Here is what I know for sure

Synopsis:

Here is what I know for sure: our current power paradigm takes agency and authority away from animals and women.I believe that: animals lives are grievable and that we must develop an anti-anthropocentric understanding of mourning. Here is the problem: the current capitalist system reproduces and reinforces an oppressive culture of patriarchal domination.I want to live in a world in which: care and compassion are practiced universally and every being is entitled to empathy and moral consideration.I embrace: the blurring of species boundaries by integrating feminist approaches into animal care theory. I desire: to disrupt normative oppressive practices by according animals and women with dignity and respect.I dream about: destabilizing the moral divide between human and animals.I will be responsible for: my ethical obligations to nonhumans and educating those around me about exclusionary moral practices.I care deeply about: eradicating the property status under which animals are trapped and displacing women and animals from their position of vulnerability. I will show you: how violence against women and animals is structurally sustained but also how rewarding and rich the interconnectedness/interdependence between humans and animals can feel.

Rationale: I attempted to encompass feminist theory and animal rights into a manifesto that supports species (animals) rights for social justice. This animal rights manifesto is written in a feminist framework and supported by concepts; such as ethical and political perspectives of animal welfare, feminist ethics of animal advocacy and moral hierarchies. I think animal welfare is a critical aspect of feminism and should be embraced as a feminist issue. I believe in the importance of understanding animal identity and human privilege, and through this gain the ability to use these elements in a feminist intersectional analysis. Feminism and animal advocacy share a deep relationship and many scholars have made connections between the exploitation of women and the exploitation of animals. Animal rights and feminist theory offer a revolutionary set of contributions to the study of transnational feminism by paving the way for approaches that challenge capitalist systems, explore linked oppressions, and interrogate global hierarchies.

Keywords: species, oppression, agency, patriarchy, power

Pseudonym: Smiths