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Oppressive
Liberation
Sexism in Animal Activism
Lisa Kemmerer
Oppressive Liberation
“In this latest book, Lisa Kemmerer details the entrenchment of sexism in ele-
ments of the animal advocacy movement. Drawing on survey findings and written
accounts of animal advocates, Kemmerer exposes many intra-movement problems
and challenges the movement to engage in a process of truth and reconciliation,
rightfully pointing out that the goals of anti-speciesism cannot be realized without
also addressing sexism and other forms of intersecting oppression.”
—Amy J. Fitzgerald, Professor, University of Windsor, Canada
“This powerful and provocative book is essential reading for anyone studying or
participating in social movements.”
—Emily Gaarder, author of Women and the Animal Rights Movement
Lisa Kemmerer
Oppressive Liberation
Sexism in Animal Activism
Lisa Kemmerer
Professor Emeritus, founder of Tapestry
Billings, MT, USA
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2023
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in
any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic
adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or here-
after developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the
publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to
the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The
publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and
institutional affiliations.
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Every truth we see is ours to give the world. (Elizabeth Cady Stanton)
If you are an activist and a survivor,
this book is for you.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to all who helped bring this book to fruition, including
Glenda Martin, John Halley, Stephanie Wilson, Eric Roberts, Alka Arora,
Candace Laughinghouse, Christopher-Sebastian McJetters, Jan Kemmerer,
Ed Kemmerer, professionals who assisted with the Qualtrics survey, Amy
Invernizzi and her colleagues at Palgrave Macmillan, anonymous review-
ers of earlier drafts who provided important insights, and those who estab-
lished and maintain CANHAD.org.
Any proceeds from this book will be invested back into the cause to
work toward a world of justice, peace, and compassion.
The survey introduced in Chapter 5 remains open as the book goes to
press and can currently be found at the following two places:
• https://www.canhad.org/speak-out
• https://msubillings.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6zd
TXfxgmiltXsV
ix
Abstract
xi
Contents
3 Whiteness
as Norm, Intersectionality, and Interfacing
Oppressions 59
5 Survey
Data on Harassment and Discrimination in the
Anymal Activist Community 97
6 CANHAD:
Testimonials from the Anymal Activist
Community Revealing Internal Sexism131
7 Evidence
of Systemic Sexism and Male Privilege in
Anymal Activism Prior to #MeToo153
xiii
xiv Contents
8 The
#ARMeToo Movement: Empowered Perpetrators
Exposed at HSUS, MFA, and DxE181
9 Harms
of Sexism and Male Privilege in the AE
Community203
10 Working
Against Sexism and Male Privilege Inside
Organizations223
11 Independent
Activists Working Against Sexism and Male
Privilege247
13 Liberation
Is Not Total If It Does Not Include Disabled
People289
15 Cis-Male
Dominance in Anymal Activism from a
Transgender Perspective303
16 Towards
a (Pro)Feminist Anymal Activist Movement:
Reflections from Estonia311
17 When
the Rite of Passage Is Wrong: One White Man’s
(Ongoing) Journey from Toxicity to Anymal Activism/
Social Justice319
Contents xv
Part V Conclusion 329
18 Conclusion:
Meta-Reflections on Sexism in Anymal
Activism331
Appendix 1: Kemmerer Survey on Harassment and
Discrimination in the Anymal Activist Community339
Appendix 4: Vegan Outreach Discrimination and Harassment
Policy361
Appendix 5: Tofurky: Donor Organization Charitable Giving
Policy on Gender Discrimination and Harassment371
Appendix 6: Letter Addressing Complaints Against Anthony
Nocella373
Appendix 7: Email Exchange Between Rachel Perman and
Erika Brunson377
Works Cited381
Index419
List of Figures
xvii
List of Tables
xix
CHAPTER 1
Serial killer Robert Pickton of Canada was first identified as a violent crimi-
nal by a victim/survivor who showed up in an emergency room “with
serious stab wounds and handcuffs still attached to her wrist.” She named
Pickton as the man who had “stabbed her and tried to handcuff her at his
pig farm” (Lee and Reid 47, 49), an incident from which she narrowly
escaped “naked, with a handcuff dangling from a wrist” (MacQueen n.p.).
