We are currently engaged in an existential species war against nonhuman animals. This book argues that, during this war, nonhuman animals should be granted legal personhood and treated as ‘protected persons’ rather than the property of ‘protected persons.’ The main argument is that War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity – rape, forced pregnancy and other acts of sexual violence – are being committed within the meat, egg and dairy industries.
Avoiding ‘dreaded comparisons’, the book explores shared sources of oppression between human and nonhuman animals who are subject to the expressions and consequences of reproductive violence. It asks: what drives and facilitates the war against nonhuman animals? And what are the global consequences of this war? Throughout, it demonstrates how racism, sexism, and speciesism informs both intrahuman violence and the violence(s) of the animal-industrial complex. Ultimately the book asks us to reconsider what it means to be human.
Author(s): Stacy Banwell
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 270
City: Cham
Acknowledgments
Contents
1 Introduction: The War Against Nonhuman Animals
Inspiration for Writing the Book
Setting the Scene
The Terminology Used in the Book
The Violence(s) Discussed in This Book
Reproductive Violence and Reproductive Coercion
The ‘Dreaded Comparisons:’ Atrocity and Slavery Analogies
Slavery
Violence Against Women
Moving Forward with a ‘Multi-Optic’ Vision
The War Against Nonhuman Animals
Wadiwel (2015) The War Against Animals
Institutional Violence
Epistemic Violence
My Thesis on the War Against Nonhuman Animals
International Humanitarian Law, the Geneva Conventions, and the Additional Protocols
Armed Conflict
Avenue 1: Nonhuman Animals as Combatants/Civilians
Avenue 2: Nonhuman Animals as Objects and Military Targets
A Criminology of War
The Case Studies and Populations Included in the Book
Methodology and Analytical Framework
The Main Arguments of the Book
Organization of the Book
References
2 Granting Nonhuman Animals Legal Personhood: The Implications for Human and Nonhuman Animals
Introduction
Intersectionality and Species Difference
Speciesism and Animal Sentience
The Legal Context
The New Speciesism
Philosophical Discourses on Nonhuman Animals
Animal Rights and the Legal Personhood Status of Nonhuman Animals
Equal Consideration and Consciousness
Autonomy and Self-Determination
The Sameness Argument
Challenging the Orthodox View of Legal Personhood
The Nonhuman Rights Project
The Case of Happy the Elephant
The Cases of Tommy and Kiko the Chimpanzees
International Progress
What Does Legal Personhood Achieve?
Posthumanism and What It Means to Be Human
Animalization, Dehumanization, and (Non)human Animals
Conclusion—The Way Forward
References
3 Assaults on Fertility and Motherhood: Gendered Reproductive Violence and Reproductive Coercion Against Human and Nonhuman Animals
Introduction
Outline of the Chapter
War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, and Reproductive Violence
Forced Pregnancy
Unlawful Confinement
The Forcible Impregnation of a Woman
The Intention of the Perpetrator
Reproductive Coercion
Woman-As-Nation
Sexual, Genocidal, and Reproductive Violence Against Jewish Women During the Holocaust
Assault on Jewish Motherhood Through Forced Sterilizations and Forced Abortions
The 1971 Liberation War
Rape and Genocidal Violence
Forced Pregnancy
The Regulation of Women’s Post-War Reproductive Bodies
Reproductive and Genocidal Violence Against the Uighur Population in China
Chinese Birth Control Policies
Summary
Patriarchy and Animal Husbandry Practices
Rape, Sexual Violence, and the Forced Impregnation of Dairy Cows
Why Use the Term Rape?
Wartime Rape
Separation of Mother and Calf
The Experience of Calves
Sexual Violations Within the Dairy Industry
Gillespie
This Is Dairy Farming
Milk Production
Reproductive Violence and Reproductive Coercion Against Sows Within the Meat Industry
Reproductive Violence Against Hens Within the Egg Industry
Overlapping Sources of Oppression
Assault on Reproduction and Motherhood
Mother-Cow as Mother India
Hetero- and Anthropatriarchy
Dehumanization
Conclusion
References
4 Male-Directed Conflict-Related Sexual and Reproductive Violence Against Human and Nonhuman Animals
Introduction
Outline of the Chapter
Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Against Men and Boys
The Vulnerability of the Penis
Genital Violence, Castration, and Enforced Sterilization
The Former Yugoslavia
Darfur
Queer Understandings of Sexual Violence Against Men and Boys
What Are the Implications for Nonhuman Animals?
Animalization and Racialized Violence in East Pakistan/Bangladesh and India
Summary
Reproductive Violence Against Bulls Within the Dairy Industry
Artificial Vagina
Electroejaculation
Sexual Violations Within the Meat Industry
Conflict-Related Sexual and Reproductive Violence
The Vulnerability of the Penis
Displacement from Gendered Personhood
Shared Sources of Oppression
Race and Racism
Gender
Speciesism
Sexual and Reproductive Violence and the Human Security Framework
Conclusion
References
5 The Nature, Motivations, and Consequences of the Animal-Industrial Complex
Introduction
Outline of the Chapter
‘Deading Life’: Biopolitical Violence and the Factory Farm
So Where Does This Leave Us and Our Analysis of the War Against Nonhuman Animals?
Carnism and the Animal-Industrial Complex
Alienation
Marxism and the Exploitation of Nonhuman Animals
Nonhuman Animals as Laborers
Do Nonhuman Animals Produce Commodities?
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations in the US
What Are the Impacts of CAFOs?
Public Health Implications
Antibiotic Resistance
Environmental
Slow Violence and the Animal-Industrial Complex
The Impact on Industry Workers
Factory Farm Workers
Slaughterhouse Workers
The Central Paradox of the ‘More Than Human’ Biopolitical Dream
Moving Forward: Non-Dairy and Vegan Alternatives
Which Alt-Milk Is the Best?
What About the Impact of Soy?
The Link Between Soy Production and Deforestation
Alternatives to the Capitalist Model
Conclusion
References
6 Conclusion
The Plight of the Grey Squirrel
The Main Arguments of the Book
How Do We Tackle the Violence(s) of War?
Non-speciesist Law
Non-speciesist Intersectionality
How Do We Protect Nonhuman Animals from the Violence(s) of This Species War?
Who Benefits from the Dismantling of the Carnist Battlefield?
References
Index
