donnEanimali
Women and non-human animals: objects of oppression, subjects of liberation.
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17th of May:
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Many women take care of non-human animals; among them, many become politically active against animal exploitation and hence become vegetarians and vegans. Despite that, feminist thought, perhaps more interested in negating the link between women and animals posited by patriarchy than in understanding it, pays very little attention to the oppression of non-human animals.
On the other hand, many of those who are active in opposing the exploitation of non-human animals claim to be “antisexists”, asserting that respect for non-human animals necessarily implies respect for human animals. However, this formal recognition notwithstanding, animalist thinking, perhaps more interested in following abstract ethical theories than in understanding the concrete conditions of oppression, pays very little real attention to women and displays the same difficulties as other political movements at making women's voices heard.
The relation between the women's condition and that of non-human animals, both as objects of oppression and as subjects of liberation, is not yet perfectly clear, but various intuitions have been put forward. The aim of this site is to bring together contributions that are already available and to encourage the appearance of new ones; and to transform a question that up to now has remained confused and marginal into an issue for open and serious debate, through personal stories and political reflections, theoretical analysis and artistic experiments.
The name of this site, “donnEanimali”, meaning both “women and animals” and “animal women”, is intended not only as a reminder of the relationship that exists between human women and non-human animals, but also as an emphasis on the animality shared by women and other animals. To uphold one's animality implies freeing it of the stigma imposed upon it by patriarchy, that of an attribute that bespeaks an obscure and irrational physicality in want of taming and suppression. To uphold one's animality implies loading it with an elevated meaning, that of a form of intelligence rooted in the body and in its relations to other bodies, an intelligence that is the base of solidarity and love.