Pickton showed up in the same emergency room on that same night and
was treated “for stab wounds received during a prolonged knife fight”
(Lee and Reid 49). “The two were treated in adjoining operating rooms,”
so medical professionals were able to acquire—from Pickton’s clothes—
the keys to the handcuffs that were on the wrist of the victim/survivor
(Lee and Reid 49).
Medical professionals turned all evidence over to the police, including
Pickton’s bloody clothing (Joyce n.p.). Despite this compelling evidence,
“police and prosecutors declined to pursue criminal charges,” resting their
decision on the well-known fact that the victim/survivor “was a sex worker
with a long history of drug abuse”—who had been using drugs that very
day (Lee and Reid 49; also Joyce n.p. and MacQueen n.p.). Perhaps
“Pickton remained above suspicion largely because of a refusal by the
senior ranks of the Vancouver Police and the RCMP to believe that women
were systematically being murdered” (MacQueen n.p.). But they were,
and though the police held the evidence in their hands, and though
“Pickton’s bloody clothing from the 1997 stabbing held the key, literally
and figuratively, to solving both past and future murders,” the items
“weren’t tested for DNA until 2004,” after he had murdered many more
women (MacQueen n.p.). When they did finally test the evidence, the
“results revealed the DNA of two women who vanished in early 1997”
(MacQueen n.p.). They had the murderer, but chose to turn him loose
because of who his victim was. Yet more evidence against Pickton emerged
a couple of years after the incident in the hospital: Visitors and neighbors
reported that “Pickton had a stash of women’s purses” and their ID cards,
and that a woman’s body was seen hanging in the slaughter barn
(MacQueen n.p., also Butts N.p.). Despite all of this evidence, Pickton’s
serial killing went unchallenged for years “because the women’s low social
status made them a lesser priority” (MacQueen n.p.).
At face value, it is remarkable that police would drop a murder case
with such strong evidence in hand, provided by medical professionals,
supported by tips from various others, simply because of the employment
and habits of the victim/survivor. But that is exactly what happened, sug-
gesting that all life is not equally protected. Even human life. If the
victim/survivor had been as privileged and empowered as the men on the
police force, would Pickton have been released back into the night, as if a
woman wearing handcuffs and riddled with stab wounds had not accused
him of attempted murder? If law enforcement were largely women (those
at risk from the hands of men like Pickton), would they have pursued the
case rather than return someone accused of such deeds back onto the
streets—and back to the pig farm?
Pickton, who was raised on a pig farm, was perpetually surrounded by
and ultimately took as his career, anymal exploitation and destruction—
impregnation, birthing, forced separation from young, slaughter, and dis-
memberment. An online photo shows Pickton smiling, working a chain
that hangs from the ceiling of a dreary barn, where we now know he simi-
larly hung the bodies of women. In the photo, Pickton’s hands are cov-
ered with blood, a dead pig hangs next to him with lower legs chopped
off—the pig’s remains eerily similar to a human body. If Pickton’s liveli-
hood had not entitled him to exploit the reproductive biology of pigs, and
stab and cut their bodies into pieces for human consumption, would
Pickton, nicknamed “The Butcher,” have transferred these practices across
species to women?
Societies tend to be hierarchical, with men privileged in comparison
with women and humans privileged in comparison with anymals
1 INTRODUCTION: SPECIESISM, SEXISM, AND MALE PRIVILEGE 3
1
The term anymal is discussed below under the subheading, Novel Referent—“Anymal.”
While not an adequate definition, for now, it will suffice to view this term as “nonhuman
animal.”
4 L. KEMMERER
2
For more on documented connections between anymal abuse and human violence, see
articles referenced in the text as well as Amy Fitzgerald, Animal Abuse and Family Violence:
Researching the Interrelationships of Abusive Power and Frank Ascione and Randall Lockwood,
Cruelty to Animals and Interpersonal Violence.
