Moses Seenarine
Our meals either embody or negate feminist principles by the food choices they enact. Our dietary choices reflect and reinforce our cosmology, our politics. It is as though we could say, "Eating rice is faith in women." - Carol Adams
Chris
Disturbing....does that mean that the meat-eating men in our lives are misogynists? And is it conscious or unconscious behavior?
Moses Seenarine
Moses Seenarine
good questions, chris; i suggest you read carol's book, "the sexual politics of meat" where these questions are covered in depth, and brilliantly so;
briefly, male control over females is linked to male control over other animals, and since corpse-eating is so prevalent, it mostly remains unconscious for most men, although this is not necessarily the case; for example, the lack of meat in a meal is often used as a excuse by men to abuse and batter women
answers to your questions also depend upon your definition of misogyny; since the commodification and sexualization of the female body is so prevalent, doesn't that make all women participants, conscious or unconscious? yes and no; the crucial difference between patriarchy and female complicity, is of course, power...
with each instance of corpse-eating and pornography, women's work, status and history are devalued and they are collectively dis-empowered, while simultaneously male power, violence and worldview are reinforced and becomes further entrenched
Chris
Deep stuff. I will buy Carol Adams book , but am now sure I want to know all the answers. I know I cannot change the eating habits of my sons, for example, all I can do is try to subtly pass the information along.
As for women being complicit in the matter, I see your point. We have enabled the situation by often making meat the center of the meal, not realizing that we have been sabotaging ourselves in doing so.
Monica
The link between animal agriculture and misogyny is a very blatant one. The majority of pigs, cows, and all domesticated turkeys are "artificially inseminated", a nice euphemism for "raped." There is actually a factory farm device known as a "rape rack" used for this purpose. Domesticated turkeys have been selectively bred to grow so unnaturally fast that it is physically impossible for them to mate naturally. Instead, some worker has the job of "milking" the semen from the male and then "breaking" the female (inserting a semen-filled syringe deep inside her). Workers report that this seems to be quite painful for the female (and degrading for the workers).
Pregnant pigs are kept in gestation crates so small they can't take a step in any direction and can't even lie down comfortably. (What better time to make a female incredibly uncomfortable than when she's pregnant?)
The dairy industry is, in and of itself, another obvious example of utter contempt and disregard for females. Female cows are kept pregnant so that they will produce milk so that humans can steal and consume the milk. Having been a nursing mother for 6 years straight, I can't think of a much greater insult and humiliation than being repeatedly impregnated via rape, having your baby stolen from you within a day or two of birth, and then having the milk your own body makes for your stolen baby taken from you, and having this repeated for about 4-5 years until you're so lame, sick, and calcium-depleted that you're no longer able to produce "enough" milk to make you worthy of the cost of your food. Then you're hauled off to slaughter and your daughters are forced to take your place on the milk production line
Cows, chickens, and other farmed animals care about their babies and if allowed to, guard them protectively and ensure that they are safe and secure. The term "mother hen" came about for a reason. It's only a lack of empathy that would allow someone who cares about feminism to accept what happens to mothers, females, and their daughters in the animal agriculture industry and to continue to financially support this industry through their consumer purchases.
Monique
damn!
Moses Seenarine
monica, even though i knew all of this, it still brought me to tears reading it again; thanks for caring enough to type this much out
----------------------------------------------------
EAT RICE, HAVE FAITH IN WOMEN by Fran Winant
eat rice have faith in women
what I don’t know now
I can still learn
if I am alone now
I will be with them later
if I am weak now
I can become strong
slowly slowly
if I learn I can teach others
if others learn first
I must believe
they will come back and teach me
they will not go away
to the country with their knowledge
and send me a letter sometime
we must study all our lives
women coming from women going to women
trying to do all we can with words
then trying to work with tools
or with our bodies
trying to stand the time it takes
reading books when there are no teachers
or they are too far away
teaching ourselves
imagining others struggling
I must believe we will be together
and build enough concern
so when I have to fight alone
there will be sisters who
would help if they knew
sisters who will come
to support me later
women demanding loyalty
each with our needs
our whole lives torn by
the old society
never given the love or work
or strength or safety or information
we could use
never helped by the institutions
that imprison us
so when we need medical care
we are butchered
when we need police
we are insulted ignored
when we need parents
we find robots
trained to keep us in our places
when we need work we are told
to become part of
the system that destroys us
when we need friends
other women tell us
I have to be selfish
you will have to forgive me
but there is only so much time
energy money concern
to go around
I have to think of myself
because who else will...
I have to save things for myself
because I am not sure you could save me
if our places were reversed
because I suspect
you won’t even be around
to save me when I need you
I am alone on the streets
at 5 in the morning
I am alone cooking my rice
I see you getting knowledge
and having friends I don’t have
I see you already stronger than me
and I don’t see you coming back
to help me
I imagine myself getting old
I imagine I will have to go away
when I am too old to fight my way
down the streets
my friends getting younger and younger
women my age hidden in corners
in the establishment
or curled up with a few friends
isolated at home
or in the madhouse
getting their last shot of
motivation to compete
or grinding out position papers
in the movement
like old commies
waiting to be swept away
by the revolution
or in a hospital
dying of complications
nurse or nun
lesbian in clean clothes
reach out a hand to me
scientists have found
touching is necessary
and the drive to speak our needs
is basic as breath
but there isn’t time
none of my needs has been met
and although I am often comfortable
this situation is painful
slowly we begin
giving back what was taken away
our right to the control of our bodies
knowledge of how to fight and build
food that nourishes
medicine that heals
songs that remind us of ourselves
and make us want to keep on with
what matters to us
lets come out again
joining women coming out
for the first time
knowing this love makes
a good difference in us
affirming a continuing life with women
we must be lovers doctors soldiers
artists mechanics farmers
all our lives
waves of women
trembling with love and anger
singing we must rage
kissing, turn and
break the old society
without becoming the names it praises
the minds it pays
eat rice have faith in women
what I don’t know now
I can still learn
slowly slowly
if I learn I can teach others
if others learn first
I must believe
they will come back and teach me
Copyright: Fran Winant; reprinted in the Lesbian Reader, an Amazon Quarterly anthology
