Easygoing Speciesism. Calf Food.

Do you remember the fuss earlier this year when ice cream made from human milk was put on sale (see here)?

Some people were “disgusted” by the idea of consuming human baby food. Odd, isn’t it, the strength of a cultural norm that results in people being appalled by the very idea of ice cream made from milk from a human volunteer while milk taken by force from an abused cow who is repeatedly inseminated only to have her offspring taken from her is deemed “normal” and “natural.”

I was reminded of this news story today. Having marmalised both Boris Becker and Andy Roddick on Grand Slam Tennis (as one does), I was sat in the “victory bath” a little later listening to a BBC Radio 4 programme called Sarah Millican’s Support Group. During the show, the presenter asked audience members whether they had ever gotten the upper hand over a workplace bully.

One person said that she had on the grounds that she made a cup of “milky coffee” for a bullying nightshift supervisor. He drank the coffee and declared it good. She then told him the terrible secret; that the “milk” had run out, so she had used her initiative and substituted human breast milk.

She was asked how the man responded and she said he vomited, cue much merriment from the general audience.