Patty Shenker
September 2018
You really should see these practices for yourselves because I cannot begin to describe the inhumanity, the barbarity, the depravity and the disgusting violence that goes on for these animals that are defended by abusers as "standard industry practices." Sexual assault shouldn’t be accepted for any living being.
Sexual assault has come to the forefront lately in our country, in our government, in our entertainment industry and in just about every other workplace or situation possible. It has just reared its ugly head in the animal advocacy movement. The President and CEO of HSUS, Wayne Pacelle, and Paul Shapiro, the Vice-President of Farm Animal Policy, have both been accused of sexual harassment in the workplace and both have since resigned. But to add insult to injury was board member Erika Brunson’s response to these allegations and her desire to keep Pacelle at the head of the largest animal organization in the USA:
“The C.E.O. stays, and rightfully so. We’re not an association that investigates sexual harassment. We raise funds for animals. Mr. Pacelle has done nothing wrong. Which red-blooded male hasn’t sexually harassed somebody? Women should be able to take care of themselves. We’d have no C.E.O.s and no executives of American companies if none of them had affairs. It’s nonsense.”
Someone needs to educate Ms. Brunson of the difference between sexual assault and affairs! One is consensual; the other isn’t! We have heard from several other women who have voiced this insane response and I find it very sad. I also want to point out that, although females are sexually assaulted more frequently, men and boys are also victims of this and they must not be forgotten.
It is upsetting to learn how prevalent and pervasive it is but progress is never made without pain and there is justice when people are held accountable. The truth is nothing will change until it is acknowledged and dealt with. It is about time we look at this violence, make perpetrators responsible and do everything we can to see that no other being is victim to this ever again. The truth is two out of three females are sexually assaulted in some way, many by family members and neighbors. In my early 20’s, I was assaulted in Central Park by a young, white man who put a knife at the back of my neck and made me masturbate him. I refused to go down on him as he instructed and he didn’t rape me but this was sexual assault! I deeply regret that I didn’t go to the police. Our silence has allowed this violence to continue and perpetrators to get away with it. Not anymore!
But did you know that animals are also sexually assaulted? Most people don’t know it nor do they want to know it because it adds to the already inhumane, torturous treatment the animals undergo. But it is true.
Let’s begin with beastiality, i.e. sexual acts with animals. Forty-two states made bestiality a crime, while Hawaii, Kentucky, Nevada, New Mexico, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming and Texas are the only states that have no direct ban for sexual contact with an animal. But farmed animals, fur animals, animals in fashion and in entertainment are all sexually assaulted too.
Females pigs are forced to endure humans’ callous treatment of their bodies by getting semen-filled instruments inserted into their vulvas so they become pregnant and birth more baby pigs to be killed at a very early age for consumption or to become a breeding pig.
On dairy farms, female cows will often be forcibly restrained on a “rape
rack” so that they can’t get away while an insemination instrument is shoved
into their vaginas. The “rape rack” is a narrow, chute-like device in which
female cows are restrained while farmers artificially inseminate them.
During this process, a dairy worker inserts one of his arms into the rectum
of the restrained cow while his other arm inserts a rod-like device deep
into her vagina until his arm reaches her cervix and then the semen is
injected into her uterus. A Rape Rack?! That’s what the dairy industry used
to call it but they now have nicer terminology for the same devices. Rape
racks are now “breeding boxes.” Nicer word but the treatment is still
deplorable.
Zoos and aquariums also sexually assault their “beloved” animals.
Poor Tilikum at Sea World was also repeatedly masturbated by trainers in order to collect his semen to hopefully breed female whales.
Elephants are also assaulted. Again, the zookeepers stick their entire arms up the anuses of the males in hopes that the male elephants will get stimulated and release some semen.
Image by
Sue Coe / GraphicWitness.org
Our Asian elephant, Billy at the LA Zoo, has been raped some 54 times to try to collect his semen to impregnate the females, even though the breeding of captive elephants has proven to be very expensive and highly unsuccessful. The female elephants endure the same invasion of their vaginas with semen filled instruments as the other female animals. This is not conservation; this is actually beastiality! And since zookeepers call the elephants their ‘family’, I guess it’s incest too!
Fur animals on fur farms are also victims of sexual assault as they are anally and vaginally electrocuted so as not to damage any of their fur. The furriers put a metal clamp around their mouths and then stick electrified sticks into their vaginas or anuses.
It was in the documentary, The Witness, where I first saw a beautiful fur animal anally electrocuted and it was so upsetting that I ran out of the room, hysterically screaming and crying and completely repulsed. I will never forget that!
How any woman could support this horrific exploitation and rape is beyond me. I just recently learned about the “sperminator” where sheep used for wool are put into a mechanical rotating trap that closes up and turns upside down so that the sheep are then on their backs to be sexually assaulted with another instrument full of semen.
I won’t go into each species who endures this abuse; I’m sure you get the picture. But videos are available and they are even more impactful than words or pictures. I ask you to educate yourselves. You really should see these practices for yourselves because I cannot begin to describe the inhumanity, the barbarity, the depravity and the disgusting violence that goes on for these animals. Sexual assault shouldn’t be accepted for any living being. We all want autonomy over our bodies and to be free from exploitation. It should not be about to WHOM the sexual assault was perpetrated; it should be about the ACT of sexual assault!
I think the book, The Art of Herbivore, sums it up best:
“Dairy and eggs are industries built on the exploration of the female productive systems. I wish more people wishing for equality and fairness when it comes to feminist issues would see the unity of oppression and advocate for all females, including non-human ones.”
As one woman’s poster so eloquently put it: “To be feminist is to be vegan.”
I agree.
True feminists must stand up and protect all female animals and their babies from exploitation- and the males too.
Please refuse to be part of this.