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A review by allymute
The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory by Carol J. Adams
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.25
Adams' concept of the "absent referent", or an image that separates the meat eater from the killing of an animal in their consumption, is incredibly astute. How many of us would cease to eat meat, or limit our intake, if we personally conducted the slaughter? The absent referent also separates the exploitation of animals to the exploitation of women. Everyday we see the connection between the oppression of women to the oppression of animals, from domestic violence/animal cruelty, to physical objectification, to the actual farming of human feminized bodies and their reproductive abilities.
Sometimes Adams' analogies feel incomplete in their evidence or completely miss the mark. One particular example is how a vegan feminist would invoke violence against animals regarding dismemberment of her text, like how a Black feminist writer would invoke the lynching of her work. I get the intended analogy, but this misses the mark on the brutal image lynching holds in American history.
Despite my critiques, I still think The Sexual Politics of Meat is a necessary text in the eco-feminist canon. Adams acknowledges intersectional erased eco-feminist history, and provides a path forward.
Sometimes Adams' analogies feel incomplete in their evidence or completely miss the mark. One particular example is how a vegan feminist would invoke violence against animals regarding dismemberment of her text, like how a Black feminist writer would invoke the lynching of her work. I get the intended analogy, but this misses the mark on the brutal image lynching holds in American history.
Despite my critiques, I still think The Sexual Politics of Meat is a necessary text in the eco-feminist canon. Adams acknowledges intersectional erased eco-feminist history, and provides a path forward.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Sexism