Archive for the 'Veganism' Category

Unattainable perfection versus the attainable good: of cruelty, veganism, and the lamentable Wesley J. Smith

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by
Hugo Schwyzer
on July 24, 2008
in Animal Rights and Veganism
. 24 Comments

I’ve debated, over the last forty-eight hours, whether it was worth responding to this risible National Review article (is that a redundancy, I wonder?): Veganism is Murder. Wesley J. Smith, who is apparently writing a book about the animal rights movement, opines:

Listening to animal-rights activists bray on about the wrongness of slaughtering animals for food — summarized in their advocacy phrase “meat is murder” — one would think that the choice we have is between a diet in which animals are killed and a strictly vegan diet involving no animal deaths.

But life is never that simple: Plant agriculture results each year in the mass slaughter of countless animals, including rabbits, gophers, mice, birds, snakes, and other field creatures. These animals are killed during harvesting, and in the various mechanized farming processes that produce wheat, corn, rice, soybeans, and other staples of vegan diets. And that doesn’t include the countless rats and mice poisoned in grain elevators, or the animals that die from loss of habitat cleared for agricultural use.

Smith is hardly the first to point this out; indeed, serious environmentalists (Smith is neither) have gently made that case to some of the more naive members of the animal rights community. It’s absolutely true that no respirating, masticating, clothes-wearing consuming human can ever claim that the life they live is entirely free from the stain of death. Plant-based agriculture takes lives. A squirrel on the motorway can be crushed as easily by a Toyota Prius as by a Ford Expedition, and the chemicals released by companies making synthetic shoes can do nearly as much harm as is done by those who use real leather. No thoughtful, educated vegan believes the myth of his or her own absolute personal purity. We know, better than most folks, how complicit each of us is in the ongoing Great Crime that human beings are perpetuating against our fellow creatures. Continue reading ‘Unattainable perfection versus the attainable good: of cruelty, veganism, and the lamentable Wesley J. Smith’

Bumper stickers, license plate frames, and the importance of courteous driving

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on July 21, 2008
in Memories and Veganism
. 10 Comments

On the back of my Volvo, I have a license plate frame that says “Go Vegan.” I’ve never been a big fan of bumper stickers, but I usually have some sort of statement on the frame that surrounds the license. (My front frame is the standard Cal Alumni one, made of faux brass.)

I’m not a bad driver, but having a statement about veganism on my car makes me a better one. I know that there are others out there who connect the political messages on a car with the courtesy (or lack thereof) with which the car is driven. If I’m swerving all over the road and cutting people off, I know that it’s possible that someone will look at my plates, and, cursing under their breath, say “That vegan’s an idiot.” I doubt I’m going to win any converts to a plant-based diet solely by virtue of having this frame on a well-driven car, of course! But I know that when someone with a slogan on their vehicle has been particularly courteous towards me on the road, it affects — if only for a second — my feelings about the politics they’ve endorsed. If, say, someone with an NRA sticker ends up letting me into their lane, and we end up exchanging friendly waves, it helps lessen some of the antipathy I normally have towards the pistol-packing set.

Back when I was first getting sober, twenty years ago, I tooled around town in a beat-up Honda Accord. When I got my first thirty-day chip in my sobriety program (I got far too many of those), I went out and bought a little bumper sticker with the famous triangle inside a circle, symbolizing the Twelve Step program with which I was affiliated. I later got the diamond within a circle, which symbolized another program. I felt as if I was honoring the anonymity of the program while still sending a message; I know that when I was frustrated in traffic, it helped calm me down if I saw another car with one of “our” messages (One Day at a Time, Easy Does It, Live and Let Live) or the Triangle itself. And it helped me drive better, knowing that I was “representing” the program. My first sponsor told me “Your recovery will manifest in your driving”, and I kept that in mind.

So now I’m reppin’ the vegan life with all that it entails. And it carries with it a responsibility to be attentive and courteous.

How do you readers feel about messages on cars? Does how the car is driven connect with how you perceive the message on the bumper sticker or the plate?

Familiar faces

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on July 11, 2008
in Veganism
. 4 Comments

Some familiar faces profiled in this month’s issue of Good Medicine.

