Scan barcode
Reviews tagging 'Ableism'
Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation by Sunaura Taylor
6 reviews
illtakethenightshiftx's review
informative
5.0
Beasts of Burden by Sunaura Taylor examines the interconnected, yet different, issues of disability rights and animal rights. Throughout the book, Taylor examines this while taking care to highlight their differences by using both historical, contemporary, and personal contexts. Throughout her analysis, Taylor pulls the curtain back on many of the historical and dominant views on both animal and disability rights which are rooted in white supremacy, heteronormativity, patriarchy, ableism, and capitalism.
There were many instances reading this where my jaw dropped and I marked, starred, and underlined passages multiple times because Taylor’s words helped me to articulate things I believe and try to convey to others, but somehow always come up short in my attempts. She dismantles the ideas of human exceptionalism, anthropocentrism, among others, and forces us to think critically about so much - including factory farming, treatment of disabled people, conscious and unconscious biases, language, and the historical and systemic reasons behind them.
Taylor doesn't shy away from addressing gaps in her analysis and framing and poses thought-provoking questions that are left unanswered, which is something I appreciated. Some questions don’t have an answer, or have an uncomfortable answer, and that’s okay. She challenges us to sit in our discomfort and really think critically about what is being asked.
Beasts of Burden is an urgent call and a critical lens to reframe what it means to be vegan and an intersectional approach to understanding the connections between disability justice and animal rights. This book was published prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and I think it’s thesis and message need to be spread because the pandemic disproportionately affected the disabled community and is a disabling virus; long COVID is real and the full extent of the effects of the pandemic are yet to be realized.
All of this is to say - read! this! book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Ableism
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism
lottiegasp's review
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Great book on the common structures that lead to both animal exploitation and ableism, and how to avoid ableism in animal liberation thinking and vice versa
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism and Animal cruelty
the_vegan_bookworm's review
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This book is a must-read for any animal advocate, vegan or anyone who is interested in animal issues.
Taylor makes thoughtful, insightful arguments about the interconnectedness of speciesism and ableism, as well as challenging a lot of conventionally held beliefs in the animal liberation movement. Though Taylor can't provide answers for all of the difficult questions raised by the deep-rooted and systemic ableism and speciesism in our society, she offers lots to think about on these subjects and considerations to balance as we strive towards solutions.
I am really looking forward to re-reading this book in the future, so I can further absorb Taylor's reflections as both an animal advocate and a person with a disability.
Taylor makes thoughtful, insightful arguments about the interconnectedness of speciesism and ableism, as well as challenging a lot of conventionally held beliefs in the animal liberation movement. Though Taylor can't provide answers for all of the difficult questions raised by the deep-rooted and systemic ableism and speciesism in our society, she offers lots to think about on these subjects and considerations to balance as we strive towards solutions.
I am really looking forward to re-reading this book in the future, so I can further absorb Taylor's reflections as both an animal advocate and a person with a disability.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Ableism, Animal cruelty, and Injury/Injury detail
cgbr's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Ableism
zombiezami's review
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
5.0
This is a beautiful and powerful book. I enjoyed it very deeply. It expanded my knowledge and curiosity. I thought that the author balanced personal experience with academic research very well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Child death, Genocide, Gore, Medical content, Mental illness, Racism, Vomit, and Xenophobia
Minor: Cancer and Bullying
Fainting, Slaughterhousesreading_between_the_trees's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Incredible intersectional text. Taylor writes succinctly about the topic, and includes the necessary breadth of the topics in the book (disability, animal activism, feminism, racism). Necessary read especially for animal rights activists/vegetarians/vegans. Taylor provides an in-depth critique of Peter Singer, Michael Pollan, PETA, and the ableism of animal activism that leaves out disability. She also highlights the beauty in the intersection between the two movements, talking about crip time, queer time, and animal time, and writing about her own experience of the world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Violence, Racism, Sexism, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Medical content
More...