Animal Advocacy To be a Feminist is to be a Vegan (Blog Article)

Scorpius

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I thought this was an interesting and thought-provoking article linking the abuse faced by (human) women and animals used for food consumption (especially dairy cows).

When visiting the non-vegan home of a self-proclaimed feminist, she offered me cow’s milk with my tea. That’s when I made the profound connection that it’s impossible to truly be a feminist while consuming dairy (or any animal products), as the entire animal industry is built on the exploitation of the female reproductive system. This must be recognized as a feminist issue because it is analogous to the feminist movement’s struggle for women to have control of their own bodies.

This line in particular grabbed me:
I often ponder in disbelief our culture’s uncivilized ways and what people choose to fund with their purchases. It’s hard to imagine a human being taking a crying baby from his mother shortly after birth, to have his throat slit. However, this is the fate of calves born to cows used for dairy production.
Here's the whole article: http://gentleworld.org/to-be-a-feminist-is-to-be-a-vegan/#

Definitely a Facebook share for all the omnis on your friends list! ;)
 
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The animal industry is built on the exploitation of the entire body from the animal, I'd say.
 
I disagree. Not that I think dairy faming is by any means something that should be practiced, I just don't see the link between feminism and veganism. It seemed like a stretch to me, and it was barely mentioned in the blog post. It was basically "some humans are female, some cows are female, if you stand up for one you should stand up for the other, and now here is the article on dairy farming I wanted to write". It's a little fallacious. The cynic in me wants to say that the statement was made to grab attention so the rest of the content would be read, which is fine. The actual statement just doesn't ring true for me.
 
^
I can see that. It's sort of like how PETA says, "Pro-Life? Go vegan!" "Pro-Choice? Go vegan!"

I mostly liked how the article shed light on how horrific dairy farming is. Most people see eating cheese and milk as the lesser evil to meat, but it's really worse. :(
 
^

I mostly liked how the article shed light on how horrific dairy farming is. Most people see eating cheese and milk as the lesser evil to meat, but it's really worse. :(
In its current form, it's just as bad, but I don't see how it's worse - both result in death. Beef cows may have their young with them longer than dairy cows do, but it's like saying that it's worse to take a teenager away from her parents and kill her than to take a baby away and kill him.
 
In its current form, it's just as bad, but I don't see how it's worse - both result in death. Beef cows may have their young with them longer than dairy cows do, but it's like saying that it's worse to take a teenager away from her parents and kill her than to take a baby away and kill him.

Calves bawl when they get separated from their mothers in a beef operation. Branding, castrating and dehorning are none too humane either.
 
I was thinking that at least the beef cows get killed right away - dairy cows have to live longer to have their secretions taken from them before they're finally slaughtered (and live with painful udder infections).
 
I was thinking that at least the beef cows get killed right away - dairy cows have to live longer to have their secretions taken from them before they're finally slaughtered (and live with painful udder infections).

Most get to live on a ranch for 6-12 months. The last few months they are alive they are packed into freight trucks, taken to feedlot, packed in with lots of other yearlings, wallow in mountains of feces, fed god knows what to get fattened up then it's off to the assembly line to be killed and cut up. The females get to stay on the ranch until they are old, sick or fail a preg test at which point they are culled and sent to slaughter (no sense in "wasting" food on something no longer productive). Those female yearlings that are not used to replace the old, sick or those that failed the preg test get the same treatment as their castrated counterparts unless they are sold to replace cows in another herd. In the interim the females kept for reproduction get their calves taken away every year.

Herd bulls usually breed around 50ish females/year, last about 5 years and then go off to slaughter.
 
That's definitely a headline that's bound to stir up controversy, but maybe that will get more people to look at it who wouldn't have otherwise. Most people are totally clueless about how the dairy industry works and assume cows just lactate and we're doing them a favour by milking them so their udders don't explode.
 
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Omnivorism is exploitation of those identified to be different (specifically, animals). Feminism (at least equalitarianism feminism) can be viewed as being against the exploitation of those identified to be different (specifically, cis-gendered female humans).

So I can see a link.

But I don't think it's specific to how animals are exploited. If animal semen was considered a valid dietary choice, I'm sure male animals would be exploited for it. People can be very prone to us-vs-them thinking, and when animals fall into the category of "them", they are prone to being exploited.
 
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The only thing I really take from the points this writer is trying to make is how weirdly subjects connect in their head.