Earlier today, my dash was blowing up about intersectionality and the animal liberation movement. I’m a little late to the party because I wanted to form a well thought out post on the subject, so here it goes.





Animal liberation and Intsectionalism

I believe that any system of oppression does not exist in a vacuum, it interacts with other systems of oppression and they all combine to create a world that is not equal. I do not think that any one system of oppression deserves elevation above another. Racism and ableism and sexism and homophobia (etc.) are all shitty and deserve attention. To be truly intersectional, you have to try your best to address all systems of oppression and analyze how one impacts all the others.

Speciesism is a system of oppression. Assigning rights to humans that aren’t afforded to non-human animals is wrong. As is caring more about the welfare of one non-human species over another (for example a dog over a cow). The distinctions between us are biological, not moral. Animals can suffer, which is enough of a reason to eliminate that suffering.

Mentioning speciesism in a conversation about social justice is not derailment. Derailing occurs when a relatively privileged person attempts to make the conversation about them. Animal rights activists may be relatively privileged (which they have to check, just like any other social justice activist) but animals are not privileged. It’s the same as someone calling out ableism in a conversation about feminism. Does it matter if the person calling it out is able-bodied or not? No. If you’re being ableist (racist, classist, etc) you need to check that privilege. Same thing with speciesism.

Problems within the Animal Liberation Movement

There are problems within the animal liberation movement, just as there are problems within any movement. These problems are important to acknowledge.

A lot of the problems stem from animal rights activists refusing to acknowledge their privilege. Animal liberation and feminism share a lot of the same problems as they are both dominated by relatively privileged people. We have to make an effort to listen to people who have different experiences.

For example, if you belong to a group whose humanity has never historically or presently been taken away from you, but you don’t understand why telling people that they are animals can be offensive and even oppressive on it’s own, there’s a problem.

Another problem deserves its own header so let me transition into talking about…

Veganism

The conversation on my dash earlier actually focused on veganism more than the animal rights movement. Both sides seemed to be treating veganism as the be-all-end-all of the animal rights movement. It’s not. So, a few things I want to address:

1)Not everyone can be vegan- but a hell of a lot of people that can be aren’t. It’s ableist and classist to say that everyone can be vegan- it just is.

However! It is not inherently more expensive to be vegan. Yes, meat substitutes and soy ice-cream are expensive as fuck, but you don’t need those to be a vegan. In fact, the processed “fake” food marketed to vegans is not something you should be trying to live off of anyway. That being said, being vegan is more expensive if you live in a food desert. When someone says they can not afford to be vegan, why would you argue that? Do you know their entire situation? No. Making veganism accessible to everyone is an intersectional issue and it doesn’t help anyone, of any species, to alienate people on this point.

There are also health conditions which make being a vegan harder. No, not everyone has the resources to learn how to manage both. Again, you can’t know anyone’s entire situation.

Health and finances are legitimate barriers to being a vegan. There are plenty of people who don’t have those barriers to focus on.

2) Veganism is not a perfect solution. Yes, people are exploited in the agriculture industry. But people are also exploited in the meat/dairy industry. That’s a food problem. The only way to eat without exploitation is to eat entirely locally and seasonally from farms that you know pay a living wage. The goal should be to eliminate as much suffering as possible. Humans are exploited by almost all your food choices, but veganism eliminates the exploitation of animals, thus reducing the overall suffering and exploitation you contribute to when feeding your body.



But, vegan eating is not the entirety of the animal liberation movement. Not even close. Factory farming is a very visible way that we oppress and exploit animals, but it is not the only way.