• Author / Uploaded
• SisterSpeciesSolidarity

Citation preview

Volume #2

1: Mission Statement 2-3: Non-monogamy and Personal Identity 4: Mothers by Anatha 5: My Body My Choice 6-7: The Sexual Politics of Meat by Carol J. Adams 8-9: Eating Disorders, Sexual Assault, Rape 10: Reproductive Rights by Jackie 11: Strange Fruit by Risa 12: Pro-choice is not Anti-Vegan by Hana 13: About Street Harassment by Kat Phil Cover and Back by Bec

The Vegan Feminist Action Collective Vancouver presents

#SisterSpeciesSolidarity The personal autonomy of non-human animals is a feminist issue! At the heart of both the oppression of women and the oppression of non-human animals is the issue of bodily autonomy. As women, we are taught from our earliest memories that our bodies are not our own, that our bodies exist solely for everyone but ourselves, that our bodies exist only to be consumed by men. The war to sustain our right to personal autonomy and ability to make our own choices with our reproductive systems and our bodies is still waging. Like ours, non-human bodies are not seen as their own. Like ours, non-human bodies are made into commodities to be used and consumed. Like ours, non-human reproductive systems are exploited and controlled. Like ous, non-human bodies are objectified and controlled by those who wish to see themselves as evolutionarily superior. As vegan feminists, we believe that bodily autonomy is intersectional and the root of all oppression is the same. If we, as feminists, wish to liberate ourselves from the oppressive powers that seek to rob us of our bodily autonomy, we must also fight for the bodily autonomy of other species. The same ideology that leads humans to justify robbing other species of their bodily autonomy is the same justification that is used to rob us of ours.

1

As children, most human individuals raised as girls are taught two things: to value looks above all else, and one day aim to marry a rich husband. Even more progressive families accidentally instill this into their child’s psyche anytime they play “house”, watch / read fairy tales (most of them, at least), or even represent those stereotypical gender dynamics within the house. These ideals are reinforced every step of the way from childhood to adolescence, even into adulthood. Look at almost all romantic comedies, or rather, “adult fairy tales”, every commercial, TV sitcoms, magazines; and even by just living our daily lives we are bombarded with it. This reinforcement of the nuclear family and female dependence on, and servitude for, the “man of the house” is everywhere. What is this teaching us, and how had this affected us all? Aside from the blatant heteronormativity that this conditions us to strive for, it also teaches us that ultimately women should aim for one thing: to be possessed. This dates back to the traditional terms of marriage, which involves a contract between the woman’s father and her new husband. Although many of us have moved away from this tradition, many things we are taught still keep systems in place that are repressive. Ask anyone what marriage means to them, and almost always what comes up first is something related to loyalty and monogamy. While these may seem like admirable ideals, we need to look deeper. Who do they benefit, who do they hurt, and why is this the only way most see a relationship? Monogamy in many ways prevents individuals from keeping their autonomy and developing as an individual. Also, it reinforces this belief that someone “belongs to” another, therefore further repressing the person’s freedom. “Monogamy is structured in a way that makes it too easy to forget each individual’s autonomy. Before long, a loss of autonomy becomes the rule rather than the exception. Nonmonogamy, on the other hand, seems to hold autonomy up as one of the primary tenets.” - frau sally benz of Feministe on Nonmonogamy and Feminism.

2

As a queer individual, I spent much of my life challenging and struggling against the societally enforced repression that heteronormativity inflicts on society. But for a long time I didn’t actively challenge the monogamous aspect of it. I would form monogamous partnerships and feel guilty or shameful when feeling attraction or desires for someone, or something, outside of the relationship. For many years, this part of myself, my autonomy, desires, and freedom, were repressed. I was repressing myself in much the same way by the same systems that had repressed my queerness. I eventually realized I was not only hurting myself but also my partner(s) and relationships, by not being fully honest to them and myself. This came to in an evolution into polyamory, and a deeper honesty and autonomy in all partnerships. Of course it’s not “perfect” as all relationships take work, but for me it has been a much more honest, respectful and sincere relationship style. How does any of this relate to animals? Look at the fact that captive animals are repressed of any sexual or relationship freedom, and are possessed (owned) by a human who makes all their personal decisions and strips them of even their most basic autonomy. Many of these “owners” of farmed or otherwise exploited animals often even say things like “we treat them like family”. And I always hope they don’t mean that literally (in that their family receives similar treatment). Or that they “love” these animals, whom of course are abused and killed. It makes me question everything about the definition of love and that love can in any way relate to that level of control and ownership. With all this in mind, I understand that there do exist happy, respectful monogamous relationships, where autonomy is of paramount importance. I deeply respect the individuals who live happily, safely, and respectfully in that lifestyle. My main intention is that, just like heterosexuality should not be considered the default for love and relationships, neither should monogamy. And also to always question the status quo and the “why” of our actions. Much like we did while making the changes to veganism. Is what I’m doing truly who I am, and does it reflect my deepest values, or is it what [society / religion / capitalism] has told me to do? Everyone, human and nonhuman, have the freedom to engage in relationships (or not) in ways that feel true to them, respect their values, and are innately right for that individual. Without shame, without disgust, and without repression. To me, that is love.

