Something in Our Souls Above Fried Chicken: On Meaningful Feminist Action in Food Justice Movements A thesis presented to the faculty of the Honors Tutorial College of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Artium Baccalaureus Grace M. Curran August 2014 © 2014 Grace M. Curran. All Rights Reserved. 2   This thesis titled Something in Our Souls Above Fried Chicken: On Meaningful Feminist Action in Food Justice Movements by GRACE M. CURRAN has been approved for the Honors Tutorial College and the College of Arts and Sciences Judith Grant Professor of Political Science Jeremy Webster Dean, Honors Tutorial College Robert Frank Dean, College of Arts and Sciences 3   ABSTRACT CURRAN, GRACE M., A.B., August 2014, Political science Something in Our Souls Above Fried Chicken: On Meaningful Feminist Action in Food Justice Movements Director of Thesis: Judith Grant This thesis explores the historical, political, and social intersections of feminism and food justice movements in contemporary America. It connects the work of ecofeminist theorists and feminist activists with that of vegetarian and local foods actors to make the claim that these movements share similar commitments and goals, and that these movements would be more effective through a more conscious partnership. This thesis uses a cross-methods approach, employing theory, history and empirics, to make the deep connections between these movements clear. Ultimately, there is no “one right diet” for feminists, but these movements stand to learn from one another, as they confront many of the same social structures. 4   ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author would first like to thank the members of her thesis committee, Larry Burmeister, Judith Grant, and Vince Jungkunz, for providing countless hours of guidance, wisdom, and expertise over the years. She would also like to thank the staff and faculty of the Honors Tutorial College, who provided an education that consistently exceeded expectations and fostered a community of respect and growth, both academic and personal. Lastly, great thanks belong to her friends and family, who have always offered unfaltering love and support. 5   TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………3 Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………………4 Introduction………………………………………………….…………………………….6 Chapter 1: Feminist Vegetarianism………………………………………………….…..12 Chapter 2: Feminist Locavorism…………...…………………………………………….37 Chapter 3: The Historical and Identity Politics of Food and Gender……………………52 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….....69 References………………………………………………………………………………..73 6   INTRODUCTION I think this riotous feast which has just passed our doors is the last effort of the institution to dislodge all of us who can be dislodged. They think there is nothing in our souls above fried chicken. - Lucy Burns, speaking to fellow prisoners during a hunger strike following the 1917 Night of Terror This project will consider the ethical and practical intersections of feminist and food justice movements in modern America. It will be largely theory driven. I will narrow my considerations of food justice movements to vegetarianism and the emerging local foods movement, or “locavorism.” My goal is to draw comparisons between food justice movements and feminism to demonstrate that they are natural partners. Some questions I will address are: How are the theories, ideologies, worldviews and practices of feminism and food justice movements related? How can the two movements strengthen one another? In what ways are identities like “locavore” or “vegetarian” intersectional with “feminist”? Is there an ideal diet for a feminist, in that it is most consistent with feminist goals? Can one seek women’s justice and not food justice, or a vice versa, without risking hypocrisy? Are the roles of women in either vegetarianism or locavorism essentialized or regressive in some way? Chapter 1 begins with a review of important feminist vegetarian theory. Recalling the work of theorists like Carol Adams, Josephine Donovan, Joan Dunayer, and Lori Gruen, I root my thesis in ecofeminist theories that explain why women might have a vested interest in food justice. Because ecofeminist commitments see patriarchy as oppressive of animals and nature as well as women, an ecofeminist diet would 7   incorporate these values by resisting oppressive food systems. This is what makes ecofeminism the relevant theoretical basis for my work. In this section, I will also discuss empirical evidence, including surveys and census data, that demonstrates existing linkages between women and vegetarianism. Women today undoubtedly have the power to change our food economy, just as they have in the past, since the majority of consumer choices and daily household concerns fall disproportionately on women. In the past fifty years, the rise of fast food and processed foods, for example, can be attributed in part to women increasingly entering the workforce (Rudy 2012). I will develop the idea that women are uniquely situated to have an impact on the U.S. food system. I also address the goals, practices, fundamentals, and critiques of feminist vegetarianism. Why are women so much more likely to be vegetarian? Partially, I express the claim that women are more likely to choose vegetarianism because it is seen as “feminine diet.” Politically speaking, the meat industry is tied, through producer subsidies, to capital accumulation in ways that fruit and vegetable consumption is not. Feminist vegetarianism is a political resistance to patriarchal, capitalist meat production. But does vegetarianism, by operating within in the market, ultimately uphold an oppressive capitalist system? Can continuing to participate in the market really represent significant resistance? As the vegetarian movement becomes more mainstream, large- scale companies and retailers are beginning to market products that are antithetical to the alternative agriculture movement (e.g. a GMO veggie burger). These products are made from processed food grown on commercial farms and potentially undermine the agricultural issues vegetarianism seeks to address. 