Are you having rape for breakfast? The recent string of sexual assaults at the University of British Columbia may be shocking, however these assaults occur in addition to incalculable rapes and assaults happening around the world each day. In areas ranging from developing nations to Metro Vancouver, sexual assault happens at the breakfast table. Canadians are surrounded by subversive sexual assault in their bowls of cereal and their cups of coffee, because milk is a product of rape.
Many people are not aware of the unavoidable connection between dairy milk and sexual assault. Just like human mothers produce milk after they become pregnant and give birth, cows also are impregnated in order for them to produce milk. The industry often uses a device nicknamed the “rape rack” to artificially inseminate female cows. Farms may opt to shove a 12 inch long “insemination rod” into their cow’s vagina, which often necessitates guiding it with their arm in the cow’s anus. When the mother cow gives birth her baby is taken away from her so that humans can drink the milk instead.
Don’t believe it? Even the industry lobby-sponsored website reveals that dairy farms have a separate calf barn where the baby cows are taken after they are born, away from their mothers. Where do these cows go?
Sometimes veal calves (male babies) are purchased directly from dairy farmer seven to 10 days after they are born (and, of course, are then killed before they reach adulthood). Female babies are raised until they are old enough to be artificially inseminated, and then the vicious cycle repeats. The dairy cows themselves, when their production declines, are sent to slaughter.
Non-human animals, just like us, do not want to give their bodies and their lives for the pleasure of a few.
As children, most Canadians are told that cows “give” milk, but this explanation is misinformed. Just as women do not “give” their consent by walking alone at night to be assaulted, cows do not “give” their milk, people take it from them.
Local farmer’s will try to say that their cows are happy and treated nicely, however the murder and rape of these animals is an unavoidable part of this profit based system. Organic and free range labels still have the same assaults connected with their products, not to mention the incalculable uninvited gropings and unwanted touches that happen during the actual milking process.
If we really want to be a society that says “no” to sexual violence, then we have to look at our own choices and stop supporting sexual assault, directly and indirectly.
What about the nutritional benefits of milk? We can get enough calcium from spinach, broccoli, kale and other leafy greens, as well as fortified non-dairy milks, like those made from soy, rice, almond, coconut, hemp, cashew, hazelnut and flax.
Next time you go grocery shopping, choose one of these alternatives. Choose not to support rape and sexual assault. Choose a vegan milk and join the movement to stop systematic rape and sexual assault. It doesn’t take much to make compassionate food choices, and it astronomically reduces the suffering of non-human animals, who just like us, do not want to give their bodies and their lives for the pleasure of a few.
Got milk? Not me. And I am not asking for it.
This here is a clear example why student run newspapers are going down the drain. Absoultely disgusting.
I drank a huge glass of milk while reading this. It was very satisfying. The milk, that is…. not what I read. What I read was absolute drivel.
Ironically your edgy attempt to insult someone calling out of the conditions that cows endure (year long pregnancy by artificial insemination) indirectly supports the dangerously high levels of estrogen in milk that is partially responsible for increasing feminization of men in modern times.
You tried to write a witty comment, but ironically you’re a laughing stock out of your own ignorance in that you’re simultaneously trying to make fun of something that is turning you into a girl.
Now that’s humor.
Here, this piece can be summarized in two words
>muh feelings
You give all college students a bad name.
You know, my country is also VERY big, cold and snowy, and it has too much of idiotic stuff. Guess what country I’m talking about.
But you guys are just… unbelievable. Where I live, no SUCH idiots exist.
Congratulations, and sorry.
Let’s play spot the vegan!
Found them!
This is both a worthwhile and informative piece. I’m glad Jenni took the time to consider and research the divisive topic of ‘bovine-based lactational sexual-assault’. It’s a real political hot-potato, I’m just glad someone finally had the guts to raise more awareness of it.
I read this article after one of my students highlighted it to me. This kind of drivel is not welcome at academic institutes such as ours, and I feel that I may have to lodge a complaint. That someone would write such an oppressive article is outrageous. The suggestion that cultures who drink milk throughout the world, especially in 3rd world countries are rapists is both racist and oppressive. I hope you relaise that by using your privilege to put down less well off members of this planet you are harming society.
This school’s humanities department has too much funding.
Too bad vegans don’t care about the atrocities they are committing against plants, too. They might just starve themselves in a corner or regain their sanity….
I hope to god that you never get a job of importance.
Hell, I hope they don’t reproduce.
So, uhh….is this what students are writing about nowadays? Is this what our education surmounts to? Likening milk to rape?
You’re an idiot. The article isn’t trying to seriously accuse anyone of rape by drinking milk. its a rhetorical device intended to draw attention to cow treatment on production plants.
We should seriously fund IQ checks for online participation.
You call stoop so low as to call me an idiot, yet I’m the one who should be subject to an IQ check? Be sure not to get hurt up there on that pedestal of yours.
Perhaps we should actually take a look at what the author uses in their daily life that would contribute to the mistreatment of animals. I am sure we could come up with an extensive list. Let me name a few.
