They're Not Defending Protein, They're Defending a Hierarchy
No spam. Just Hang Dallas.
What this talk is about
The Hang Theory. A lecture series by Hang Dallas.
One speaker. One big idea. One good room.
Where · Times Ten Cellars.
The title names the game. When someone recoils at the suggestion of eating less meat, the reaction often isn't about nutrition or taste. It's about order. Carol Adams examines what we're really defending when we defend protein, tracing the threads that connect food reform movements, Victorian morality, and the hierarchies encoded in what we eat. The talk draws on her work linking gender politics, bodily control, and the social architecture built around the dinner plate.
How the night goes
Doors at 6:30 PM. Claim a seat, settle in.
We kick things off around 6:55 PM.
Carol Adams takes the floor at 7:00 PM.
Questions from the room near 7:45 PM.
Then we linger. Meet the speaker, meet each other, around 8:00 PM.
Out by 8:30 PM.
Who's speaking
Carol J. Adams
Carol J. Adams is the author of The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegan Critical Theory, available in ten languages, including a newly updated 35th anniversary edition. The Sexual Politics of Meat, called “a bible of the animal rights movements” by the New York Times, has inspired artwork and art exhibits, a rock song, and appears as a plot device in an episode of Law and Order SVU. Adams’s articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Ms. Magazine, Tikkun, and Truthdig, among others. She has keynoted at conferences around the world and participated on the winning side in debates at the Oxford Union (2021) and the Cambridge Union (2025). Meat has come roaring back as an essential symbol of patriarchy. We find it in attempts by conservatives and authoritarians to create a vegan panic (accusing Democratic candidates of being vegan). We see how an anxious and unsettled white masculinity seeks to strengthen itself by invoking red meat and cow’s milk, claiming these are the best protein sources, and vowing to end “the war on protein.” In fact, there never was one. Instead, meat and milk function to strengthen reactionary viewpoints about gender (viz. dismissal of liberals as “soy boys,” sexist attitudes toward women). I explain the concept of the sexual politics of meat and show how it functions to support authoritarianism in several ways.
Not ready yet? We'll remind you before it starts.
We'll email you about this event. Newsletter only if you check the box.
Times Ten Cellars · Dallas, TX