3

4

I had no choice but to become an egg producing machine. My body has been manipulated and it just doesn’t stop. I’m tired. I was told I should not have children because I would be a bad mother. I guess I had no choice in the matter, because I had surgery even though I never wanted to. Every year I am impregnated against my will. I long to know my children, but I do not have this choice – they are taken away as soon as they enter this world. I always wanted to be a mother. I am alone in this cage and I think I might die this way too. I never had a choice. I would never wish captivity upon another being, but I have no choice. Humans wanted me to have children in this hellhole order to increase their profits. Every year I am impregnated against my will. I long to know my children, but I do not have this choice – they are taken away as soon as they enter this world. I had no choice but to have a child. This was the consequence for sluts like me, they said. I screamed when my children were taken away. Some humans studied my brain and my blood, and that of my children, when we were so upset. I had no choice and I think I am losing my mind. I don’t know what my future holds. I don’t know if I will want to remain child-free, or if I will adopt, or if I will have biological children. Right now, all I want is the freedom to choose.

5

TW: eating disorders, sexual assault. I remember feeling like I had complete autonomy over my body. Feeling responsible for my body used to mean confidence and power. There is a moment in time where being a body simply meant existing in the world within a physical vehicle. However, becoming a sexualized and objectified body dramatically alters your entire experience as an autonomous human being. Not only do you see yourself as a far more complex and confusing subject but you start to understand yourself as a social object, one that you often felt having no control over. Self-objectification is toxic and ruinous. The small, delicate (and prepubescent for fucks sake) frame you were once praised for, grows into something new and you struggle to reconcile the loss of your previously dainty structure. The unrelenting desire to return to a being without a shape can stunt and manipulate your experience in the world, destroying your sense of self and bodily autonomy in the process. And it’s interesting...once you starve yourself back into childhood, you’re no longer sexualized as a passive victim of violent entitled masculinity. Part of you enjoys the invisibility as a young woman, no longer bombarded by repulsive shouts echoing from passing cars while another part of you feels cheated of one of the most demeaning identifying features of beauty reaffirmation. Once you catch your breath and decide to start eating again, your body thanks you but you sacrifice the anonymity and freedom from unwanted sexual advances that being merely bones protected. Not only this, but people no longer accept your identification with asexuality as valid anymore. Sure it made sense for a starving body to feel little sexual desire, but a ‘healthy female could never truly be sure she is uninterested in sex at such a young age’, (they’ll say this.) The constant monitoring of femininity and policing of female desire can profoundly shape your experience of the world. Internalizing these ideas that you cannot truly be who you feel you are, transforms your capacity for a lived truth. Experiencing bodily autonomy is so unstable and unreliable. Why the fuck is it so difficult to accept a healthy female body with desires, interests and ideas unique to her? Why can you not keep your mouth shut? Please let me heal the way I need to.

8

TW: Sexual assault, rape. I’m really worried that I may not have the ability to engage in consensual sex. Looking back, it doesn’t feel like I have ever engaged in sex without extreme coercion, manipulation and shaming at play. Despite obvious declining body language and several pulls away, even after the embarrassing “no”s and avoidance of eye contact, violent entitled masculinity seems to exhaust my agency and sweep in, leaving me with nothing to do but wait until it’s over. Aggressive masculine sexuality constantly bends the parameters of consent and actively works to deny female sexual liberation and desire.

