Vegetarian Feminism

Vegetarian feminism, also known as feminist vegetarianism or vegetarian ecofeminism, is a theoretical perspective that focuses on the connection between meat eating and the oppression of women. Leading scholars in this area assert that women are demeaned and dehumanized by being placed in the same category as meat. Women, for instance, are frequently compared to animals such as being called “cougars” or “sex kittens.” Because of this connection between animals and women, vegetarian feminism is a women's issue.

Vegetarian feminism is encompassed in the broader social and political movement known as ecofeminism. Ecofeminists see connections between environmentalism and feminism, linking the subordination and oppression of women to the degradation of nature. According to the philosophy of ecofeminism, the societal mentality that leads to the oppression of women is the same mentality that leads to environmental abuse. Ecofeminism calls for an end to all forms of oppression and asserts that in order to eliminate the subordination of women, nature, too, must be liberated.

Many vegetarian feminist scholars note a disconnect among individuals about the meat that they consume. As long as individuals do not think about the harm done to animals in the step before the meat gets to their plate, they will not see the connections between their eating habits and the harm being done.

Furthermore, by eating meat, animals are reduced to objects. A similar process occurs with the treatment of women as sexual objects. If, for instance, viewers of pornography do not acknowledge the harm being done to women in the making of pornography, they are refusing to recognize that women are human beings. Pornography can, in the view of feminist vegetarianism, be a way of consuming women sexually.

Vegetarian feminists also point out that in some poor nations women are denied the ability to eat meat in order to preserve meat sources for men, hence serving to increase the prestige of both meat and men. In other countries, women are allowed to eat meat but only if it is dispensed by their husbands or other men. Around the world, non-meat items and vegetables are often viewed as women's food, whereas meat is viewed as masculine or for men.

Exclusion from the Earth's Destruction

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• Anybody who’s interested in a more environmentally-friendly diet should check out http://peta.org where we have tons of delicious vegetarian recipes and all the information about the meat industry and its effects on the environment.

By refusing to eat meat through the practices of vegetarianism or veganism, individuals can disavow themselves from the patriarchal destruction of the Earth and animals and raise their feminist consciousness. Vegetarians avoid eating meat but do consume dairy products. Vegans avoid consuming meat along with any animal product. Furthermore, many vegans do not purchase clothing or use personal products that utilize animal products. According to vegetarian feminism, meat-eating is a symbol of dominant patriarchal culture. Existent within the heterogeneous group of ecofeminist scholars is a debate about whether feminists should be vegan or whether vegetarianism would suffice.

Major feminist vegetarian scholars include Linda Vance, Josephine Donovan, Carol J. Adams, Marti Kheel, Val Plumwood, and Karen J. Warren.

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