Animals of both sexes suffer under institutionalized exploitation. However, the female of the species often experiences more prolonged abuse, including an ongoing cycle of forceful artificial insemination, physical abuse of her mammary glands, and invariably being separated from her young.
“After repeated cycles of forced impregnations, painful births,
relentless milkings, and crushing bereavements, their spirit gives,
their bodies wither, their milk dries up. At the age when, in
nature, a female cow would barely enter adulthood, the life of a
dairy cow is over. When her milk ‘production’ declines, she and her
other ‘spent’ herd mates are trucked off to slaughter. Some are
pregnant. All are still lactating. As they are shoved towards death,
they drip milk onto the killing floor… All dairy operations,
including Organic, exist solely by doing to millions of defenseless
females the worst thing anyone can do to a mother. Dairy consumers
support this practice with their purchases.”
~ “Milk Comes from a Grieving Mother” - leaflet from
Peaceful Prairie
Sanctuary
When visiting the non-vegan home of a self-proclaimed feminist, she
offered me cow’s milk with my tea. That’s when I made the profound
connection that it’s impossible to truly be a feminist while
consuming dairy (or any animal products), as the entire animal
industry is built on the exploitation of the female reproductive
system. This must be recognized as a feminist issue because it is
analogous to the feminist movement’s struggle for women to have
control of their own bodies.
Animals of both sexes suffer under institutionalized exploitation.
However, the female of the species often experiences more prolonged
abuse, including an ongoing cycle of forceful artificial
insemination (mechanical or manual rape), physical abuse of her
mammary glands, and invariably being separated from her young; all
of these are emotionally brutal experiences for the female members
of any species.
Male animals are also sexually abused; not only through the industry
practice of castration, but also by being used as semen ‘donors’.
There are photos online showing bulls in contraptions being forced
to supply the ‘artificial insemination’ industry. All of this is a
part of dairy consumption. It’s pretty perverted; as is all animal
use—when you think about it candidly.
The animal farming industry has done quite a job of advertising
images of ‘happy cows‘ gladly giving us their milk, as well as
covering up their offensive procedures. However, even if all the
heartless practices associated with factory farming were not
customary, it is deeply troubling that the female reproductive
system of any species is widely perceived as nothing more than an
economic resource.
Many in the feminist movement might be interested to learn that some
in the animal industry actually use the term ‘rape-rack’ to describe
the piece of equipment used to restrain and artificially inseminate
cows and pigs. Even on many small-scale farms though, inseminators
invade the animal’s body by putting their arm up her rectum, to push
on the cervix, while inseminating her with the other hand.
Inconceivably to me, even women perform this job.
I often ponder in disbelief our culture’s uncivilized ways and what
people choose to fund with their purchases. It’s hard to imagine a
human being taking a crying baby from his mother shortly after
birth, to have his throat slit. However, this is the fate of calves
born to cows used for dairy production. ‘Bobby calves’, the unwanted
male calves who are an unavoidable ‘by-product’ of the dairy
industry, are generally taken away soon after birth (both on organic
and non-organic farms), and are frequently sold to be turned into
‘veal’. In some countries, male calves are shot at birth.
Both mother and calf are traumatized and bellow loudly after their
forced separation. As documented in multiple videos now found
online, some mothers even try to get in between farmer and calf.
Certain bovine mothers have even tried hiding their calves to
prevent them from being taken away.
Because she is re-impregnated every year, while still lactating from
the previous pregnancy, a ‘dairy cow’ will spend six to seven months
a year producing milk while she is also pregnant. This is true on
organic and free-range farms as well. A calf would naturally feed
five to six times a day, so that the maximum amount of milk in his
mother’s udder would be around two liters at any one time. But on
modern dairy farms, a cow is only milked twice a day, allowing milk
to accumulate in the udder; thus forcing her to carry around 20
liters of milk or more. This greatly enlarged udder leads to
lameness in her hind legs and predisposes her to mastitis (a painful
udder infection). Her only rest from this appalling existence is
during the last two months of her pregnancy when she is not milked
in preparation for giving birth. Then the awful cycle starts again.
Hobbles and shackles are commonly attached to the hind legs of cows
who have suffered damage during ‘calving’, and would not be able to
stand of their own accord. Injured cows are often forced to continue
in pain, for seven to eight months, until their milk yield drops (so
the farmer won’t lose a large quantity of milk) and then they are
killed. Seeing photos of these shackles online conjures up images of
slavery and shines a light on the very real fact that bred and
farmed animals ARE slaves; owned by human ‘masters’ and treated as
if they were lifeless objects.
The ‘dairy cow’, riddled with painful ailments as a result of her
exploitation, and physically ravaged from the sexual abuse she has
experienced, is eventually killed to be eaten when she is no longer
producing; typically at around five years of her otherwise 20-25
year lifespan.
It’s unjust for humans to steal milk intended to nourish growing
babies of another species. For the life of me, I can’t figure out
why anybody would want to drink cow’s milk; perfectly designed for
baby calves. Cow’s milk provides the calf with the nutrients to grow
to 450 pounds, in just a year. A cow’s breast milk is much higher in
protein than the requirements for humans and provides everything
calves need for rapid growth.
Humans have no physical need to consume products that are the result
of horrific practices such as tail docking, dehorning, branding,
castration, rape racks, induced calving, artificial insemination,
painful procedures performed without pain relief, embryo transfers
and hormone treatments resulting in 3-6 calves instead of the usual
single birth, separation of mother from newborn, and killing
infants.
It is becoming increasingly clear that there is perhaps even more
suffering involved in milk, cheese and egg consumption than flesh
consumption, therefore choosing to be vegetarian (for ethical
reasons) is not logical. Abstaining from ALL animal products is the
ethical stance that gives basic minimal respect due to sentient
beings.
Oppression is oppression. Violence is violence. The species of the
victim is irrelevant. The way I see it, to be an animal rights
activist is to be a vegan. To be an abolitionist is to be a vegan.
To be a nonspeciesist is to be a vegan. To be an environmentalist is
to be a vegan. To be a peace-loving-pacifist is to be a vegan. To be
an ethicist is to be a vegan. AND YES – to be a feminist is to be a
vegan.