A version of this essay was published by Feminism In India, here. The terminology of upper and lower castes is used to indicate the assumed supremacy of some caste groups over others. As these elite groups do not acknowledge their privilege, the term “upper” and “lower” are used to represent their vision of the world.
Let’s pretend that you are a woman of Indian descent and, having grown up under it, intimately familiar with Brahminical patriarchy. You start to read Carol Adams’ 1990 book, The Sexual Politics of Meat. You won’t have to read far into it to come across statements that will strike you as outrageously inaccurate. On the very second page, you will encounter this.
People with power have always eaten meat
Wait, this is not correct! What is actually more accurate for you is, people with power do not eat meat. Clearly Ms. Adams is not talking about your culture, where men with power are vegetarians. Caste-privileged people distinguish and elevate themselves on their vegetarianism and their near-divine purity. This is Brahminical patriarchy, which is at least as insistent, harsh and tyrannical as the patriarchy of western cultures. It has the familiar pillars of western patriarchy: patrilineal succession, check; gender hierarchy, check; restriction of female sexuality, check. But Brahminical…
