Completely by accident, I happened upon on another site and found an angry comment to my recent post entitled, “Kendall Jones, Just another Pretty Psychopath.” The female commenter claimed to be upset by the use of the word “males” as though it were an insult to people of the male persuasion. A great book by Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson, Demonic Males: Apes and the Roots of Human Violence (which I included on my recommended reading list at the back of my book), would not have a title if it were taboo to use the M-word.
But it turns out the reason for her comment was that she was offended as a “feminist hunter.” My grandmother’s two older sisters were suffragettes who marched on Washington D.C. and got themselves arrested for the cause of furthering women’s rights. If it hadn’t been for them and women like them, this commenter still might not have the right to vote. But one thing they didn’t do was hunt.
Although it’s a sure-fire way to get attention, it makes no sense to objectify and exploit one group of oppressed (non-human animals) while championing one’s own cause (feminism). It flies in the face of those who actually do fight for the rights of others. I imagine most animal rights activists, like Carol J. Adams, author of The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory, would agree—the term “feminist hunter” is just another oxymoron.
Exposing the Big Game 
She’s always depicted as a provocative smiling THING who would be a real freak in the “bedroom” into all sorts of bizarre cruel fetishes practiced only by those damaged by demented abusers in childhood, leading them to be deeply and willfully deranged; activities that would turn most stomachs, even those of most men, so if that’s feminism, count me out…I know love. And I HATE this cruelty and trashing of life at every moment. Pray for justice, everyone, maybe someday someone “out there” will actually hear it. Meanwhile, keep on witnessing, speaking for them, opening minds to the new way of human…being.
great post – and yay for your grandmother’s sisters!
Thanks Beth
I consider myself a staunch feminist. I agree with Carol Adams 100%. I have lived her book. At one weird point in my life, when I was young and very naive, I worked at a cattle feedlot by day in Chino, CA and in the evenings I taught walking at a modeling school.Thank heavens I was out of both jobs by the end of that summer. It took me a bit to put it all together and make the connections, but I did. Sure, I was “free” enough to work these horrid jobs, both of which were rife with intolerable oppression and cruelty on a bazillion levels. The feedlot was definitely the worst as torture and murder were routinely involved. I still have nightmares 35 years later. So, it was my right as a feminist to get to do this? Twisted, sister! Some things are wrong. Period. There are moral absolutes.
The right to trophy hunt isn’t a feminist issue. Doing psychotic things is really not about the freedom to do them equally.
I am fascinated by the attention this young woman has garnered for her behavior. Is it because she is a cute cheerleader and it is unexpected that pretty cheerleaders might be nuts? Well, duh, they sure can be. We really do have equal opportunities to be insane. Maybe some weird sort of sexist crud creeps around the edges of this morbid interest. Would a pimply average looking kid garner the same attention? She has touched a major nerve. But then, so did that Cory dude. Yes, we all need to work on things that matter regarding these issues and perhaps not be sidetracked by these people. These people are part of the problem though. They bubble up and their behavior is a sorry testament to our rotten cultures. I hope these incidents serve to educate all of us and help us focus on evolving in so many ways. The personal is the political. Perhaps the cheerleaders, misguided girl-child killers and Cory-dudes show us plainly what goes wrong with people and where it can go wrong and how can we work with this. Along with all the political stuff. Let light shine on this darkness. Let us heal.
“was my right as a feminist to get to do this? Twisted, sister! Some things are wrong. Period. There are moral absolutes.
The right to trophy hunt isn’t a feminist issue. Doing psychotic things is really not about the freedom to do them equally.”
That’s the crux of it right there.
Oppression is oppression. I consider myself a feminist, and it never occurred to me that it meant I was striving to dominate or exploit anyone else — human or nonhuman. That’s certainly not what feminism means to me.
Kendall is a common killer who, like many killers, gets off on attention. Poor thing, she got cheated of a heart and perhaps a bit in intellect. Since she seems to excel at exploitation and the infliction of suffering, I hope the karmic gods are paying keen attention and invoke the boomerang effect. Keep it up, Kendall. My hope is that heartbreak finds you at every fork in the road and brings you to your knees.
It doesn’t matter which sex is doing it, killing animals for sport is wrong, period. What a cop out to call oneself a feminist hunter. So women’s rights is all about being as cruel as male trophy hunters? Give me a break. I’m sure Germaine Greer would not agree.
Serial killers are almost exclusively male, but feminists don’t try to emulate them like they do trophy hunters…yet. And why is it that that whenever human rights takes a step forward, animal rights has to take a step back.
Frankly, I think she is just another disgusting, Pimp for the hunting industry.