Slide Show to Address "Sexual Politics of Meat"

Using 380 slides and ongoing commentary, feminist writer Carol J. Adams will attempt to answer the question, "How does someone become a piece of meat?" during a slide show titled "The Sexual Politics of Meat."

The presentation, which is free, open to the public, and wheelchair accessible, will take place at 7:30 p.m Wednesday, March 24, in Smith College's Wright Hall auditorium.

During her presentation, Adams will explore ways in which women, particularly women of color, are often portrayed as animals or with animal-like characteristics. Conversely, she will analyze how animals, especially animals raised for human consumption, are depicted with female characteristics, sometimes as sex objects. The show will demonstrate how objectification, fragmentation and consumption combine to shape society's view of women and animals.

"The fact that we eat animals is part of the way a patriarchy constructs our world," said Adams in an interview with Pussycat magazine in defining her coined phrase "politics of meat." "The whole process of objectification, which we know is what happens with women and why we have the sex trade and pornography, also goes on with animals."

Adams, author of "Neither Man nor Beast: Feminism and the Defense of Animals," has for more than 20 years worked to eradicate violence against women and children and as an advocate for vegetarianism and animal rights. Her presentation is derived from her book, "The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory."