To understand how ecofeminism is related to intersectionality, first we must understand what intersectional feminism is. Intersectional feminism is a term that was first coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw back in 1989 as a way of thinking where one has to see the intersections of feminism and how it individually affects people. For example, a gay black woman has less privilege than a gay white women because although they’re both female and gay, one is white and the other is black. Whiteness is the biggest privilege of them all and people need to understand that although they are not privileged in some aspects, they are extremely privileged in others. “Intersectionality is a concept that helps us think about the ways that a person might be oppressed in one category, and be privileged in another. It is also about how a person might be oppressed by more than one category at a time”. The point of intersectionality is to understand the “interconnectedness of race, class, gender, disability, sexuality, caste, religion, age, and the effects which these can have on the discrimination, oppression, and identity of women and the natural environment” (Kings, 64). There are three main aspects of intersectional theory: 1. “intersectional theory viewed at the micro or individual level, this is a concept that helps us think about the ways that a person might be oppressed in one category, and be privileged in another”, 2. “intersectionality is also a framework for analysis, we can apply the concept of intersectionality to any ‘women’s issue'”, and 3. “intersectionality as praxis: social justice movements, when looking at social justice through an intersectional framework, it means that ending sexism will never be complete unless we also end racism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, etc.. because they are deeply connected to sexism”. 

Ecofeminism has some slightly different main principles compared to intersectionality: 1.”the building of Western industrialization in opposition to nature interacts dialectically with and reinforces the subjugation of women, ecofeminists take on the life struggles of all of nature as our own”, 2. “life on earth is an interconnected web, not a hierarchy onto nature and then used to justify social domination, ecofeminists seek to show the connections between all forms of domination”, 3. “A healthy, balanced ecosystem, must maintain diversity, we need a decentralized global movement that is founded on common interested yet celebrates diversity and opposes all forms of domination and violence”, and 4. “the survival of the species necessities a renewed understanding of our relationship to nature, of our own bodily nature and of non human nature around us” (King). The ecofeminist “interconnected web” perspective explains how all life on earth is connected between all forms of domination. According to Kings, intersectionality is an interconnected web as well, “a spider’s web preserves the necessary complexity of intersectionality and the potential ‘stickiness’ of cultural categories, which can often leave people stuck between two or more intersecting or conflicting social categories” (Kings, 65).

Ecofeminism and intersectionality both make “attempts to attend the variety of ways in which women live and the range of circumstances, which influence their often vastly different experiences” (Kings, 64). Intersectionality has provided ecofeminism “with a convenient opportunity to confront some of the skeletons in its closet” (Kings, 64). Intersectionality has allowed ecofeminism to broaden it’s theory a lot, “the success of intersectionality in feminist and ecofeminist work points to the self-reflectivity of both disciplines and to the capacity of intersectionality to be interpreted and practiced in multiple ways” (Kings, 65). Intersectional feminism helped develop the “practical application of ecofeminism by ‘initiating a process of discovery’ (Davis 2008) by acting as an analytic tool or ‘lens’ to aid critical thinking on ecofeminist debates” (Kings, 69). Something that many people forget it that ecofeminism and intersectionality are theories in progress and shouldn’t be viewed as the ‘end all, be all’- instead, they should be seen as theories that continue to adapt to the changing political and environmental landscape in which it finds itself (Kings, 82). Also, one must remember that ecofeminism is mainly full of white, middle class people who lack intersectionality (lack care for black people and their struggles as well) (Cain). Ecofeminism struggles to focus on how “sexism affects black women in its intersectional approaches” (Cain)  and this has made it so that “black women are involved with the environmental justice movement because environmental racism often directly affects their homes, families, and communities” (Cain). 

Works Cited:

Cain, Cacildia. “The Necessity of Black Women’s Standpoint and Intersectionality in Environmental Movements.” Medium, Black Feminist Thought 2016, 14 Apr. 2016, medium.com/black-feminist-thought-2016/the-necessity-of-black-women-s-standpoint-and-intersectionality-in-environmental-movements-fc52d4277616.

Kings. “Ethics & the Environment .” Intersectionality and the Changing Face of Ecofeminism , vol. 22, no. 1, 2017, muse-jhu-edu.libproxy.umassd.edu/article/660551.

In the readings on page 508, Norgaard and York believe that nations where women are in the government/parliament, are much more likely to support environmental policies. Norgaard and York point this out so people will understand that there is a connection between women and the environment and see how large of an impact that gender roles have on environmental policies. Because of this connection between women and nature, “women tend to be more environmentally progressive, the inclusion of women as equal members of society- as voters, citizens, policy makers, and social movement participants should positively influence state behavior” (Norgaard and York, 508).

