Defense of the Indefensible: Moral Advocacy Across Difference

Sor Juana defended women's intellectual capacities through her own brilliant example, yet she knew the limits of representation—that women needed to speak for themselves. Animal advocacy inherits this tension: humans must often speak for animals, yet this very necessity reflects power imbalances needing correction. This concept establishes ethical principles for moral advocacy across species difference: remaining humble about presumed knowledge, centering observable animal agency, resisting reduction of complex beings to sympathy-generating narratives, and working toward systems where animal interests are protected institutionally rather than depending on individual advocates' goodwill. Sor Juana's intellectual legacy teaches that true advocacy means dismantling the systems requiring advocacy—not just speaking for the voiceless but transforming the structure that silences them. For animals, this means moving beyond individual consumption choices toward systemic change.