What I Forgot to Say
There I was, pontificating on feminism and animal liberation at NYU, when after an hour of literally feverish (I had a bad cold) lecturing, I felt the need to rush from the room and splash cold water on my face. So I brought my talk abruptly to a close, suggesting that we break for refreshments before commencing with Q&A.
Me speaking at the recent Walk for Animals, also in NYC.
Notice how my gestures make it look like I’m imitating the statue on the right.
Unfortunately, in stopping short, I left out the most important part: What we’re supposed to do about the sexism-speciesism that arose in conjuction with the practice of treating the earth like ownable dirt and later begat similarly patterned forms of oppression such as racism. So, let me address that here, for any attendees who took up my invitation to visit my blog if (after what turned out to be two-and-a-half hours of me-and-my-opinions) they actually wanted to hear more of what I had to say about anything.
But first, for those who weren’t there, here’s a synopsis: Because ideas are rooted in experience and ought not be abstracted from it, I took us on a whirlwind tour of some of the moments in my life that led me (over the course of decades) to understand the axial position of sexism-speciesism in the nexus of interconnected oppressions.
First stop: The childhood epiphany that led me to recognize that property is violence. Next stop: My teenaged decision to come out as lesbian and quit eating meat, both of which involved the process of taking back my body from the proscribed and prescribed desires imposed by patriarchal socialization. Then: A quick round of “what was I thinking?!?” in relation to my many years as a vegetarian (not vegan) progressive activist who believed that “the personal is political” and that all forms of oppression are interconnected but who thought of my own vegetarianism as a personal choice and didn’t include the exploitation of animals in my analysis. Next: The doctoral research into the psychohistorical roots of racism that took me back to the linked emergence of pastoralism (animal herding) and patriarchy (male rule) in history. Quick detour: The evolution of the idea of race as the equivalent of breed in the minds of men who were already in the habit of keeping women and animals as property, rigidly controlling their reproduction for purposes of profit.
[Deep breath.]
Next: Rescuing a hen who turned out to be a rooster and the chain of subsequent thoughts and experiences that led me to see how we (ab)use animals in the process of the social construction of gender. After that: The story of the star-crossed ducks who led me to see how the myth that homosexuality is unnatural is perpetuated, hurting both animals and people in the process.
[Whew.]
It was about here that I started to go haywire. I don’t really remember what I did or didn’t say. I meant to reiterate the elements of what I have previously called “our nameless violation”: Unnatural divisions maintained by violence (both physical and psychological) in order to create property out of living beings, be they people, animals, or ecosystems. Call it disconnection, division, dissociation, or estrangement, its antithesis is connection and that is the key to bringing ourselves, our social systems, our relations with other animals, and our shared biosphere back into balance. Activists have to make sustaining and sustaining connections with each other. Whatever part of the problem we’re working on from whatever angle, we have to see how it all fits together and make sure that our actions are consistent with that understanding. I also meant to give some practical tips, which I don’t have to type out here because they’re already online there.
After my talk, we had a long discussion that sprawled into all sorts of interesting subjects, such as land reform and (of course) pornography. I really appreciated the intellectual curiousity of the students who attended the event. So, here’s a shout out to SEAL for inviting me to speak and for remembering the most important guideline for attracting people to events: Bring food.
November 19th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
[...] does that mean?” That’s what an NYU student asked me earlier this month when I used the phrase “the personal is political” in describing my many years as a [...]