Carol J. Adams Biography

Influential Animal Right Activists

Carol J. Adams

Birth Date: 1951 (age 70–71)

Alma mater: University of Rochester | Yale Divinity School

Notable work: The Sexual Politics of Meat (1990), The Pornography of Meat (2004)

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Who is Carol J. Adams

Carol J. Adams (born 1951) is an American writer, feminist, and animal rights advocate. She is the author of several books, including The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory (1990) and The Pornography of Meat (2004), focusing in particular on what she argues are the links between the oppression of women and that of non-human animals. She was inducted into the Animal Rights Hall of Fame in 2011.

Her Career Sparks

The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory

The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory discusses how, especially in times of shortage, women often give men the meat they perceive to be the "best" food. She also discusses the connections between feminism and vegetarianism, and patriarchy and meat eating, historically and through the reading of literary texts. An important theory formulated in the book is the absent referent, which she uses to explain the fact that people keep eating meat, and is also behind the objectification of women in pornography.

Animals and Women Feminist Theoretical Explorations

In Adam's Animals and Women Feminist Theoretical Explorations, she argues that the social context behind female oppression and sexual violence has a direct tie to the way humans mistreat other species. Humans tend to deem animals as an inferior species and in this way, justify their actions regarding animal exploitation. According to Adams, men regard women in a similar light. This sense of entitlement over animals translates into human relations and men begin to label women as inferior as well "available for abuse."