Research: Oppression of Animals and Women Linked

A new study, published in the journal of Feminism and Psychology, draws ties between attitudes about meat eating and gender and sexism.

Researchers Ashley Allcorn and Shirley M. Ogletree surveyed hundreds of undergraduate students at a Texas university. They write that their findings “empirically supported ‘the linked oppression thesis,’ that gender and animal attitudes are connected.”

“As hypothesized, pro meat-eating justifications were positively related to sexist attitudes as well as traditional gender roles and negatively related to gender role transcendent attitudes. On the other hand, pro-animal attitudes were positively correlated with gender role transcendent attitudes and negatively correlated with benevolent/hostile sexism and traditional gender attitudes,” the report states.

Among the sources referred to in the study are works by Carol J. Adams, who has long studied and written on these intersecting issues, authoring works such as the groundbreaking The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory. 

In her new book Burger, Adams writes, “Are we ever just eating? We are consuming interspecies history, environmental history, national history, and gender politics. A hamburger is never just a hamburger.”

Want to read more?

• NPR’s Barbara J. King on Carol Adams’ new book: What Does a Hamburger Have to Do with Gender?
• Visit the Unbound Project to read about the work of women on the frontlines of animal advocacy.