Although this is an image of a bill being signed, it’s an exact example of a woman who is in politics and is positively influencing state behavior by enacting environmental protections. This bill was established in Sweden, where equality is extremely prevalent, “Sweden has never finished lower than fifth in the Gender Gap ranking” and they continue to fight gender inequality everyday. Luck for Sweden, they’ve enacted many things to fight gender inequality but that doesn’t always happen, “nation states with greater gender inequality may be less environmentally responsible due to the hegemony of the logic of domination” (Norgaard and York, 510). Basically, with gender inequality comes environmental degradation and for nation states where gender inequality is rampant, they’re less likely to enact environmental protections. 

This is an image of Aleksandra Koroleva who is a Russian environmental activist. Koroleva worked in and out of the government multiple times and she had a huge impact on Russian environmental policies. She was able to “stop dangerous projects, prevent tree clearings,…  educate officials by participating in numerous public councils, drafting new laws, and criticizing public officials sho closed their eyes to environmental crimes” (Milovanov). As unorthodox as her approaches may seem, Koroleva has been extremely successful with preserving natural resources and protecting citizens from dangerous environmental pollution. 

This image is showing how each gender views and understands global warming. As you can see, it’s blatantly obvious that women are more concerned about global warming than men. This is exactly what Norgaard and York were explaining- women worry about environmental degradation more than men because of the connection between gender inequality and environmental problems. 

Works Cited:

Bureau of International Information Programs, and United States Department of State. “Global Women.” Global Womens Issues Women in the World Today Extended Version, Bureau of International Information Programs, United States Department of State, 1 Jan. 2012, opentextbc.ca/womenintheworld/.

“Gender Differences in Public Understanding of Climate Change.” Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/gender-differences-in-public-understanding-of-climate-change/.

“Gender Equality in Sweden | The Official Site of Sweden.” Sweden.se, 28 June 2018, sweden.se/society/gender-equality-in-sweden/.

Lövin, Isabella. “Just Signed Referral of Swedish #Climate Law, Binding All Future Governments to Net Zero Emissions by 2045. For a Safer and Better Future. Pic.twitter.com/OqOO2y8BU6.” Twitter, Twitter, 3 Feb. 2017, twitter.com/IsabellaLovin/status/827457588094758912.

Norgaard, Kari, and Richard York. “Gender Equality and State Environmentalism.” Gender & Society, vol. 19, no. 4, 2005, pp. 506–522., doi:10.1177/0891243204273612.

When I began to look at the readings, I was actually pretty surprised by Hawkins stance on abortion. Hawkins begins by stating that “environmental considerations are relevant to the abortion debate and, conversely, that the abortion dispute ought to enter into a discussion of “feminism and environment”” (Hawkins, 690). Basically, Hawkins believes that we need to look at the “moral implications, from an environmentalist perspective” (Hawkins, 690) and see how life can ruin our planet. In the last few decades,  the human population has grown between 5 and 6 billion people and is still growing to this day (Hawkins, 690). The problem is that the projected maximum number of people is between 10 and 12 billion and it’s coming up a lot faster than it should. We should not be able to have 10-12 billion on our planet until the end of the next century but “the links between population growth, poverty, and environmental degradation, however, are becoming increasingly well documented, resulting in what has been called a “downward spiral”” (Hawkins, 690). “With the destruction of habitats and fragmentation of population, entire species are dwindling and disappearing as a result of human activities… The changes are so enormous that conservation biologists… have been discussing a possible end to evolution” (Hawkins, 691). To combat this, Hawkins begins by saying it would be useful to begin limiting the population. Many people would agree that this is necessary but that it should only be for the Third World nations and not a wealthy nation (Hawkins, 691). The best way to limit the population is abortion but “abortion is seen as isolatable from the larger picture, not an “acceptable method” of birth control” (Hawkins,691). Abortion plays a huge role in the long-term welfare of developing countries and by “limiting the ecologically damaging effects of the human population in all parts of the globe (Hawkins, 692). The birth rate in developing countries has lowered which is great but “the environmental toll taken by each new human born within the “developed” world will be very much greater than that of one born elsewhere.” (Hawkins, 692). To help with this, those living in “industrialized nations can lower our overall destructive effect on the natural environment both by reducing the amount and nature of our consumption and by reducing the number of us that consume the planet’s precious resources” (Hawkins, 692). Hawkins stated that all of this material is meant to educate others about the “practical importance of ecological concerns to the abortion debate… It also suggests the theoretical importance of ecological concern to the abortion debate” (Hawkins, 693). I stated at the top  that I was surprised by Hawkins stance on abortion and it’s due to the ecofeminist stance on abortion. Abortion is “viewed as a “masculine” response to unwanted pregnancy that “fails to respect the interconnectedness  of all life”” (Hawkins, 693). However, Hawkins does not stand by this view and explains that “at the time, recognition of our connectedness with all other life on the planet reinforces the need for abortion. When the interests of life in this larger sense are taken into consideration, the prochoice position is the one most deserving of the adjective “profile”” (Hawkins, 693). 

