Intersectionality of Domination Systems

Sor Juana's analysis of gender, intellect, and power reveals how domination systems interlock. Her insight applies powerfully to animal ethics: the ideologies that justified colonialism, slavery, and patriarchy also justified animal exploitation. All rely on the logic that some beings exist to serve others, that hierarchy is natural, that the powerless deserve their position. Environmental racism demonstrates this concretely—communities of color disproportionately live near concentrated animal agriculture operations, bearing the environmental and health costs of animal industry. Women and indigenous peoples, historically associated with nature and animals through oppressive logic, face unique entanglements with animal ethics. Sor Juana's tradition demands we see these connections rather than treating animal rights as separate from human justice. This means animal advocacy rooted in awareness of who bears the burden of industrial agriculture, who profits, how environmental destruction affects vulnerable human communities first. It means recognizing that liberation movements gain strength through solidarity, that justice is indivisible, and that dignified treatment of animals strengthens movements for human dignity.