9

“So, what… you care about animals but hate babies?” A comment hurled from a male passerby to female activists at an animal rights demo, after we were questioned about our stance on abortion. This comment has come up at various demonstrations; an aim by men to show hypocrisy for fighting for justice of nonhumans while diminishing an embryo’s right to life (as they see it). “Woman, as well as animals have the right to bodily autonomy!” I call out, as they walk away; yelling more offensive, sexist comments that re-iterate that they really don’t want to listen to reason (or women). I was, however, surprised to see some of the same rhetoric come up in vegan spaces, blogs, even vegan feminist pages. How can one claim to be a feminist, yet value some cells within the body over the individual’s right to life and bodily autonomy? There are so many coherent arguments to be pro-choice, and so few that even resemble reality from the anti-choice side. Not to mention that the “pro-life” (read: anti-choice) movement is made up largely of heterosexual, cisgender men who will never have to go through the experience of an unwanted pregnancy. I will, however, focus on the main argument that is brought up against vegans, and usually vegan women. “How can you be vegan and pro-choice?” My response; how can you not? Fighting for animal liberation is (or should be) based upon the justice-based mentality that all beings deserve the right to bodily autonomy and freedom. This includes reproductive rights, deciding what happens to their body, and freedom to quality of life. Anti-choice people talk about “killing babies”, and they don’t even acknowledge the person carrying the fetus’s suffering. An embryo is not a baby, but quite literally some cells within the reproductive system that (if they decide to carry it to term) could one day become a baby. Also, more importantly, embryos do not have any self-pertaining interests, including that of life, or sentience. A full grown human does. But this is not the main point. This “struggle” the anti-choices are fighting for is regaining male and religious control of female bodies and reproduction. Everything they say and do clearly demonstrates this. They shame female-bodied people for being autonomous and deciding to end a pregnancy for any reason, yet provide no access to contraceptives, or support for those who struggle from having a child they did not want to have. As far as they see it, female bodies exist only for reproduction. Sound familiar? From all the captive animals used for “breeding”, and cows and chickens exploited reproductive systems for dairy and eggs. That is all these female animals are good for to them. No one should be forced to go through the life-threatening and life-altering experience of carrying and giving birth to a child unless that is what they truly want. If we truly care about bodily autonomy for all beings, abortion rights is an issue that cannot be ignored. All human individuals should have the right to access safe, shame-free, abortions. As all animals have the right to live free of exploitation and oppressive control of their bodies. All have the right to choice. *I use the term “female bodies” when other terms didn’t fit to reflect anyone who is biologically capable to carry a child. I am using this term with full recognition that not all women (including trans* and non-binary) have that ability, and that some trans-men or non-binary individuals also do have the capability to carry a child.*

10

“Strange Fruit” you bleed, you scream. Strange and bitter Fruit they eat: a bit of death, wrapped in torture. the slaughterhouse is the orchard for such a Strange and bitter Fruit they eat. this is the truth behind the meat. from conception to the table is a deception not on a label; with most ‘grade A’ beef or steak comes a slew of hormones, antibiotics and pain. cattle trucked to auction ‘til injured or lame— mama cows ripped from her calves for milk, how insane! there’s little concern for what is humane. the cruelty you see is a cryin’ shame. you feel, you breathe! Strange and bitter Fruit they eat: a bit of flesh, wrapped in torture. the factory farm is the orchard for such a Strange and bitter Fruit they eat. this is the truth behind the meat. why do people support such suffering? for every chicken who’s stuck on a plate is a proud Being, Being chucked into a crate, smelling the shit pouring down through the grates from the rows of cages above. lives and deaths of misery—what a disgrace—for something as selfish as taste. billions have their beaks cut off and their throats slit with bloody blades, even so­called ‘organic, free range.’ i’ll do what i can do: i won’t consume you. i’ll sing your blues, i’ll speak out about your abuse cuz you don’t deserve what they do to you. humans who know better, do better. choose better http://youtu.be/CKJ47BeqeF4

