Brutal: Manhood and the Exploitation of Animals Review

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(More customer reviews)I anticipated that Luke's book might be a well-grounded philosophical investigation into the question of hunting. Though an avid hunter, I am interested in ecofeminism and other critiques that question the work of pro-hunting scholars such as Paul Shepard and James Swan. As Socrates said, "The unexamined life is (for humans) not worth living."
Luke's central thesis is that men kill animals (i.e. hunt) out of a deep psychosexual need to brutalize and sacrifice other beings: womb-envy, appeasing god-the-father, etc.
How disappointed I was by Luke's work. He is clearly arguing from his own emotional response against killing other animals and lacks any good philosophical basis for criticizing. For example, he unquestioningly uses dialog from the film/book Bambi to represent actual animals. Furthermore, he is innocent of much work that would have both challenged and enriched his thesis: Donna Haraway's work on companion species; Aldo Leopold's work demonstrating the way in which herbivores unchecked by predation devastate and alter ecosystems; and various anthropological studies of !Kung and other indigenous hunting cultures. Worst of all, for woman who hunt, Luke's book is highly insulting since in Luke's view women only hunt in order to emulate dominant culture and as a sort of exercise in self-deception/false conscience.

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The first integrated theory of manhood's relationship to hunting, animal experimentation, and animal sacrifice
In Brutal, Brian Luke explores the gender divide over our treatment of animals, exposing the central role of masculinity in systems of animal exploitation. Employing philosophical analysis, reference to empirical research, and relevant personal experience, Luke develops a new theory of how exploitative institutions do not work to promote human flourishing but instead merely act as support for a particular construction of manhood. The resulting work is of significant interest both to animal advocates and opponents of sexism.

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