Ecofeminism & Food: Why We Need Intersectionality
The United States as a nation/entity and the United States Census thinks that I am white. My high school history teacher thinks that I am either mixed or “some type of Mexican.” I’m not too sure what I actually am… but I am figuring it out one day at a time. Part of my identity has become something people might call “a crazy liberal hippie.” Not kidding. I have been called that phrase multiple times; for many years now. I completely used to see it and take it as an insult but I now simply translate it into the following: “somebody who is not an apathetic individual and actually gives a damn about the various things going on in the world.” I am quite fond of my interpretation, actually. So I just don’t allow others to bring me down since I truly believe in the social justice causes I advocated for — animal rights, human rights, and environmental rights. One of the causes nearest and dearest to my heart is animal rights.
A couple of years ago I was involved with a vegan group called Vegans at UC Riverside. They told me it was a student organization — hence, intuitively this would mean that they are a student group that is devoted to organizing for change. However, this was not my experience with them at all. They were more of a support group which is completely fine. The unfortunate thing is all they really did was get together weekly to eat and chat. I realized that they were only further perpetuating the systemic issues of the overall Animal Rights (AR) movement and my personal experiences with it thus far. The group was also incredibly exclusionary. They were not welcoming to vegetarians (which is what I still as at that point in time) or meat eaters who were possibly interested in changing lifestyles and maybe intrigued by all the amazing things veganism has to offer — from basic rights to environmental justice and true, valuable sustainability. What should be a movement of ending oppression for ALL species has become a hang out session where we eat delicious food and talk about how much animal cruelty sucks. I enjoy doing this too — but I believe a lack of intersectionality is hugely problematic because it adds to oppression further and does not act to enact the change we wish to see — it simply dreams of it. In addition to this though, another very real and prominent issue is with ownership and property. Some people feel as though we own the planet and this is horrific and wrong. We are simply here for a short period of time — we do NOT own this planet or other creatures. We have no right to harm them or take advantage of them. None.
I read an article titled, “Why Intersectionality Can’t Wait.” It was interesting but completely lacks the concept of speciesism. Many are unfamiliar with this term and notion but it is a pretty simple and vital one — discrimination on the sole basis of species. I have noticed that a lot of people I have interacted with over the years through my activism are opposed to vegetarianism and veganism (even though that does not make any real logical sense) because they think a human is more important and we have the right to exploit others — from animals to the planet and our planet’s natural resources. This is not only untrue and highly speciesist, it’s dangerous. I say that because it causes us to create divisions among ourselves and other creatures to the point of mass harm.
Racism, sexism, class oppression, etc. are horrible societal inequalities that undeniably and inherently possess the power to ruin lives and can definitely ruin a society as well — evidence of this can be seen with a glance at present day politics and our society today. The alternative to ruining that life is a life that is terminated due to violence — ranging from state violence to those of more domestic nature. Power can do this. The power that is intrinsic in oppression is volatile and destructive enough to harm one to the point of death. The thing that we really need to realize as a society is that all other creatures are suffering from this too. Our Earth is suffering from this as well. This is why sustainability is so damn important. But it is not enough as an idea. It needs to be accompanied with action. Our Earth is our only home and it, too, is being oppressed. People of color are being harmed, animals are being harmed, and our Earth is being literally destroyed, degraded, and brutalized. The common denominator here is our system — systematic oppression is killing us all. From humans to non-humans!
In order to sustain life on earth, we must stop killing it. We must stop abusing the planet too. We are exploiting the earth’s natural resources at unprecedented rates and this is damaging as well as terrifying. Vandana Shiva, whom we have been reading in class, has a fantastic quote which I truly feel explains these interconnections very well and with whom I completely agree about ecofeminism and how we truly need it to survive and thrive: she says, “It is these resource and energy intensive processes of production which divert resources away from survival, and hence from women. What patriarchy sees as productive work, is, in ecological terms highly destructive production.” (page 8)
She is absolutely brilliant and amazing, and so is her work. Our world and people and all creatures need ecofeminism and we need to dismantle the many various forms of oppression and inequality — all of this begins with us.