Cruelty-free means humans too: some thoughts on a more holistic veganism

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on July 2, 2008
in Animal Rights, Class, Food, Politics and Veganism
. 9 Comments

On some feminist blogs, there’s been good discussion about veganism and larger issues of race and class. Here’s Elle, BFP, and BFP again. The last of these posts deals with the much-ballyhooed “three-week vegan challenge” that Oprah Winfrey recently completed. There’s a lot of PETA-bashing that goes on, but that’s all-too-common on feminist websites, and I’m not interested in dredging up that old issue once more.

What is valuable in these posts is the discussion of whether or not veganism is, inherently, a cruelty-free lifestyle. Those of us who, like myself, don’t consume animal products in any form (food, clothing, etcetera) tend to describe our modus operandi as “cruelty-free.” When my wife and I were buying our new cars, we went out of our way to special order vehicles without any leather in the interiors whatsoever, a request that led to several months wait and not-inconsiderable expense. Of course, not only was our ability to make that choice rooted in privilege, in some sense it was imperfect — animal byproducts end up in tires and other places. We spoke to the car dealers about our desire to be “completely cruelty-free”, but we both knew as we did so we were pursuing an imperfectly attainable goal.

A vegan lifestyle, of course, doesn’t automatically mean an absence of connection to death. When even organic farms are tilled, little field mice are not infrequently cut to pieces. Most organic vegetables are grown with animal manure, usually collected from farms where animals are raised for meat. Trying to avoid all complicity with the machinery of death is, alas, nigh on impossible. Most vegans know all this, of course. They don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good, however, and with the limited options at their disposal, they seek to exercise the best possible choices available in any given situation, recognizing that few if any choices they do make will be truly “cruelty-free.” Continue reading ‘Cruelty-free means humans too: some thoughts on a more holistic veganism’

Dirty Harry, vegan

Published
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Hugo Schwyzer
on June 1, 2008
in Movies and Veganism
. 6 Comments

Taking a break from a day of exercise, errands, and watching the women’s college world series to note this surprise from an article about Clint Eastwood in this morning’s Times:

People ask him to autograph rifles, but Eastwood is no Charlton Heston. A vegan, he was distressed to hear Hillary Rodham Clinton boast recently about bagging a bird. “I was thinking: ‘The poor duck, what the hell did she do that for?’ I don’t go for hunting. I just don’t like killing creatures. Unless they’re trying to kill me. Then that would be fine.”

I had no idea — but I am delighted to discover — that the former mayor of my home town (for whom I did not vote) was a fellow vegan. PCRM, Farm Sanctuary or PETA need to sign Clint up pronto. I’m already imagining some terrific PSAs.

On a only distantly related note, I saw a bear on my trail run this morning; there are still a few left in the San Gabriels, but it is always a spine-tingling delight to come flying around a curve and see one of these magnificent creatures just yards away. It, uh, made my day.

Oprah, veganism, and the real inconvenient truth

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on May 22, 2008
in Environmentalism, Food and Veganism
. 15 Comments

It’s been a happy birthday so far. I admit I really appreciate Facebook, which I didn’t have for my last birthday — all the kind notes showing up on my “wall” make me very happy.

The vegan world has been abuzz with the news that Oprah Winfrey is on a 21-day cleanse, using only plant-based foods. The queen of all media is blogging about her experience here. I love what she says in her first entry:

Wow, wow, wow! I never imagined meatless meals could be so satisfying. I had been focused on what I had to give up—sugar, gluten, alcohol, meat, chicken, fish, eggs, cheese. “What’s left?” I thought. Apparently a lot. I can honestly say every meal was a surprise and a delight, beginning with breakfast—strawberry rhubarb wheat-free crepes.

Now, most vegans don’t go as far as Oprah’s going. I eat wheat and sugar everyday, and my wife likes a nice glass of wine quite regularly. Those of us in the animal rights community respect Oprah’s enormous cultural power; we know what she can do for books and presidential candidates. We also know that she’s been very candid about her many years of struggle with body image issues; the world has watched her weight fluctuate for two decades. Though veganism is much more than a weight-loss regimen (and indeed, there are plenty of plump vegans), I’m confident Oprah will be amazed by how much energy and “bounce” she has over the next seventeen days or so. Continue reading ‘Oprah, veganism, and the real inconvenient truth’

Hugo’s back pages: of charity galas, sophomoric cynicism, veganism, PETA, socks, and the very real sense that the world can be changed

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on May 19, 2008
in Age, Animal Rights, Veganism and Youth
. 9 Comments

I’m bleary-eyed at my desk this morning. United flight 33 from JFK to LAX landed at midnight, but it was just five or six hours ago that I finally got into bed. And today is my long day, one which will see me on campus thirteen hours. On the other hand, I am entirely the architect of my own adversity in this regard, so there will be no whining.

