The image chosen is a presumably male figure wearing a chef hat. The figure is “carving” slices of ham with a knife. The knife and ham in proportion to the figure are huge! If that were a real person slicing that ham on the wood chopping block it would look ridiculous! I think the ratio of proportions was intentional to reflect the articles that were read in part of the chapter.
Two examples of gendered foods/practices are that salads are perceived to be womanly and feminine food while steaks should be eaten by men. A lot of factors contribute to this gendered food stereotype such as the perpetuation of traditional gendered stereotypes as well as the media, advertising, and culture.
In Gaards article, it explains that pets, exotic pets, factory-farmed animals, and animals that are consumed essentially have no control over their own lives. From pets having no control of reproduction, who to play with what to do and to conform to human practices while being denied their own wild instincts and sometimes denied their own basic comforts. If this were between the same species such as human it would be called slavery. Another good point is that the animals we consume also have no control over their own lives and are often living or suffering in inhumane conditions in factory farms that are exploited for human consumption.
Gaard identifies other geographical contexts in relation to the consumption of animals and recognizes some cultures that ritualize animal consumption to bring awareness to the violence of one animal for the survival of another. Gaard’s takeaway is to reduce animal suffering all around.
While Curtin views that although meat is controlled by men, and is considered manly to eat meat, which is the suffering of another animal, it is instead talked about as something positive such as phrases like “That’s a meaty question”. A common phrase is “couch potato” which is a negative connotation of plant-based food. An example Curtin provides is “don’t watch so much tv! You’ll turn into a vegetable”. However, we could also hear this term vegetable in other negative contexts as well. Women are also subjected to being controlled by men are also represented as meat.
Resources
Diet and Masculinity
Plant Based foods such as salads are for the female diet while a steak, or meat represents male/macho. A lot of factors contribute to this such as gender sterotype perceptions and the media, advertising, and culture.
- https://www.academia.edu/2489929/Ecofeminism_on_the_Wing_Perspectives_on_Human-Animal_Relations Gaard
Pets – Have no control over their own lives. Their pet owners are in control, If this were of the same species it would be called slavery. They are made to conform to human practices and denied basic urges.
Exotic Pets- the
Animals that we consume – also have no control over their own lives and are often in inhumane conditions that are exploited for human consumption.
“Self identity that is constructed in terms of our relationship to others”
“Feminists who act in solidarity with other animal species achieve not a moral destination but a moral direction; we can take significant actions that move us in the direction of reducing sufereing suffering. We can treat all animals with the same kindness and respect we offer out most cherished human companies. Many people in the first world n ations can choose healthy vegetarian diets, therby reducing the suffering of other animal specis confined in a factort farming operations and reducing our own sufering of ill health as well” We can limit or forego relationships with other species as pets and live instead with the longing for wild animal companions.”
Attention to suffering makes us ethically responsible.
3.http://www.animal-rights-library.com/texts-m/curtin01.htm
The feminist perspective about Plato- the body is a moral agent – the body being separate from the mind.
Women – and vegetable based foods or the power of control women being represented as “meat ready to be carved up”
Men- meat – In culture phrases such as “thats a meaty question” gives meat positive conotions. While phrases like “dont watch so much tv! Youll turn into a vegetable” created negative conotion about vegetables.
Factory farms are responsible for most of the meat and dairy products.
Geographical contexts – Violence against animals for food is ritualized.
Hi Jasmine,
Your interpretation of the image was interesting to me. There are so many different views that can be portrayed when looking at that picture and the proportions never even crossed my mind, but it definitely says a lot. I agree that Gaard was more negative and Curtin tried to make her argument more positive. Gaard get detailed about factory farming and the cruelty that happens to animals every day while Curtin draws upon the relationships between humans and animals.
Hey Jasmine,
I like your observation on the contrast between the size of the meat and the size of the guy cutting it up. I think that could be representative of a few things, the first of which being that our portion sizes are very large in the United States. I also think that the small size of the man could symbolize how we humans are only one of millions of species on the planet, a proportionately small amount, and yet we are capable of mass destruction. Gaard’s statement that a vegetarian diet is not a moral designation but instead of moral direction Is a powerful assertion. That claim helps to comprehend the attitude behind ecofeminism. The fact that she calls it a direction and not a designation implies that there is still a long way to go before we see total equality and sustainability, and that in the process we must challenge existing schools of thought.
Excess meat consumption is a problem in the United States. I decided to look up how other countries are related to our own meat consumption, and found America to be the top of the list, with the average citizen eating more than 100kg a year each. “When we compare consumption across different countries we see that, typically, the richer we are the more meat we eat” (Ritchie). As it turns out there is a correlation with countries wealth and meat consumption, with Brazil and China both increasing consumption in conjunction with economic prosperity. People are not eating meat out of necessity, but instead out of preference. On the upside people are switching more towards chicken over cows in America, which can be good for personal health and the environment. However, Ritchie pointed out, the 100kg average we Americans eat is equal to roughly half a cow or 50 chickens, a 100 to 1 ratio. So that basically means that by switching from beef to chicken, we are also killing a hundred times more animals. While the switch from beef to chicken is a positive in some ways, more beings are being oppressed in the process.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-47057341