The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory by Carol J. Adams

The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory by Carol J. Adams Continuum, 1990 ISBN: 978-1441173287 239 p.p.

The Sexual Politics of Meat examines the historical, gender, race, and class implications of meat culture and how butchering and eating animals is linked to male dominance. Animal exploitation is the center of meat culture which strengthens the patriarchy. For countless years, men and women have been socially trained to think that real men eat meat.

“Meat eating is to animals what white racism is to people of color, anti-Semitism is to Jewish people, homophobia is to gay men and lesbians, and woman hating is to women. All are oppressed by a culture that does not want to assimilate them fully on their grounds and with rights.”

This is definitely a book to read regardless of how you feel about eating meat. Whether you consume animal products or not, this is a great book to understand the parallel associated with patriarchal conduct. It is full of ideas and examples that are drawn from various sources.

Adams uses countless examples of how male dominance is literally used to advertise the consumption of animals and the objectification of women. An ad from Arby’s in the Sports Illustrated “Bikinis or Nothing” March 2009 Swimsuit Issue portrays a woman holding onto two burgers as if they were her breasts. Portrayals such as those indicate that it is okay to objectify women and cut them into pieces as if they were animal products which goes back to the respect and value we put on animals and women. Women’s bodies are exploited every day through ads, commercials, billboards, movies, and television shows. You name it and they have exploited a woman’s body to advertise it. The same goes for animals.

The X-Stream Stripper Wide-Belt Strip Slicer ad from Poultry, December/January 2007 normalized the sex industry and the eating of animals with their depiction of a woman’s bare legs in high heels and four pictures of the different cuts of meat the slicer could make. In the past two decades, selling women’s bodies via pornography and sex trade has become mainstream. Women and animals are seen as things to consume. Whether it be to devour them with your eyes or your mouth, women and animals are seen as objects waiting for male consumption.

Adams also argues that factory farming is a form of oppression and institutionalized violence. The treatment of animals in these institutions is parallel to the objectification of women and minorities. Animal liberation is human liberation and none of us can be completely free while some of us are in chains and dying.

Throughout her book she discusses the meaning of words and how animals and women are slandered each and every day with people’s use of words. Take the word bitch, for example. The dictionary definition of this word is female dog—society uses it as a derogatory term towards women to put them down. Adams addresses the demeaning of women and animals as well as social correctiveness by analyzing the usage of words and the power of subordination. She states that to talk about vegetarianism is to threaten the pillars of patriarchy. Adams makes a very strong case for animal rights and puts forth all this information for one to decide to live and eat deliberately and mindfully.

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Carol J. Adams is an activist and author of The Sexual Politics of Meat, The Pornography of Meat, Living Among Meat Eaters, and other books challenging a sexist, meat-eating world. She has been invited to several campuses to show “The Sexual Politics of Meat Slide Show.” Adams is a well sought-after speaker throughout North America and Europe.