Speaking Up for Animals

An Anthology of Women's Voices

Speaking Up for Animals

An Anthology of Women's Voices

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ISBN : 9781612050881
Publisher: Routledge (November 2015)

Lisa Kemmerer has done a magisterial job of identifying some of the different paths in which women have expressed their engagement, refined their activism, and remembered, always remembered, why they are doing this. Or rather, for whom they are doing this.

Carol Adams, author of The Sexual Politics of Meat

I love the voices and the tone, and the subtle humor in these pages. In graphic, yet poetic descriptions, we experience beautiful lives in which engagement is the logical outcome of refusing to be a bystander.

Carol Adams, author of The Sexual Politics of Meat

I thought I knew a lot about animals, but this book taught me amazing facts about the intelligence, cleverness, curiosity, playfulness, and social lives of many nonhuman species, regardless of whether they live on land or water. Reading this book made me aware of how little I really knew, and how we humans have isolated ourselves from really observing the special attributes of the other animals who share this planet with us. I’m thankful that I read Speaking Up for Animals and will continue to refer to it.

Mary T. Hoffman, co-founder of All-Creatures.org

This anthology allows readers to hear from some of the women pioneering advances for animals today, and gives unique insights into some of the connections between and among a variety of social justice struggles.

Senior Director of the Humane Society of the United States’ factory farming campaign

The best explanation I’ve read on intersectionality and ecofeminism.

Lioness at Amazon

It would be nearly impossible not to be moved to compassion and to action by these heartfelt accounts of how animals suffer in cruel industries. The courage and conviction of the authors are an inspiration to both seasoned activists and those who are new to animal rights. Highly recommended!

Lindsay on Amazon

Sparks ideas that can rejuvenate, inspire, and make you think . . . A beautiful collection.

Ingrid Newkirk, founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

Roughly 80% of animal activists are women— Speaking Up for Animals tells the stories of some of the women behind this strong and growing movement. Essays carry us on their journey to factory farms and slaughterhouses, out to sea on behalf of sea lions and oil-slogged gulls, into the streets to protest Big Ag or rescue “dancing” bears, and along the winding paths that turned each author into a vegan somewhere along the way. Speaking Up for Animals is filled with passion and sensitivity, anger and hope, and above all else, the resilience and dedication of the women who work to save and protect animals.

Speaking Up for Animals truly is not only a must-read, but a must re-read, must discuss and quote, and must give to others to read.

Mary T. Hoffman, All-Creatures.org

For more about Speaking Up for Animals see:

Synopsis: Speaking Up for Animals

Book review: Speaking Up for Animals

Introduction to Speaking Up for Animals

Speaking Up for Animals

Introduction by Lisa Kemmerer

Women should be protected from anyone’s exercise of unrighteous power ... but then, so should every other living creature.

Mary Ann (Marian) Evans (George Eliot), 1819–1880, from a letter (“George”)

Abundantly pierced punk teens and older women with simple silver hair filled the large greeting room—females outnumbered males by about ninety- eight to one. Still, the single person in charge, the one who welcomed us from the front pedestal, was a man. I thumbed through the conference program, focusing on keynote speakers: Paul, John, Ken—suspiciously masculine- sounding names. As the weekend wore on, I mingled overwhelmingly with women while listening to a battery of male speakers, most of whom took the time to thank a handful of women for their unwavering dedication—their unpaid, behind-the-scenes work both for animals and to support the men behind the podium.

I had just arrived at my first animal rights conference, but it was clear that I had not arrived at a socially progressive gathering. Here, as elsewhere, men held leading roles while women filled supporting roles. Men spoke while women listened. Men founded organizations, and women joined those organizations. What I did not understand at that time were the many powerful links between patriarchy and factory farming—between the exploitation of women (their lack of voice and power, and their tendency to be exploited by men), and the exploitation of nonhuman animals (their lack of voice and power, and their tendency to be exploited by men). Clearly, neither did the people who had put on the conference.

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Diverse experiences united in one anthology; diverse activisms represented together; women’s activism for animals, all together.

Carol Adams about Speaking Up for Animals