Sympathy, Empathy, and the Plight of Animals on Factory Farms

Abstract

Are sympathy and empathy important indicators as to who is likely to join the anti-factory farming movement? Are female animal rights activists more likely than male activists to be sympathetic or empathetic toward animals in factory farms or are both genders about the same? Do male activists sympathize or empathize with factory farm animals differently than female activists do? These are important questions for understanding involvement in animal rights groups. In order to answer these questions, a survey that dealt with attitudes toward factory farming was administered to animal rights activists that attended a 2008 animal rights convention in the Washington, dc, area. The results of this survey provided an opportunity to see if feminist theories of sympathy and empathy are useful in explaining gender differences.