Hawkins stance on abortion is significantly different compared to others. There are three main views on abortion: the extreme conservative view, the extreme liberal view, and moderate views which lies somewhere in-between both (Gordon). Conservatives see abortion as murder and they claim that personhood begins in the womb, this often comes from a very religious standpoint. Even though it often comes from a religious standpoint, some religions are all for abortion. I am Jewish and in my religion, we believe life starts after birth and that abortion is okay. I took a class last year at my old college where my professor was a world renowned Rabbi, he went into great detail about how abortion is allowed in our religion and how we do not have the right to tell others what to do with their bodies. Liberals claim that personhood begins after birth and moderates believe they are both wrong and right.When reading, I saw something that I did not agree with. I read that although feminism is linked to abortion rights, it’s not necessarily connected and I have to disagree with that. I view feminism as equal rights for all and that includes the right to choose what you do with your body and when. For myself, abortion and feminism go hand in hand and if someone claims they’re a feminist but not prochoice, I cannot see them as a feminist. Personally, I would have to agree with Hawkins/extreme liberals on this. I am all for abortion if the person carrying the child wants or needs one but I also see how abortion can help us preserve our planet for future generations. 

Works Cited:

Gordon, John-Stewart. “Abortion.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, www.iep.utm.edu/abortion/.

Jaggar, Alison M. Living with Contradictions Controversies in Feminist Social Ethics. Routledge, 2018.

This is one of three photos I will be analyzing from Adams collection of photos. As you can see, this is a “sexy” female chicken wearing very short shorts, a slightly cropped shirt, and high heels. The chicken looks as if she is trying to entice the customers to come inside and I’m sure that was the intention when designing her. This is a clear cut example of Adams “anthropornography”. This means that animals are shown as sexually consumable in a way similar to the sexualization of women. (Adams, 14). Advertisements constantly depict animals very sexually because it gains male attention and it’s drawn the way that society views women. Women are viewed as sexual objects and what’s better than mixing meat and sex? 

This next photo may not be an animal dressed “sexy” but it definitely sexualizes a dead animal. They use sexually explicit words to describe a dead turkey as a female who is on their back waiting for sex. Adams explains that these ads and images are “mixed with degradation. That equation has one answer: the dead animal equals the female position” (Adams, 15). This image also made me think of what Adams said about heterosexual politics, “heterosexual politics are also imbedded; the assumption is that women is available as an orfice for men” (Adams, 15). This seems to accurately describe this photo because of the man’s assumption that the “woman” is on their back ready to be eaten, or in other words that they are an orifice for men.

Finally, the last image I chose depicts a pink, female pig blowing a kiss and saying “I’m a prized pig. You can bank on me being high maintenance.”  The image of the pig isn’t extremely sexualized (unless we’re talking about the kiss) but what the pig says explains it all. In society, women are always viewed as being high maintenance and very snobby, the pig is shown as being just that! I also can’t help but think about how the color of the pig means something, “whenever whiteness appears, it is a choice… black women are often depicted as “wild” animals who have to be captured” (Adams, 16). This is clearly meant to be a white female pig who is being sexualized for ticket sales… saying it that way makes it sound even more wrong.

I chose an ad that I vividly remember seeing online and I was shocked when I saw it. It’s an ad from Burger King that shows a women with her mouth open, waiting for a seven inch sandwich to be put in her mouth. The ad uses sexual slogans as well, “It’ll blow your mind away”, “BK super seven inches”. They purposely use these words to insinuate the women giving a blowjob and being shocked by how large the item is. It’s disgusting how blatantly obvious this and all of the other ads are. I’m sure Adams approach to stopping this would be to stop eating meat completely but that won’t change anything. I’ve seen ads that sexualize fruits and vegetables as women but apparently that’s not an issue to Adams. 

Works Cited:

Adams, Carol J, et al. “The Politics of Meat: The Antennae Journal of Nature in Visual Culture Interview with Annie Potts ‘The Politics of Carol J. Adams,’ with Annie Potts Was First Published in Antennae, 14 (Autumn 2010): 12–24. Used by Permission.” The Carol J. Adams Reader : Writings and Conversations 1995–2015, no. 14, 2010, pp. 1–24., doi:10.5040/9781501324369.0009.

Adams , Carol J. “Examples of The Sexual Politics of Meat.” Carol J Adams , caroljadams.com/examples-of-spom/.

Widmann, Jackie. “Targeting Women – Fast Food Advertising.” Advertising & Society 2014, 28 Apr. 2014, advsoc2014.wordpress.com/2014/04/27/targeting-women-fast-food-advertising/.