The Politics of Silence and Speech

Sor Juana's life was constrained by enforced silence—she was pressured to renounce her intellectual work, her writings were suppressed, her voice was meant to be invisible. Yet she wrote extensively, creating a record that challenged those who would erase her. Animals exist in a state of institutionalized silence: their suffering is hidden in slaughterhouses and laboratories, their voices are literally ignored, their deaths are unremarked. The politics of silence around animal exploitation maintains its continuation. Sor Juana's courageous speech teaches that breaking silence is a moral imperative. For animals, this means advocates must speak persistently against societal taboos around animal consumption and use. It means refusing the comfortable silence that allows exploitation to continue invisibly. Creating space for animal advocacy—even when it makes people uncomfortable—mirrors Sor Juana's refusal to remain silent about injustice. Her example shows that those who challenge power through speech face fierce opposition, yet such speech remains morally necessary and transforms what is possible to think and say.