1 INTRODUCTION: SPECIESISM, SEXISM, AND MALE PRIVILEGE 5
study found that “men who buy sex are more likely to report having com-
mitted rape and other aggressive sexual acts” (Wolpert n.p.). An anti-rape
study found that “most men … viewed their interaction with prostitutes as
a business contract in which payment entitles them to treat the women any
way they like” (Heinzmann n.p.). This same study found that men believe
that female sex workers “surrender the right to say no to anything once
they accept a customer’s money,” describing prostitutes as “a product, like
cereal” and comparing the purchase of sex with a visit to the grocery store,
where you “pick the brand you want and pay for it. It’s business”
(Heinzmann n.p.). Interviews with sex workers reveal that “violent ‘bad
dates’” are “a frequent occurrence” and among interviewees, “[m]ore
than half said they had been robbed while working the streets; 39 percent
said they had been kidnapped or confined; one-third said they had sur-
vived attempts to murder them” (MacQueen n.p.). Viewing the photo of
Pickton, with chains in his bloody hands, smiling as he stands next to a
large pink body speckled with wounds and blood, it is easy to see similari-
ties between the human body and the pig body, it is possible to see how
this man moved from legally exploiting the reproductive organs of pigs
before killing them, to illegally exploiting the reproductive organs of
women before killing them.
Sexism
In 1869, John Stuart Mill described sexism and male privilege in “The
Subjection of Women” when he wrote that a boy grows up “to manhood
in the belief that without any merit or any exertion”—“by the mere fact of
being born a male”—they are “by right … superior” (176). Mill notes that
males thereby feel entitled to certain privileges (176).
Many (almost all) cultures are sexist, which is to say, women are viewed
and treated as inferior (Ferguson, “4 Common” n.p.). Humans are sexist
largely because of cultural conditioning. Sexism is “built into gender at a
very basic level” (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet 20) and is institutional-
ized—maintained by the legal system, the educational system, the political
system, and is reflected and maintained by language, “invisibly” demean-
ing, marginalizing, and lending to the exploitation and oppression of
women (Masequesmay n.p.). Complicating matters, women and girls
often come to feel and ultimately behave as if they truly were inferior,
thereby expressing internalized sexism/oppression. Misogyny and male
privilege, expressions of sexism, are also institutionalized. Just as
6 L. KEMMERER
individuals cannot generally tell that their culture tends toward dark cloth-
ing until they experience a culture with bright clothing, so humans are not
likely to notice sexism, including misogyny and male privilege, until they
experience a culture free of sexism—and such a culture would seem diffi-
cult to locate.
Here are some concrete examples of sexism:
Male Privilege
Privileges are benefits, advantages, favors, rights, and immunities
(“Privilege” n.p.); unjust privileges are held without legitimate reason,
most often simply by virtue of belonging to a culturally favored category.
Generally speaking, the more favored categories one appears to fit, the
more abundant their privileges. For example, in sexist cultures, unearned
1 INTRODUCTION: SPECIESISM, SEXISM, AND MALE PRIVILEGE 7
Title: Kotivarkaus
Kuvaus Itä-Suomesta
Language: Finnish
Kuvaus Itä-Suomesta
Kirj.
"On siitä, jo hyvä apu, vaikka eihän se taitaisi yksin tulla toimeen;
meidän talon emäntä lupasi autella. Terveet ne muuten ovat."
Samassapa piika Tiinalle sattui asiaa ulos: hän ehkä arvasi nyt
olevansa tuvassa liikana. Kun tytöt siten olivat melkein kahden
kesken, sillä eihän tuota paitaressua Jussia kukaan osannut
kaippoa, virkkoi Anna Maija:
"Varastamallako?
"Kyllä isäsi on oikeassa. Tee sinä vain niin, kuin hän käskee, niin
pysyy omatuntosi puhtaana."
"En minä sitä käsitä. Katsos, tuossa veli Matti juuri kantaa
kymmenkappaista pussia jyväkuormaansa, ja kyllä minä tiedän mitä
varten. Ei se myllyyn joudu muiden säkkien kanssa, vaan puotiin se
siellä livahtaa ja Matti saa herrastupakkaa ja muita pikku tarpeita."
"Äiti, tuopiko Matti rinkeliä, kun vie pussin puotiin?" kysyi Jussi
lattialta, jossa oli hyvin toimessaan kuunnellut äskeistä keskustelua.
