Defiant Daughters, foreword by Carol J. Adams

I received my copy of  Defiant Daughters as part of a Goodreads First Reads contest. I will preface my review with a few pertinent facts: I have not read the original source material The Sexual Politics of Meat, I am a meat-eater, and, while self-identifying as feminist, I have a general bias against many hard-core ideologies, whether they be about feminism or diet.

Disclaimer of personal bias aside, Defiant Daughters was good for what it was: the anecdotal ruminations of women who had had their lives changed by reading The Sexual Politics of Meat. I couldn't help but notice, however, that the tales told by the women seemed to smack of white privilege at times, and at one point I made a note that the subtitle should be "White Guilt, or Ethnic Shame." While some of the essays contained within the book are by ethnically diverse authors, the whole thing seemed to me to be a lot of preachy, upper-middle-class privilege, a lot of displaced anger from childhood trauma, and at times the kind of feminism I loathe: man hating.

I found the last two essays in the book to be the most impactful, as they were more about food-appreciation and treating everyone like a decent human being rather than food-shame and guilt. I had a hard time relating to the women in the book and the over-all sanctimonious air of vegan superiority of many of the authors was a turn off for me. I have friends who would probably enjoy this book more than I did.



Rated 3 stars on Goodreads