Veganism is a threatening concept for those monied institutions which benefit from exploitation and support the third sector. “You don’t have to be vegan” is a means of depoliticizing veganism while also positioning it as congruent with consumerism favorable to capitalism.
Continue readingThe Only Vegan in the Department: Science, Anti-Veganism, and the Illusion of Objectivity
Weber reminds us that reality is more than the material–it is also found in shared subjective meanings. Objectivity, knowledge, facts, and truth are subsequently vulnerable to political maneuvering. If no science is value-free, what values will we apply? Values of violence or values of justice?
Continue readingThe Fetishization of “Animal-Friendly” Animal Products
The Body Shop, like LUSH, markets itself as a compassionate company while simultaneously profiting from the institutionalized exploitation and killing of Nonhuman Animals. Declaring to customers that non-vegan animal-based products “don’t harm the animals” is false advertising of the worst kind. As is the case with most capitalist enterprises that profit from the oppressed, The Body Shop banks on customers never questioning or thinking critically about their ethical claimsmaking. This false consciousness is buttressed by “cruelty-free” labeling and endorsement from large “animal rights” non-profits such as PETA. These charities have effectively socialized many customers that is okay to use, harm, and kill other animals as long as it is done “nicely.”
Continue readingWhy Real Vegans Don’t Wear “Leather”
“Leather” production is able to thrive because of our speciesist dietary choices, but also from the ideology of human supremacism that nonveganism psychologically maintains.
Continue readingPlant-based Catering at the University of Kent
As an institution where scientific research is conducted to influence policy, global relations, and public wellbeing, the University of Kent has a responsibility to lead by example. Sustainable campaigning taking place across campus demonstrates that many Kent students agree.
Continue readingCan We “Have Our Cow and Eat Her, Too?”
The weaponization fo science and naturalism to rank the worth of marginalized groups, dictate their moral worth, and control their lives (usually in highly exploitative ways) is a classic project of Western, white supremacist patriarchal colonial conquest. The entitlement to other living beings, both in reality and symbolically, should be challenged.
Continue readingPETA, Dahmer, and Intersectional Failure
In 2014, the home of infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer went on the market. This sale was understandably a contentious one. Seventeen boys and men, many of whom were children, gay, prostituted, and/or persons of color were raped, tortured, killed, and sometimes eaten by Dahmer at the site. Twenty-five years later, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) made a bid to purchase it.
Continue readingHow Do I Positively Engage My Non-Vegan Family?
Sharing vegan food with family members will not only increase their familiarity with that food; it also creates positive associations with veganism and hopefully reduces any tension.
Continue readingHeganism is Sexist
Aggravating sexist understandings of Nonhuman Animal rights advocacy can only encumber efforts to achieve Nonhuman Animal liberation. Heganism works to assuage fragile masculinity to encourage men’s participation. In doing so, however, it reinforces the notion that veganism is essentially “for women” and that men will be stigmatized if they participate without veganism being explicitly defeminized. The otherizing of women, however, is exactly the type of otherization that sustains speciesism. Hierarchies must be dismantled, woman-hating must be challenged, and all persons–be they men, women, human, or nonhuman–should be acknowledged as sentient beings worthy of equal moral consideration.
Continue readingScience was a Founding Principle of the Vegan Movement
A century ago, vegan founders warned that a disregard for science would imperil the movement’s effectiveness. “Veganism has everything to gain by a wholehearted scientific attitude, and everything to lose by an unscientific approach,” one such leader concludes. Has the modern vegan movement heeded the warning?
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