Sociologist and Social Justice Activist
The Body Shop, like LUSH, markets itself as a compassionate company while simultaneously profiting from the institutionalized exploitation and killing of Nonhuman Animals. Declaring to customers that non-vegan animal-based products “don’t harm the animals” is false advertising of the worst kind. As is the case with most capitalist enterprises that profit from the oppressed, The Body Shop banks on customers never questioning or thinking critically about their ethical claimsmaking. This false consciousness is buttressed by “cruelty-free” labeling and endorsement from large “animal rights” non-profits such as PETA. These charities have effectively socialized many customers that is okay to use, harm, and kill other animals as long as it is done “nicely.”
Continue readingThe weaponization fo science and naturalism to rank the worth of marginalized groups, dictate their moral worth, and control their lives (usually in highly exploitative ways) is a classic project of Western, white supremacist patriarchal colonial conquest. The entitlement to other living beings, both in reality and symbolically, should be challenged.
Continue readingVegan feminism would argue that tweaking speciesist masculinized consumption to include women subverts anti-speciesism as well. It does nothing to challenge the fetishization of commodified bodies. The “pork” industry attempted to boost the sales of dead pigs, for instance, by launching a campaign to encourage women to get grilling. Although Mother Jones was quick to highlight the blatant sexism of the advertising materials in which women are belittled as “grill girls,” “ladies,” “hot mamas, “spicy girls,” and “gal pals,” nothing was said about the extreme violence experienced by the pigs who are objectified as “pork.”
Continue readingAggravating sexist understandings of Nonhuman Animal rights advocacy can only encumber efforts to achieve Nonhuman Animal liberation. Heganism works to assuage fragile masculinity to encourage men’s participation. In doing so, however, it reinforces the notion that veganism is essentially “for women” and that men will be stigmatized if they participate without veganism being explicitly defeminized. The otherizing of women, however, is exactly the type of otherization that sustains speciesism. Hierarchies must be dismantled, woman-hating must be challenged, and all persons–be they men, women, human, or nonhuman–should be acknowledged as sentient beings worthy of equal moral consideration.
Continue reading
