As a feminist who has been on and off veg for the past 12 years and has at times been very involved in animal rights activism, I agree with the central premise that the mistreatment of animals and factory farming in particular are dark symptoms of patriarchal culture, and another form of objectifying bodies. I myself have made the same point many times about the way that advertising portrays women's bodies as “meat.” You can make a very compelling argument about animal rights as a facet of human rights (there are some great books about that exact topic).

However, the way you’ve gone about laying out this point and some of the things you have said in the process communicate that you are not an ally to women’s rights and that you are complaining about patriarchy while at the same time reinforcing it with sexist argumentation because of your (justified, but misplaced) anger about animal abuse. You’re suggesting that women do not need to have a movement or a day to speak out about the way that women are mistreated globally because it is a lesser issue. If this was not your intention, then you should change your title and the first few sentences of your article. Even if that wasn’t your intention, at best, you’re turning this into a game of “whatabout?”-ism. I’m not going to debate whose bodies and lives are worth more, because it’s beside the point. Would you say the same to people who are protesting police brutality? Abuse of incarcerated people? Fighting against one injustice does not negate the other injustices in the world, but complaining about other injustices as a distraction to the topic that means the most to you does harm those movements.

I’m also not going to get into what I would prefer people do with their diets. After many years in animal rights I have learned that the problem with crying hypocrisy is that it’s a double edged sword. If you want to live a perfect life with what you support through consumption, then you’re going to have a very hard time, and it will be easy for your adversaries to point that out. It is great that you are not supporting animal torture and pollution in one of the best ways you’re in control of doing so, but you certainly support many other evils in what you choose to consume. For example, by using whatever electronic device you used to post this article, you supported sweatshop labor and the exploitation of human bodies in East Asia. The clothes you are wearing were likely produced in horrifying factory conditions, and you will add to one of the largest contributors to pollution when you discard those clothes. Those are just a couple of examples of all of the things you have consumed this week that have supported companies that are harming animal bodies (human and non-human) and destroying our planet. And more directly, if you’re saying that animal rights are as important as women’s rights, then you should also be an advocate for women’s rights, but I'm sure that's been pointed out many times already.