The Faces of Animal Oppression

Abstract

Abstract About fifteen years ago, I wrote an article analyzing the connection between the oppression of women and the oppression of animals.1 I argued that nonhuman animals are oppressed in a myriad of ways and that examining the mutually reinforcing structures that support the oppression of nonhuman animals and the oppression of other groups is an important liberatory project (Gruen 1993). These claims were, and continue to be, met with some skepticism. In response to one critic, I turned to Iris Young’s “The Five Faces of Oppression” for intellectual support.2 Here I will return to the question of oppression beyond the species boundary, again drawing on Young’s insights and explore how it can be claimed meaningfully that nonhuman animals, like so many human groups that differ from those in positions of power and privilege, suffer from exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence and thus can be considered oppressed. When we understand the situation that individuals and groups are in as oppressive ones, then greater attention can be paid to rectifying the particular wrongs caused by oppression.