The Sexual Politics of Meat Celebrates 20th Anniversary

by Annie Hartnett · 2010-08-31 12:00:00 UTC
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The Sexual Politics of Meat celebrates its 20th anniversary this year with a new edition and foreward. The book, written by Carol J. Adams, is about the interconnectness of the oppression of women and animals in modern day society. It had been called "a bible of the vegan community," by The New York Times.

In the book, Adams explores the connection between eating animals and sexism in our society. While at first it may seem an unlikely relationship, Adams is convincing in her argument that the same hierarchical structure we use to separate humans from other animals contributes to the structure that separates men from women. This system allows one to continuously dominate over the allegedly inferior others.

Although the book was written twenty years ago, it remains perfectly relevant. J.M. Coetzee, winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature, endorsed the book:  “The connections traced between rampant masculinity, misogyny, carnivorism, and militarism operate as powerfully today as when Carol Adams first diagnosed them twenty years ago.”

The animal rights and women's rights movements do occasionally find themselves at odds. Many feminists take issue with PETA's ads featuring scantily clad (or not clad at all) women.

I personally think a person has a right to pose suggestively for PETA, but I do think that Adams gets it right, that violence is inextricably linked to all acts of violence that occur between the dominant and the dominated. A step towards ending all oppression could start with altering our view of animals, seeing them not as food but as living creatures with interests analogous to our own.

The Sexual Politics of Meat is hailed by many as a life changing read. The book presents a possible world in which all animals, both human and non-human, are not treated as objects. It sure doesn't sound like a bad world to live in at all.

Photo Credit: Carol J. Adams

Annie Hartnett is a writer and animal advocate who has worked for several wildlife rehabilitation centers and environmental programs.
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