We were in New York this weekend to participate in Farm Sanctuary’s annual gala. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about our visit to the Orland farm; we had a very different but nearly-as-enriching experience in Manhattan.

I like events like this, and it’s not because I enjoy running around in black tie and getting goodie bags. (Okay, I do like both of those things, but in moderation.) What I find so exciting and inspiring is the chance to spend an evening in the presence of people with whom I share the same passionate commitments. As any vegan will tell you, spending a lot of time in debate and argument with folks who don’t share those same values can be exhausting and dispiriting. It’s the same thing with feminism, or any other ideological commitment that involves a holistic transformation of how one lives, thinks, acts, and consumes. Being in the presence of those who do what you do, and have often done it longer and more publicly, is galvanizing. Continue reading ‘Hugo’s back pages: of charity galas, sophomoric cynicism, veganism, PETA, socks, and the very real sense that the world can be changed’

Tender-hearted in Tehama County: a weekend at Farm Sanctuary

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on May 5, 2008
in Animal Rights, Traveling and Veganism
. 5 Comments

My wife and I spent the weekend up in Northern California. (Parenthetically, we really were in Northern California this time, up in Butte, Glenn, and Tehama counties. Like most southlanders, I tend to refer to the Bay Area as “Northern” California when that region is, clearly, closer to the center. My childhood homes in coastal Monterey and rural Alameda counties are almost as close to Mexico as they are to the Oregon border.)

We went up north to attend the spring hoe-down at Farm Sanctuary, which has rapidly become one of our favorite charities. I’ll get pictures up tonight or tomorrow of some of the pigs, geese, goats, sheep, turkeys, rabbits and cows with whom we bonded. We also got to meet vegan animal activists from all across the West, enjoy some delicious food, and hear some inspiring and moving speeches about the next steps for both Farm Sanctuary in particular and the animal rights movement in general. Continue reading ‘Tender-hearted in Tehama County: a weekend at Farm Sanctuary’

Buying my friend a filet: of veganism, Volvos, and the complexity of seeing every dollar as a vote

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on April 16, 2008
in Money and Veganism
. 25 Comments

Our Florida vacation continues apace. Tonight, we drove up to Fort Lauderdale to have dinner at Sublime, one of the most renowned purely vegan restaurants in the country. There’s nothing like being able to go somewhere new and know that every last thing on the menu is completely “safe”, with no dairy or eggs or honey or any other animal product. The food was exquisitely good.

Greater L.A. has far too few “high end” purely vegan restaurants. (Madeline’s Bistro is perhaps the one exception). San Francisco has the splendid Millenium, where I carbo-loaded for a marathon last summer. And next month, we’ll be checking out the renowned Candle 79 in New York. But we’ve had Sublime on the list for a while, and I am delighted we got to experience it tonight.

A friend of mine asked recently how I, as a vegan, felt paying for other’s meat. I do take friends and family to lunch from time to time, and we rarely get a chance to go somewhere vegan. I always order a strictly vegetarian meal, but many of those whom I care about don’t. Some of my friends and family will eat vegetarian out of respect for my values, but I never insist that they do so. Recently, my wife and I picked up the tab at a dinner where two of our companions ate filet with lobster — about as “un-vegan” a meal as you could get. We had invited these friends to dinner, and we had selected a restaurant with multiple options; as a result, we ended up spending our dollars for something we find morally repugnant. Continue reading ‘Buying my friend a filet: of veganism, Volvos, and the complexity of seeing every dollar as a vote’

Men, mortality, stewardship, love

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on January 2, 2008
in Age, Body, Family, Father, Favorite Posts 2008, Men and Masculinity and Veganism
. 8 Comments

It’s not a conducive time for posting ’round these parts. We leave for the Philippines on Saturday night; we’ll be back on Friday, January 11. I have lectures to prep and packing to do.

My father-in-law died early Sunday morning, and we have been busy with taking care of family and with funeral arrangements. Sunday afternoon, my wife and I spent several hours dealing with the cemetary, the mortuary, and all the minutiae that come with death. I’ve gotten too familiar lately with all the details that survivors cope with in the aftermath of a loved one’s passing.

