I’m excited to announce that the anthology, Defiant Daughters: 21 Women on Art, Activism, Animals, and the Sexual Politics of Meat, has officially been published! I feel honored to have written a chapter for this book, entitled “Found Art, Found Hope.” (You might recall that I recently published an excerpt here on OHH.) Beyond that, I’m elated that the profits of this book benefit Our Hen House!
Defiant Daughters, which was published by Lantern Books and edited by Kara Davis and Wendy Lee, gives readers 21 unique points of view from feminists who were impacted by the work of Carol J. Adams (whose interview on our podcast remains a personal fave). Carol, of course, wrote The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory back in 1990, forever reshaping the worlds of animal rights and of feminism — and finding seminal parallels and connections that were never before discussed.
My chapter in Defiant Daughters explores how Carol’s re-appropriation of images that were originally intended to demean both women and animals, became, in essence, found art. Just by turning the tables and commenting on the commenters, Carol usurped visuals that were meant to oppress, and used them as a tool to liberate. But “Found Art, Found Hope” is also a deeply personal memoir, explaining the marginalization I myself have felt at times, as so many of us have, and detailing how it was ultimately my animal activism and my veganism that freed me.
The women with whom I share the pages have quickly become heroes to me, and I feel honored to have my words alongside theirs. I am still making my way through this manifesto — often while stopping to cry, or perhaps to laugh, frequently nodding vehemently while I’m at it. I hope you will join me in my excitement about this book, and get yourself a copy of Defiant Daughters (it’s also available for Kindle).
This Friday, March 22, 2013, I will be doing a book-reading — along with Carol J. Adams, Kate Larson, Lagusta Yearwood, and Vidushi Sharma — at Bluestockings Bookstore in Manhattan. It would be amazing for me to have some OHH folks in the crowd, so do come, and please say hello. I’ll also be doing a reading on April 13, 2013, in New Paltz, NY, at Inquiring Minds Bookstore (alongside Kate Larson and Lagusta Yearwood). Please join us! And stay on top of Defiant Daughters’ Facebook page for the many other readings happening throughout the country with various contributors.
For your chance to win your own copy of Defiant Daughters: 21 Women on Art, Activism, Animals, and the Sexual Politics of Meat, please comment below explaining why (or why not) animal rights intersects (or doesn’t) with other social justice movements — from your perspective. (Not to sound like a third grade teacher here, but there is no one right answer!) If this is a new area for you to even think about, simply comment and tell us why you’d like this book. You have until Wednesday, March 27, 2013, at midnight EST, to leave your comment. A randomly selected winner will be chosen on March 28, 2013. Be sure to leave your email address when you’re leaving your comment, because that’s how we’ll let you know you won, get your mailing address, and send out your copy of Defiant Daughters.