Anna Maija punastui. Vaan Matti oli jo ehtinyt peittää reen sevälle
heinäin alle pussinsa, jonka oli hyvin ympärilleen vilkuillen kantanut
eloaitasta kolmen pitkän säkin lisäksi.
"Mitä sinä joutavia höpiset! Eihän Matilla ole pussia, eikä hän nyt
mene puotiin, vaan myllyyn."
"Mutta myllylläpä on puoti. Tuopiko Matti rinkeliä?"
"Tästä saat aluksi. Ethän nyt enempää jaksa kantaa tällä kerralla.
Tule sitte ottamaan lisää."
Sen lattia ei ollut yhtä musta kuin asuintuvan, mutta muuten siellä
vallitsi irtanaisempi sekamelska, että tuskin vain luuta siellä oli
käynytkään koko talvena. Mitäpä tuota olisi viitsitty siistiä tai laista,
eihän siellä kukaan asunut. Tavaraa siellä oli kaikenlaista: pidettyjä
liinavaatteita huiskin haiskin; hevosloimia ja ajokaluja; niiden mukana
kokoutunutta heinän ruuhkaa; ruokatarpeita ja tuhkaa vierekkäin
sekä kaikenlaista joutavaa romua. Keskellä lattiaa seisoi isohko tiinu
eli amme, kansi sen verran koholla, että hiiret vaivatta pääsivät
sisällystä tutkimaan; muutenhan ne veitikat olisivatkin syöneet koko
tiinun laidoistaan pilalle. Järjestävälle kädelle olisi tuvassa ollut
päiväkausiksi työtä.
"Älä, älä, äiti!" vaikeroi Mikko "Jussihan se otti avaimen. Minä vain
avasin."
"Enpään", puolustihe Jussi.
"Mene etsimään!"
Sitä Mikko juuri oli toivonut, että saisi siellä lattian alla rauhassa
tyhjentää oikean kätensä.
"Isä tulee!" huusi hän juosten kolpitsan luo ja kurkistaen laidan yli
alas, kun Mikkoa ei näkynyt. Vaan kiireessään hän osuikin
sysäämään painavamman puolen ruumiistansa yli laidan. Jalat vain
huilahtivat ja Jussi putosi Mikolle niskaan, joka saatuaan viime
sirusen saaliistaan suuhunsa oli juuri juossut aukon alle.
Pojat vedettiin ylös. Jussi parkui vielä hirveästi, että muiden korvat
tilliä lauloivat.
"No, pane sitte pata tulelle! Pianhan puuro kiehuu. Mitäpä tässä
muuten leivättä syötäisiin."
"Mitä sokuria?"
Tietäen, että nyt oli leikki kaukana, toi Mikko porstuasta isälleen
käteen kaksi notkeaa, monilatvaista luudan varpua ja antautui
hyvällä kuritettavaksi, kuitenkin jo tehden edeltä päin itkua, joka
kurituksen aikana aika poruksi muuttui; kipeätähän ne vitsat
tietystikin tekevät.
"Mitäs nyt sanot?" kysyi isä lakattuaan kurittamasta.
Mikko ei tiennyt.
"Sai täti suuren leivän. Ja pani äiti vasuun lihaakin ja voita! selitti
hän riemuiten.
"Ja sitte vielä torut poikaa, kun hän puhuu, mitä on nähnyt; vaikka
minä juuri äsken opetin häntä pysymään totuudessa.
"Olisitpa voinut sanoa suoraan, miten monta meillä oli, kun sitä
suoraan kysyttiin, mutta salatapahan piti."
"Siinäpä se. Minua torut salaamisesta ja itse teet samaa. Eikö tuo
kuitiksi menne."
"Kyllä sitte koota käskisi, jos jokainen saisi kukkaroa kouria omin
lupinsa. Vielä vai?"
"Niin juuri. Sen tähden meidän täytyy pitää omaa neuvoa. Yhdestä
se kaikki lähtee."
Anna Maija istui kuin tulihiilillä. Lienan äskeiset sanat ja nyt isän
moite yrittivät tekemään tehtäväänsä, mutta äidin jyrkkä vastustus
hajoitti taas kaikki.