So. Is it really possible to discuss chickens from a feminist perspective.

[HerBeBolloX]

As claimed by one of the Alice's in one of the other threads?

[DontCallMeFrothyDragon]

Yes! Have you not considered how chickens are exploited by male farmers?

[MrsReasonable]

Females do all the work laying eggs, and the money ends up in the hands of the male farmers. Typical!

[MrsReasonable]

Don't you mean eggs-ploited, DCMFD?

Sorry, what a fowl pun.

[DontCallMeFrothyDragon]

THAT should be a ban, MrsReasonable

[MrsReasonable]

Sorry, back on topic then.

I think sometimes that these poor beasts are just valued for their breasts and thighs.

[TheCrackFox]

The chickens are oppressed.

If we see their eggs as unpaid labour and the farmer as the patriarchy we have a lot in common with them.

[DontCallMeFrothyDragon]

But won't someone please think of the cocks?

[AliceWyrld]

I was waiting for this thread

Right my issue is that I don't know what to call them . As in collective, they all have names. Chickens are traditionally referred to as 'ladies' but I can't bring myself to use the words. 'Girls' sounds OK, but same problem. 'Women' sounds all wrong. And I tried 'sisters' but they're chickens, so I didn't really feel they were pulling their weight in the sisterhood. So now I'm stuck.

And if you want another chicken-related feminist gripe, if they fight you are often told to bring in a cockerel as he will shoot straight to the top of the pecking order, and thus the rest won't fight anymore as he will put a stop to it. This doesn't sit well with me at all . I am convinced it is the darned patriarchy at work again!

And finally, when I first got mine I was fascinated with working out whether they do indeed have a hierarchical pecking order (which seems a very patriarchal reading of it to me) or if they actually have a more complex, messy relationship with each other. My verdict is the latter. Definite expressions of power but not a simple hierarchy.

See, told ya!

And I am glad you have the magic words 'feminist perspective' in the title, as now I can't be told I'm 'over thinking'. Bingo . I bet I get to feature on the MN fem board watch forum though

[MrsReasonable]

Poultriarchy!

[grins maniacally, laughs hysterically]

[HerBeBolloX]

ROFL at "what about the cockz?"

[AliceWyrld]

[LeBJOF]

Chickens and chicken-keeping are inextricably linked to women's domestic servitude. As women in primitive societies were tethered to the home by childrearing and breastfeeding, they were responsible for chicken-keeping too, which was an important element of the domestic economy. The eggs provided an important source of protein in the primitive diet, and were much more readily available than fresh meat. Yet the men who hunted for meat enjoyed a higher social status while actually contributing less in terms of the calories that the whole group could eat.

Hence chickens represent the undervaluing of women's contribution to society.

Ta-daaaaa!

[HerBeBolloX]

How can the liberation of chickens be achieved without the sabotage of foxes?

[DontCallMeFrothyDragon]

But... the cocks go out and earn a living. It's a hard life doing... erm... what do cocks do?

Out of curiosity, how many cocks get falsely accused of being roosters? And, where they are roosters, were the chickens asking for it?

[HerBeBolloX]

How does Jill Archer fit in?

[TheCrackFox]

The cocks work stops after a set period whereas as the chickens are on call 24/7 so there is a terrible discrepancy in their workload. Moreover, crowing has far more prestige within the poultry world than laying does.

[SuePurblybilt]

Cocks are very much the protectors in a flock and do call hens over when they find food, letting the females eat first.

Of course, they then ruin all that good work by doing a stupid showy-offy dance, biting the back of their necks and leaping on for a brief shag. I've never seen a hen look satisfied as such. The cocks are also usually extremely vain and silly ime.

That's the extent of my observations, hth

[SuePurblybilt]

at chickens 'on call' 24/7.

[DontCallMeFrothyDragon]

But all chickens do is stay at home, looking after the eggs. That's not real work...

[MoreBeta]

I have a cockerel and one hen. He is definitely a misogynist and she definitely lays all the eggs.

[AliceWyrld]

Just remembered my interesting fact, chickens can reject the sperm of the cockerel. They hold it in them for a bit, but can squirt it back out should they not like the cockerel it came from!

[TrillianAstra]

Poultriarchy! :o