Sex and Meat Lecture

(East Lansing, Michigan) Feminist and animal rights extremist Carol B. Adams gave a lecture on sexual and meat politics last Thursday to students at Michigan State University.

She used a slideshow with pictures of advertisements and images from her books to supplement her lecture.

Adams said in the U.S., advertising represents public attitudes about meat and the female body.

“I think (images and advertisements are) a way now of hiding misogyny and making it safe to be misogynistic in a culture where sexual assault is illegal,” she said. “The problem is attitude.”

According to Mitch Goldsmith, president of Students Promoting Animal Rights (SPAR), the lecture was an educational experience.

The oppression of women and animals is interconnected on campus as well, Goldsmith said.

“When we do a vegan outreach and we see men that (say) they love the way meat tastes and they love chicken breasts and legs, (we) see the way they regard animals’ body parts in a sexual way,” he said. “It’s something we’ve been grappling with for quite a while (on campus).”

Therefore, if a man enjoys eating chicken breasts and legs, he is actually satisfying his urge to sexually assault women. I suspect that's what Ms. Adams means -- linking the consumption of meat to the sexual assault of women.

Frankly, though, I'm somewhat confused since Adams didn't mention what it means when a woman enjoys eating chicken.