8   The contemporary vegetarian diet, drawing from a wide variety of foods, is highly dependent on a global food system, which pits vegetarianism against the local food movement. So-called “lifestyle vegetarians,” an emerging group, seem to be motivated by the accumulation of cultural capital and the health benefits associated with vegetarianism rather than the ethical or environmental motivations of traditional vegetarianism. The identity formation effect of trendy vegetarianism is strong, but vegetarianism must continue to be rooted in political activism and intentional actions. Neglecting these goals could result in simply supporting another industrialized, global agri-food system that, though it may accomplish a few goals of vegetarianism, fails to address many of the problems with the current system. Hopefully “lifestyle vegetarians” will eventually find themselves convinced by vegetarianism’s weightier political goals, perhaps through processes of socialization. Morris and Kirwan (2007) advocate for a new vegetarian movement that continues to address issues of animal welfare and factory farming, but also more highly prioritizes locally sourced, unprocessed and natural food products. This project is intended to contribute to realizing this goal. In Chapter 2, I address feminist locavorism. Since the emergence of the vegetarian and local food movements, they have both reinforced and contradicted one another. They focus on a way of eating and living that is more sustainable, more just and more wholesome. But the local food movement often advocates a closed-circuit method of growing food that views animals as an integral part of agriculture’s circle of life. In this view, eating animals is neither immoral nor cruel. Most vegetarians would probably agree that the locavores’ way of raising animals is, in general, less cruel than factory 9   farming methods. On a small scale local farm, livestock can generally graze freely, are fed a proper diet, are kept healthy, and are raised in humane ways. But vegetarians, by the nature of the diet, reject the notion that there is a humane way to kill an animal. In this chapter, I use Temra Costa’s Farmer Jane, an anthology of 30 stories of female leaders working to transform U.S. food and agriculture. As the book’s website says, the book is “about the impact that femininity has in changing businesses for the better.” The interviews in this book will provide some of the evidence supporting the idea that a “feminist locavorism” exists. Carol Adams’ work and feminist vegetarian thought are met with strong critiques by women who are active in the local food movement. Feminist locavores approach ecofeminist food justice from a completely different perspective, shifting focus away from patriarchal consumption and objectification in favor of the return to small scale, ecologically responsible and sustainable farming techniques. For them, the ecofeminist goal of reconnecting with nature, animals, our food and other humans is accomplished at the site of the local farm. Animals are an integral component to sustainable farming, so locavorism presents an explicit challenge to strict vegetarianism. Most locavores advocate for the humane treatment of animals, but only as a part of the agrifood system, and ultimately are meat eaters. Feminist locavores agree that current factory farm practices are unsustainable and problematic, but see the solution as a switch to sustainably raised meat on smaller scales and believe in the possibility of “killing well” (Rudy 2012). Thus, a rift in the ecofeminist movement has developed, with the question of whether to eat meat at its crux. 10   Though vegetarianism in practice is already decidedly female dominated, comprising seventy percent of the movement, the feminist locavore voice is still being developed. Local food activism would benefit from the feminist conviction that resources, in this case healthful foods, need to be made available and affordable to all people, regardless of class, race or gender. A cross-cultural united feminist front could work to widen sustainable, egalitarian food practices beyond just white, upper-class neighborhoods. This work could consequently significantly improve the conditions of women and children living in poverty. The feminist locavore perspective emphasizes grassroots activism, community building and gender equality at every stage of food production and consumption. The return to small farms to this end means that eating animals not just moral, it is necessary to the success of small scale agriculture. Chapter 3 reviews the identity politics of differentiated diets and the history of the women’s movements alongside food justice movements. It seeks to show that vegetarianism and locavorism have distinct and important political meanings and that these meanings have developed alongside feminism since the 1960s. The foci of these three movements grew out of the same political and social causes and thus are natural partners. Just as food activists struggle to answer questions of proper consumer ethics, the feminist answer is equally complicated and varied. Food activists have a plethora of political issues surrounding food upon which to focus – animal rights, local food economies, genetically modified food, designing meaningful organic standards, governmental policy and regulation, fair trade and workers’ rights, to name a few. As