1. Sports equipment – any basketball, baseball, volleyball, soccerball etc. (made from cowhide or pighide)
2. Did you put on leather shoes this morning?
3. Have you ever eaten jello (animal byproduct made of connective tissue)
4. Gummy bears, chewing gum, marshmallows(animal byproduct made of connective tissue)
5. Burn ointments or first aid creams (stearic acid from fatty acids from animals)
6. Bandages (the adhesives are sometimes made from animal fatty acids)
7. Toilet paper (animal fatty acids are used to make this softer)
8. Dish soap (animal fats in that too)
9. Watched a movie lately?( the film contains a gelatin coating – animal fat again)
10. Nail polish remover, makeup, lipstick, hand lotions, shaving cream – all can contain animal byproducts
11. Have you ever been transported in a vehicle? (Antifreeze contains glycol – another animal byproduct)
12. The asphalt road you use to get to your destination has a binding agent in it made from beef byproducts.
13. Fabric softeners – animal fats there too.
14. Perfumes – animal byproducts in those.
15. Insulin – made from animal byproducts
This list goes on and on …….
To make claims of animal rape and make that last statement that you don’t have milk and won’t ask for it seems to point to some idea that you think you don’t contribute to any mistreatment of animals. If you sit very still with no clothes on in the middle of a large field for the entirety of your life you may be able to make claim. If you live in modern society you will use animal products in some form whether it be in foods or in the goods around you. That use of animal products makes you a rapist and/or murderer by your own standards Your very narrow focus on the methods involved in milk production might make some naive schoolkid feel bad about drinking milk but most adults will just shake their heads and look at the name of the author long enough to guffaw at the absurdity of what you wrote.
What is absurd is that you have just pointed out that our culture makes a bunch of unnecessary crap out of animals and that you seem to assume that this should be gleefully accepted as normal and inevitable. Maybe there are alternatives to using entities with nervous systems as resources to manufacture a bunch of toxic garbage. OR at least maybe we could try showing animals a little respect and gratitude instead of acting like entitled, sociopathic, spoiled little brats.
I like how you unintelligent nerds are strawmanning this as “likening milk to rape”. The article isn’t trying to seriously accuse anyone of rape by drinking milk. Its a rhetorical device intended to draw attention to cow treatment on these production plants which is year-long pregnancy by forced artificial insemination (said 12 inch rods being used on cow vaginas).
Seriously. I don’t give two shits above cow treatment, but the stupidity in these comments are astounding. Crawl back to 4chan with the rest of the neglected edgy children.
Mmm, I’m pretty sure discussing a 12-inch insemination rod and including it’s nickname “rape rack”, likening cows giving milk to giving consent, and referring to animals being touched by humans as groping and unwanted touching literally likens the factory farming used in milk production to rape. Or, you know, there’s this sentence: “the murder and rape of these animals is an unavoidable part of this profit based system.”
The author literally asks the reader to “Choose a vegan milk and join the movement to stop systematic rape and sexual assault.” I don’t think the direct comparison being made with rape culture and animal abuse here could be any more clear. If the author was trying to use rape as a rhetorical device, what she has in effect done is create a strawman to the issue of animal abuse by invoking a highly fraught and contested term. No one here is really discussing the issue at hand (animal abuse) because they’re too busy either a) being trolls and telling a stranger to die, which is pretty fucked up, or b) calling this out for the uninformed piece of yuppie privileged garbage that it is.
Okay, guys, seriously. The artificial insemination thing is actually safer for the cow than a natural breeding would be-a small cow can be hurt badly by a large, strong bull, and this so-called ‘rod’ is more like the dimensions of the stick you use to check your car’s oil levels-long, thin, and flexible. It’s also sterile plastic, which reduces the chances of infections from foreign materials entering the uterus. Source: my dad is friends with numerous dairy farmers, and he’s often dragged me along when he goes to help them breed their cows.
This is just plain offensive. I understand that the author is concerned about the artificial insemination of dairy cows, and writing an article outlining those concerns is a productive thing to do. That said, likening the insemination process to the actual and ongoing sexual assaults of our female colleagues at UBC is as disrespectful to those women as it is foolish.
The comparison to rape is designed to make the reader think, “wow! I don’t like rape, and these cows didn’t give their consent, therefore it’s rape, therefore I don’t like it!” But how can we speak meaningfully of consent in animal-human interactions? How can we take the wishes of animals into account when we don’t really know what those wishes are? Can humans justify any interaction with animals (for instance, as pets) without compromising their independence? This is an interesting question, and one that could be explored in these pages without resorting to insulting and inflammatory comparisons.
Incidentally, many of the comments are even more offensive than the article itself; does a bad article really justify saying that she “should literally run into the nearest traffic [she] can find”? Grow up.
Hey hey hey look at this guy voice of reason right here. Having opinions on the internet is for cool people- I bet you’re actually a closeted rapist.
i dont think animals care about being raped so much as humans
Petting a cat? Rape.
While I don’t agree with the article I especially like the way all of the comments even very negative ones have been published.
This is so unlike the CBC forum where every comment is censored unless it is politically correct and pro gay.
Well done.
This is great. Well done Jenni. You pissed off a lot of people that needed to get smacked with reality. That’s what journalism is for. If it doesn’t piss people off, it’s not working. Keep writing.