First, I’m vegan, so this really piqued my interest right away, but the shit has hit the fan at Feministing.
Samhita’s post about veganism has certainly generated a lot of heat. Now, the comments are mostly off-topic, but I’ll get to that later.
I’m not so sure I agree that there is necessarily a tension between feminism and veganism, though. I agree with Samhita in that people might choose to become a vegan for the “wrong” reasons (to lose weight), but I honestly don’t see how this is in conflict with feminism.
Now, the book she brings up, well, does create conflict, and the points she brings up about it are valid. Her error, though, lies in that she blames this on veganism as a whole. This, to me, is similar to blaming environmentalism on the whole for sexism like this. It just doesn’t follow.
That aside, I’m going to go off on a tangent and conclude there. Something that has always put me off of discussions on the Internet, or even pursuing my feminism here, is that there is so much needless hostility. You know what I’m talking about and there are plenty of examples to go around in the comments for Samhita’s post. Is this really necessary? I’m reading Muscio’s Cunt right now, and her chapter, “Acrimony of Cunts”, really hits something, I think. I mean, I think there’s more to it than what she says, but it’s a start. Nevertheless, we need to get over ourselves, myself definitely included (I fit the angry, man-hating feminist stereotype more than any female feminist I know). This hostility towards each other doesn’t just magically appear once we log on to our computers. It’s no good. I’ve said this before, elsewhere, but we’re not going to get the success we need until we learn to accept and deal with our differences. None of this “you’re not a feminist, because…” BS.
I’ll admit, it does become difficult once you bring in something like veganism. I’ll be straight-up honest, here. Consuming meat that comes from factory farms is, without a doubt, unethical. The inhumane conditions the animals are brought up and slaughtered in are terrible and in an ideal world, no one would support it. We don’t live in an ideal world, though. Meat produced from factory farms is convenient. It’s relatively cheap. It’s easy. And a lot of people don’t have much time, money, and so on. So while I do believe it’s immoral, I’m quick to lay the blame on the way our society is structured, rather than point my finger at every meat-eater. There are other issues at hand, but I really don’t want to get into them now. I’ll just say that while there are many more moral dilemmas regarding meat production, I’m quite satisfied enough if people make an effort to not buy meat from factory farms. But enough on that. Vegan/vegetarian feminists need to accept other people’s choice in lifestyle more easily. Meat-eating feminists need to do the same. We need to stop getting so pissed off at each other all the time. There will always be differences and we’re not going to be as strong as we can be until we get over them. It’s really disheartening to see so much bitterness between people who share a common goal.
I wish I had a solution for this. I wish I could, with the wave of my hand, make all of the quarreling disappear. I’ll just ask you, the readers, to please not contribute to fighting like this. Argue, sure. If someone offends us, we need to let it be known and leave it at that. We need to be careful when discussing certain matters, without a doubt. There are really so many things I could add but I’ll leave it at that.
Feel free to leave any thoughts on the issue. If you really feel compelled, you can bring up an argument against vegetarianism/veganism or anything, all I ask is that you be respectful. I’m sure I’ll write more on it in the future, as it’s such a big part of my life.
Posted by Derek