My Dad died eighteen months ago, at 71. My father-in-law died three days ago at 63. Over and over again, the words “much too young” echo in my head. My father’s father died at only 44 (in a car accident); my mother’s father died at 62. Both of my wife’s grandfathers died relatively young as well. Though the causes were all different, we both come from families where there are plenty of older women — and too few older men. The statisticians tell me that men in America and Europe should live to see at least 72, but for my wife and for me, neither our fathers nor any one of our four grandfathers made it to that age. Meanwhile, all four of our grandmothers made it to at least 80, and most well beyond.

So in addition to the grief over losing a loved one, I’m feeling this week an acute sense of fragility. Some of that is just the reminder — of the sort we always get when we’re confronted with death — of our own mortality. But in my personal experience (and the experience of my family), dying “too young” is a largely male phenomenon. Though some of these deaths were due to poor lifestyle choices, the emotional impression I am left with is that men are somehow more vulnerable than women. Continue reading ‘Men, mortality, stewardship, love’

Sex worker bodies, farm worker bodies: a musing on agriculture, porn, and cheap grace

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on December 7, 2007
in Class, Food, Money, Porn, Veganism and Working
. 35 Comments

In the midst of the latest round of debates over sex here in the progressive blogosphere, I was struck by BrownFemiPower’s post about the kinds of oppression we sometimes ignore in our eagerness to focus on pornography.

I’m very very *very* tired of how sex work is framed as a labor issue by many anti-pornography activists–they chronically insist that porn is the worst worst worst job ever because it hurts females.

I hear this logic, and all I can think is, “Really?”

I’ve known women who have had to work 12-15 (or more) hours a day in 100+ degree heat with no breaks for water and no place to pee (I was one of those women). I’ve known women who have had to work on their knees the entire 12-15 hour shift (or in a squatting position), with a bag that digs into their backs and can carry 20-25 pounds of vegetables or fruits. I’ve known women who can not kneel at mass because their knees are so shot from the hard labor they’ve done most of their lives. I’ve known women who have worked in the fields since they were five or six. I’ve seen pregnant women, elderly women, young girls, disabled women all forced to walk up to two miles (after 12 or 15 hour days) to get back to their cars so they can go home.

I know women are being exposed to some of the most dangerous chemicals known to mankind. I know young girls are working in fields rather than going to school because their mothers aren’t being paid enough for the job that they do. I know women are being locked up and only allowed to leave the farms for up to two hours a week. I know women are working for wages that have not increased in 27 years. I know women who go to company doctors after exposure to pesticide clouds are being told that they have ‘female problems’ (rather than pesticide poisoning). I know women are giving birth to babies that die because of pesticide exposure. I know women are out digging ditches 20 days after they give birth. I know women are being sexually harassed by field bosses. I know young girls are being sexually harassed by field bosses. I know 90% of the female farmworkers in California say that sexual intimidation and harassment is a major problem at their jobs. I know women refer(ed) to a field in California as the “field of panties” because so many women were raped there. I know women are being threatened with guns by their field bosses.

At BFP’s, these last two paragraphs are filled with links that document what’s going on. Continue reading ‘Sex worker bodies, farm worker bodies: a musing on agriculture, porn, and cheap grace’

Evangelizing for the Animals

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on November 6, 2007
in Animal Rights, Christianity, Faith and Veganism
. 19 Comments

A happy story in the Los Angeles Times this morning: Evangelizing for the Animals.

On Wednesday, clergy from 20 faith traditions — including Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Pentecostal and Roman Catholic — will sign a statement declaring a moral duty to treat animals with respect. At a ceremony in Washington, they will call on all people of faith to stop wearing fur, reduce meat consumption, and buy only from farms with humane practices. The Best Friends Animal Society, which brought the group together, plans to recruit volunteers to bring that message into at least 2,000 congregations nationwide.

The evangelical community “is expanding its definition of values to include work on poverty and the environment. We hope to insert concern for animal welfare as well,” said Christine Gutleben, who directs the new “animals and religion” program at the Humane Society of the United States.

That program, funded at $400,000 a year, aims to persuade faith communities to take a series of small steps: offering a vegetarian entree at a fellowship meal, or insisting that the coffee cake set out on Sundays is made with free-range eggs.

The Humane Society is also seeking to enlist religious leaders in its political campaigns. In California, for instance, the group has been pushing a ballot measure to ban certain confinement systems for farm animals. Promotional ads show photos of hens in crowded cages and ask: “Is This Faithful Stewardship of God’s Creatures?”

