Violence is violence is violence

September 24, 2008

This is a copy of an email I recently sent a prominent feminist blogger:

I’m hoping you or another blogger might be interested in writing about the connection between violence towards animals and violence towards women (and other people). The recent PETA pig slaughterhouse investigation uncovered numerous animal cruelty violations. Here’s the video:
The really scary part is how the violence is often connected to sex. For example:

“On the video, obtained by AP, a supervisor tells an undercover PETA investigator that when he gets angry or a sow won’t move, “I grab one of these rods and jam it in her [anus].”" [...] “”I hate them. These [expletives] deserve to be hurt. Hurt, I say!,” the employee yells as he hits a sow with a metal rod. “Hurt! Hurt! Hurt! Hurt! … Take out your frustrations on ‘em.” He encourages the investigator to pretend that one of the pigs scared off a voluptuous and willing 17- or 18-year-old girl, and then beat the pig for it.”

from CNN

and

“Every sticker [pig killer] I know carries a gun, and every one of them would shoot you. Most stickers I know have been arrested for assault. A lot of them have problems with alcohol. They have to drink, they have no other way of dealing with killing live, kicking animals all day long. If you stop and think about it, you’re killing several thousand beings a day.”

from the book Slaughterhouse, quoted here: VOC
Which brings up another issue: the interconnectedness of oppressions. Well, just go read the VOC post.

and

“A 1997 survey of 50 of the largest shelters for battered women in the United States found that 85% of women and 63% of children entering shelters discussed incidents of pet abuse in the family. Children who have witnessed domestic violence or who have been the victims of physical or sexual abuse may also become animal abusers themselves, imitating the violence they have seen or experienced. A study conducted in 1995 noted that 32% of the pet-owning victims of domestic abuse reported that one or more of their children had hurt or killed a pet.”

from: HSUS

My dad raped my mom, abused me, and abused the dog. It all goes together.

Violence is violence is violence. Oppression is oppression is oppression.
Just because they’re animals doesn’t EVER make it right.

Anyway, I hope you’ll consider blogging about these pig rapes and their connection to human rape.

Take care,
Elaine