The brilliant, important work we do for humans does not give us a free moral ride, a free pass to be violent toward nonhumans.

I ask you to read this.

Last week, I asked for intersectional articles about dairy.  I shared the request on the vegan feminists Facebook group, and got The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle The Master’s Rape Rack: Feminism and Animal Rights.

As a feminist, especially one whose professional life has been dedicated to ending violence against women, this article says everything I have ever wanted to say about connecting the dots.

Feminists and animal rights activists don’t want to talk about it, but they have a lot in common. They don’t want to hear about it, but they need one another to move forward.

The first half of the article introduces why we need to connect the dots.

We challenge the false dichotomy of masculine/feminine but put so much faith in the false dichotomy of animal/human. It doesn’t occur to us that human privilege may not be any more “natural” than male or white privilege– that the human/animal dichotomy is just one more socially constructed method of organizing power.

The second half of the articles goes into specifics.  It discusses hunting, meat as masculine, language, vivisection, abuse, domestication, reproduction, and more.  This is where we find an intersectional look at dairy.

A feminist world cannot be one in which anyone is defined based on how many times they can be inseminated, give birth, have their children stolen from them, drugged, be hooked up to a breast-sucking machine or have their breasts kneeded, sometimes daily, by humans who make money on their milk, have their milk and eggs stolen from them, and then be sent back to the rape rack or, in more “humane” situations, the insemination rod that gets pushed into their vaginas. As long as the rape rack exists, we will live in a world of rapists.

Through Connect the Dots, I’ve shared frustrations and joy when it comes to connecting the dots as a feminist. This is a moment of joy that comes from deep, deep sadness.  Along with this article’s author, I continue to worry:

So it worries me that hardly any feminists have questioned one of our most fundamental expressions of power and domination: human privilege. It worries me that so few feminists have examined how this particular aspect of experience shapes our beliefs and actions on virtually every level, just like all other aspects of identity do. It worries me that so many feminists have overlooked the fact that determining one’s inherent worth based on their membership in a species is just as arbitrary as determining one’s inherent worth based on their race, gender, body size, sexuality, national origin, or any other identity marker. It worries me that feminists have overlooked the reality that human privilege is an analogue to all other privileges. It worries me that all of the same mechanisms which have been used to justify and enable violence against human groups have also been used to oppress nonhuman groups. It worries me that human privilege is indelibly connected to violence and misogyny in a tangled web of hierarchies and binaries, and that feminism, with its revolutionary potential, with its uninhibited call to justice, has generally been silent about all of this.

But I am reminded, yet again, that as connectionists, we are not alone. There is a growing movement that recognizes:

To extend empathy beyond humans does not mean trading the human struggle for the nonhuman struggle. It means that both struggles will attain a new depth, one we could not conceive of before. It means putting one more hole in the stubborn cycle of violence. There is simply no need to keep justice all for ourselves.

I asked for articles about dairy and got so much more.

Read this.  Share this.

photo: AndersP/flickr

We need your help.  There used to be a great article on the realities of dairy production over at Current TV.  But alas, it seems to be no longer. While there are many articles about dairy, this one was remarkable in that it took a connectionist approach – it linked multiple oppressions and discussed how dairy production contains and perpetuates norms and behaviors like lack of bodily autonomy and rape; how dairy production is connected to reproductive rights, violence against women, and the like.  It was a combination of facts about dairy and a critical analysis of the links to human-focused social justice issues.  We want it back!

In its absence, we ask you to fill the comments section with links to article about dairy production.  And as the above implies, we’re most interested in article that make connections!

Post away…

Not only is it fun, cute and informative it is also easy to understand!

We love that visuals and infographics on connectionist topics are making the rounds.  Know of others?  Please share with us in the comments section below.

Dominant narratives are the stories told by the dominant culture; they define our reality and guide our lives like an invisible hand. And when the dominant culture is oppressive, so, too, are its narratives. …Thus, social change is made possible by those who challenge the dominant narratives, replacing fictions with facts by bearing witness to and speaking out against oppression.

The article explains why and how dominant culture perpetuates violence against and consumption of animals,  providing clarity about how to practice effective, proactive veganism. Of particular importance to those of us here at Connect the Dots, it calls for building bridges between the vegan movement and other social movements:

…the vegan movement remains disconnected from the other social movements that it is naturally aligned with and must unite with if we hope to bring about the kind of widespread, revolutionary transformation toward which we are all working.

Speaking Truth to Power: Understanding the Dominant, Animal-Eating Narrative for Vegan Empowerment and Social Transformation is essential, foundational material for anyone looking to improve the world for animals. Indeed, it is required reading for all who hope to overcome a culture of violence, creating a peaceful and just world for all.

Email address: connectthedotsmovement@gmail.com

Left to Right: Ashley Maier, Darlene Smoot, Carolyn Mullin

Honored to be included in Defiant Daughters: 21 Women on Art, Activism, and The Sexual Politics of Meat, Connect the Dots’ Ashley Maier joined fellow contributors Carolyn Mullin, Darlene Smoot, and Sarah E. Brown on Sunday, March 17th, for the Los Angeles launch of the book.  Introduced by Dr. Brett Mizelle, the authors read short passages from their pieces.  Watch the video below (2:43) for a review of the event.

Photo: sameliaz8/Flickr

A couple of weeks ago, I received a Facebook message from someone I greatly admire and worked with for several years. She thanked me for never preaching about veganism and said it must have been very hard to have so much restraint. You see, she had just watched Vegucated and the movie was the final push for her to fully commit to a vegan diet. A few years ago, I observed this same person tell a colleague that I was a good representation of veganism because I didn’t shove it in people’s faces, I just lived it.

And now, she’s vegan.

I love progress, especially when it seems slow and too far away – when it hurts to keep your mouth shut and let it happen on its own terms. Because one day, it’s here. The message I received meant a lot to me – much more than I’m sure she anticipated. It told me to have hope, to stick with it. Change doesn’t happen on our timelines. But it does happen.

I never intentionally targeted this person, tried to make her become vegan. But by living my values, my ethics, I had an impact. That’s something we can all do.

This experience reminded me of a video that came out in 2009. A man at a music festival started dancing, alone, and created a movement. The work to connect the dots can be very lonely. But it’s worth it. Watch below and imagine how you bring more people to the dance every day.

Human:  Stacia’s daughter Amalia enjoying a beautiful fall day at Honk!–Festival of Activist Street Bands.

Animal:  A truly happy cow at Farm Sanctuary in Orland, California.

Environment:  A gorgeous little caterpillar noticed on a hike in Sonoma, California.