-prostitution discourses and campaigns, detailing the way they impact, often tragically on prostitutes' working conditions and lives." In the following excerpts Ross confronts the anti-sex worker discourse in relation to nonhuman animal advocacy. (Read more...)
Questioning Lierre Keith's Transphobia
In reply to a comment I made about Lierre Keith's affiliation with anti-trans politics and opposition to pornography by, for, and of lesbians, "Anonymous" wrote:
Founders of organizations don’t always agree with the policies those organizations come to have.
Can you site anything written by Keith where she expresses views about Trans people?
Do you have any citations of Keith stating that she is opposed to lesbians taking part in consentual BDSM or pornography?
If any of this is true it would quite ironic. Keith was banned from an extended stay meditation retreat in the 1990s because she is a Lesbian.
This is a good question. Where are Keith's politics when it comes to trans people, or lesbians taking part in consensual BDSM or pornography? (Read more...)
Criminalization Won't Stop the Violence
Nathan Runkle, the executive director of Mercy for Animals (MFA), was attacked recently outside a gay nightclub in Dayton, Ohio. The attack on Runkle is not an isolated act of a single hateful individual, and I think anytime we hear about violence like this it is an opportunity to integrate a broader understanding of violence and oppression into our thoughts and actions.
Moving Beyond 'No on Prop 8'
This year, California's ballot campaigns "Yes on Prop. 2" and "No on Prop. 8" both received a great deal of national attention. As such, both of these campaigns represented and worked to frame the national priorities of nonhuman animal advocacy and queer advocacy, respectively. Unfortunately, both campaigns have also worked to establish narrow agendas and goals for nonhuman animal advocacy and queer advocacy – agendas and goals that increasingly move towards accommodating the status quo of human supremacy and heteropatriarchy.
Think Harder Before You Speak
Perhaps you've seen the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) PSAs titled "Think Before You Speak." The messaging of these ads was designed to discourage use of the slur "That's so gay." The ArnoldNYC agency which created the TV spots in partnership with GLSEN recently won the Ad Council's Gold Bell award, its top honor for PSAs.
There are three TV spots: one set in a drugstore, one set in a diner, and one set in a boutique. Of these three ads the first two undermine the message of the ad by promoting the ableist slurs "stupid" and "dumb" as acceptable replacements for the slur "gay."
There are three TV spots: one set in a drugstore, one set in a diner, and one set in a boutique. Of these three ads the first two undermine the message of the ad by promoting the ableist slurs "stupid" and "dumb" as acceptable replacements for the slur "gay."
Is it Safe to Come Out?
Chris from Deep Roots makes some critical comments about the Coming Out For Animals call for papers, including some discussion of my thoughts on "animal activists" promoting police violence more than being targeted by it. Chris suggests I might have misunderstood the context of the questions being asked in a call for papers. I also got an anonymous hate comment that more aggressively insists that the misunderstanding was intentional. Chris says that the context might have been that in terms of "activist groups" "animal activists" "bear the brunt" of police violence. (Read more...)
Asking the Right Questions
A call for papers has been sent out by folks "looking to anthologize the voices of queers involved in animal liberation." I think it would be wonderful to see more interaction between queer theory and veganism. But some of the questions suggested as topics for this book really bothered me, specifically:
Why do queer activists in Uganda but animal activists in the USA bear the brunt of police suppression in their respective countries? Are they similarly subversive of "cultural" practices that turn out to be critical to the maintenance of state power?
The Personal is Political
Veganism is a good example of how consciousness-raising about our everyday actions is important to challenging the structure of oppression and exploitation. Veganism takes everyday "personal" actions (e.g., eating, dressing, and recreating) and calls out the political dimensions of these actions. It reveals how eating, wearing, and otherwise using nonhuman animals is not a mere "personal" act, but a dimension of exploitation and human privilege. It makes a connection between the personal action and the political structure of our society. (Read more...)