11

Pro-choice is not anti-vegan People often ask me, why are you pro-choice? (They will often ask me why I am pro-abortion, and why I care so much more about the lives of chickens, pigs, and cows than unborn humans.) They say that they are pro “all” life, that they don’t think someone terminating a fetus can possibly be consistent with vegan ethics of causing least harm. First of all, I’m not pro-abortion. I’m pro-choice, which is an entirely separate framing of reproductive justice. If someone wants to carry a pregnancy to term, they should be able to do so. Every sentient being should be trusted to decide for themself when is the right time to start and build a family, and which kind of family they want to build. Single parents, teen parents, low-income parents, disabled parents, queer/trans parents, parents of color, etc. need support and resources that suit their families’ needs, not shaming. The difference between a human uterus haver* and a hen is that the human can consent to having a fetus removed (one who is seeking an abortion is specifically asking for that), whereas the hen (lacking the ability to communicate with us humans) can’t consent to having her egg taken. The human and the hen both deserve the right to bodily autonomy and self-governance. Eggs aren’t just “lying around” - if you crack an egg open for a hen they will gobble it right up. If you want to reduce abortion rates, which is a noble endeavor, the way to do that is comprehensive sexual education, accessible and affordable birth control and sexual health services, and resources and support such as parental leave and childcare support so that people feel like parenting is a feasible choice for them. Forcing a person to carry a child to term and then to keep that kiddo or give them up for adoption doesn’t sound like respecting someone’s bodily autonomy to me. Also, it would be super if we could talk about not eating the bodies and secretions of other animals without being misogynist toward humans. Eating eggs (for instance) is wrong because taking something that belongs to someone else without their consent is wrong, not because women and periods (and therefore eggs) are gross. *I am using the clunky phrase “uterus-haver” rather than “woman” because not all women have uteruses (think of trans women, or women who have had a hysterectomy) and not all people who have uteruses are women even though they may still be able to become pregnant (think of trans men or genderqueer or nonbinary female-assigned people.) Access to family planning care and abortions when needed is a reproductive justice issue for people of all genders. **I will acknowledge one hole in my argument for reproductive justice. I do support spay/ neuter programs for domesticated animals. I think it just to ask the question of why I would, when I absolutely oppose the control of reproduction for any human who is capable of consenting to their own reproductive decisions. The compromise with spay/neuter programs for domesticated animals is because we live in a world that is violent to nonhumans and that has exploited them at every turn for millenia. I believe that nonhuman animals are here for their own purposes and do not exist for us to use. At the same time, I wish to avoid causing them harm to the greatest extent that I can. I believe that on the grand scheme of things, not spaying/neutering animals (e.g. dogs and cats) will cause them to reproduce with one another which will ultimately cause more violence to their offspring in this speciesist society.

12

about street harassment [—] dare to whistle for I am a dog / your bitch to call? humiliation aggrevation / helplessness 24 passiveness heat is rising /heart is racing / inside my chest how dare you / dare to!!! brainless / thoughtless / numbness spreads throughout my bones sure as hell / want to break yours — all / rip out your tongue don’t you dare again / fucker!!! consuming flesh / bare eyes no teeth dogs would defy you / pathetic scum. not your fetish, frollein nor freak to eyeball! just might be the one to make you crawl and feel HUMILIATION like I do because of YOU! About stalking in the digital age ... Violation of privacy Is not only the work of organized institutions The shadows of the past Know what this game as well How to find you How to push you Over the edge By seeking you out And finding out What you’re about And where to find And hide Behind closed doors And IPs changing The web you are caught in Does never ever forget. Escape, escape, escape Delete. silberxblick.wordpress.com

13

Our Bodies, Not Yours! The cover of our zine is an amalgamation of two female bodies. It depicts Frida Kahlo holding a gun. She is a Mexican artist who spent much of her life suffering from an accident and lost her bodily autonomy. Often seen carrying a gun, Kahlo protected herself against her abusive husband Diego Rivera. Her work is an extension of struggling to regain the rights and autonomy over her own body. Connected to Kahlo’s torso is the face of a dairy cow. Like Kahlo, the female cow does not have freedom over her own body. From birth she is systematically impregnated, her calves are forcefully torn away from her and her milk is subsequently stolen. She is not allowed to exhibit natural sexual behavior, nor bond with her babies. When her body is unable to produce milk after a fraction of her normal lifetime, she is deemed worthless by the industry and sent to slaughter. As vegan feminists, we fight for bodily autonomy. We oppose the systemic exploitation of non-human animal bodies. We stand against a male world that objectifies both women and animals. “You are held down by a male body as the fork holds a piece of meat so that the knife may cut into it. In addition, just as the slaughterhouse treats animals and its workers as inert, unthinking, unfeeling objects, so too in rape are women treated as inert objects, with no attention paid to their feelings or needs.” - Carol J. Adams in The Sexual Politics of Meat

Our Bodies, Not Yours!