Female Exploitation: A Way of Life

In my journey as a feminist, I try to pay attention to the various ways in which my culture, here in the US, exploit all females. Female humans are sold in human trafficking for men's sexual pleasure. Images of female body parts are used in advertisement to sell products and services. Even female pronouns are used to describe inanimate objects such as cars, motorcycles, and boats!

The above ad is an example of how female bodies are used to sell products.  The next ad puts the female in a service and sexual position, while the ad below suggests that the only thing between you and this woman is a beer!

So, in these ads, certainly it is sex that is doing the selling, at the cost of objectifying females.  However, female reproductive organs are exploited in other ways. For example, in animal agriculture the manipulation of the female reproductive system of various nonhuman animals is at the heart of the business. The meat, diary and egg industries' survival depends on the continued impregnation of female animals.

Female cows are impregnated in what the industry calls a "rape rack" in order to keep them continuously lactating.  And immediately after birthing their babies, they are separated so that the milk can be harvested for human consumption. The babies, if female, are subjected to the same servitude as their mother.  Males are caged or tied onto a short leash so that they can't move and killed at four months old and served as veal.

Chickens in the egg industry have it no better. They are forced to survive in cramped cages, about the size of a filing cabinet, with other chickens. With intentional stressful conditions, they are forced to increase their menstrual cycle, thus producing more eggs, until their short lives of servitude are spent.

It may seem overwhelming to do anything about the rampant misuse and abuse of females, human and nonhuman alike.  However, as a feminist, I am excited about the many ways in which I can intervene, interrupt, and then inspire change with such a pervasive problem. I find ways to make it known to friends that I am a feminist and that they might be one too. I choose to allow the truth to emerge in my conversations with people. I choose to love and respect female persons as much, and sometimes even more than some male persons I know. And finally, I choose compassion over flavor as a way to increase my conscious choices of the food I am willing to purchase, cook, and consume.


Please check out one of my most favorite person who speaks so openly and lovingly on these issues: Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. Follow this link to the video on her speaking ever so eloquently about female exploitation.

And as always, please post any thoughts below.

May you continue on your path to truth and encourage others to do the same.