What is Ecofeminism?

Ecofeminism isn’t a theory that neatly fits into a single category. Instead, it is a theory that’s always in flux, dependent on timely connections that range from environmental to political to social. Hobgood-Oster masterfully wrangles this wide-ranging theory in her piece “Ecofeminism: Historic and International Evolution.” Hobgood-Oster writes, 

“Ecofeminism asserts that all forms of oppression are connected and that structures of oppression must be addressed in their totality. Oppression of the natural world and of women my patriarchal power structures must be examined together or neither can be confronted fully.”

This isn’t only relegated to women and patriarchal oppression but also to all intersectional oppression, gender essentialism, forced hierarchies, and other forms of domination. At its most basic components, Ecofeminism conveys that the damaging Western view of instrumentalism (that the natural world and the earth itself are for human use) seeps into the very foundations of our society. 

Once we justify that the planet we live on’s sole purpose is for our use, we can justify similar exploitation of the people and animals around us—especially those deemed “less than.” In our inherently patriarchal society, everyone and everything that isn’t a cisgender, heterosexual white male is seen as a pawn to be dominated by that institutionalized hierarchical binary system. 

Women, men, people, animals, plants, Earth—we are all living and natural beings and, consequently, are all forced into this perpetuated hierarchical scheme. Basically, you’re either on the top of this food chain or you’re not. 

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I came across this editorial campaign by photographer and artist SH Sadler that captured women slathered in beauty products and packaged up like animal meat at the grocery store. The project is called Fresh Meat, and its message correlates with ecofeminist values. 

Ecofeminism encapsulates animal rights activism within its message. Hobgood-Oster points to  Carol. J. Adams’ ecofeminist study, The Sexual Politics of Meat, she paraphrases, “Adams has made explicit links between androcentric, patriarchal treatment of other-than-human animals, particularly focusing on the meat producing industries of the United States, and the exploitation of women.” 

This is exactly what SH Sadler is conveying with her Fresh Meat series. Women are so often regarded as pieces of meat for men to feast on when they want, where they want, and however they want, regardless of consent. The same goes for animals’ bodies and how we cage them and use them for profit and consumption. 

The women depicted in these images are labeled with a price tag. Their bodies are for sale.

There are undeniable correlations between patriarchal, or as Val Plumwood puts it in her writing, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, master-slave dynamics, and our global inclination toward domination and oppression. Just as slaves were dehumanized and sold to other humans at auction, the women in these images are painted to the highest standard of beauty and sold for consumption; whether that be consumption by the eye or mouth is up for you to decide. Animals are raised and slaughtered for that same consumption and profit. Pieces of land are bought and sold all across the globe for human monetary gain. How are we selling things that don’t belong to us?

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This isn’t the only work from SH Sadler with an Ecofeminist theme. You can check out more of their work here.

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Ecofeminism’s goal is to dismantle hierarchical thinking and eliminate relationships of domination across all environmental, ecological, natural, societal, political, and racial realms. Through transforming our relationships with each other, the world around us, and the other-than-human beings that inhabit the Earth alongside us, we can cease environmental degradation.

Ecofeminism “simultaneously [serves] as an environmental critique of feminism and a feminist critique of environmentalism” (Hobgood-Oster). So, just as a shifting of perspective and values surrounding our environment will affect the way that we treat not just women but all members of our society and the animals that we share the earth with, it goes both ways—vice versa. 

What do you think about SH Sadler’s work? How does it make you feel? I’d love to hear your take in the comments below! 

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Works Cited

Hobgood-Oster, Laura. “Ecofeminism: Historic and International Evolution.” Systemic Alternatives, 18 Jan. 2016, systemicalternatives.org/2016/01/18/ecofeminism-historic-and-international-evolution/. 

Plumwood, Val. Feminism and the Mastery of Nature. Routledge, 2015.