I’m a member of the Christian Vegetarian Association, and they provide an excellent FAQ about issues of stewardship, dominion, and diet. I’m excited to see even some very conservative evangelicals (the Times article refers to Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University) becoming open to issues of conservation and justice for animals. While most traditional Christians are not willing to place animal life on par with human life, it is encouraging to see so many engaged in critical reflection about justice, compassion, and conservation. Real change often needs to happen incrementally, and evangelical openness to animal rights issues is an exciting first step.

My wife went from eating red meat to being completely vegan in the space of a weekend. Pun intended, she gave up a carnivorous lifestyle “cold-turkey.” I went more slowly, surrendering first red meat, then poultry, then fish, then dairy and eggs. (We’ve both felt terrific on our vegan diets, and my wife’s doctors assure her that she will be able to remain vegan throughout any future pregnancy and while nursing a future child.) Asking all Christians to consider veganism may be imposing too much too fast. Asking them to buy meat that has been raised and slaughtered humanely, asking them to include vegetarian and vegan options at social events, and asking church communities to reflect on good stewardship may be the best way to begin.

A helpful and little-known bible passage: Proverbs 12:10. Good people are good to their animals; the “good-hearted” bad people kick and abuse them. The Old Testament world had no concept of “pets” as we do; the animals referred to here are working animals, livestock. If you’re going to raise animals for slaughter, you are required to treate them with kindness. Making that biblically sound point is a vital part of the battle for the hearts, minds, and palates of Christians.

And the Times article contains a tidbit I didn’t know:

Before he became pope, Benedict XVI (then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) spoke against force-feeding geese to produce foie gras and packing hens so closely “that they become just caricatures of birds.”

Would that he had spoken on the matter ex cathedra. Perhaps soon.

Against “Bambi environmentalism”: a long post on hunting, veganism, cruelty, and the commitment to pleasure

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on October 10, 2007
in Animal Rights, Environmentalism, Favorite posts 2007 and Veganism
. 19 Comments

The latest issue of Sierra, the magazine for Sierra Club members, showed up in our mailbox on Saturday. One article in particular stood out: “Life Itself Is a Risky Process” , an interview with Mary Zeiss Stange, professor of religon and women’s studies at Skidmore College. Stange is a feminist, an environmentalist …and an avid hunter. When she’s not teaching at Skidmore, she and her husband run a bison ranch in Montana.

It’s an interesting interview. Take Stange’s views on women and hunting:

Sierra: How do you explain the differences between men’s and women’s approaches to hunting?

Stange: Even before I became a hunter, I was fascinated by the Greek goddess Artemis, whom the Romans called Diana. One thing that struck me was that the goddess of hunting is also the goddess of childbirth. What do taking life and giving birth have to do with each other? They put you immediately in touch with the fact that everything that lives does so because other things die. Life itself is a risky process. Certainly one of those moments is childbirth. Another is the decision to take the life of a big, beautiful, sentient animal so that you can feed yourself and your family.

Stange gets point for candor, and of course, that last sentence (bold emphasis mine) left me indignant. It’s true that death and life are woven together, and that the survival of many creatures is contingent on their ability to kill and consume other living beings. But the fact that death is inevitable and, in some instances in the animal world, crucial for the survival of species, doesn’t mean that those creatures who have free will and have the means to exercise it shouldn’t do all in their power to struggle to minimize death. Stange and her family don’t need to live off the flesh of another sentient creature. For a 21st century middle-class American, the killing of living beings isn’t a survival imperative — it’s a decision to which there are legitimate alternatives. To pretend otherwise is foolish and cruel. Continue reading ‘Against “Bambi environmentalism”: a long post on hunting, veganism, cruelty, and the commitment to pleasure’

Three favorite vegan places in Los Angeles — and the Saturday Random Ten

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on August 11, 2007
in Friday Random Ten and Veganism
. 0 Comments

My current top three favorite places to get great vegan food in Los Angeles:

1. Rahel Ethiopian Veggie Cuisine, 1047 South Fairfax (in the heart of Little Ethiopia). If I had to spend the rest of my life subsisting on one kind of food, it would be Ethiopian. My wife and I are on the Westside a lot, and eat here at least two or three times a month for either lunch or dinner.

2. Madeleine’s Bistro, 18621 Ventura Blvd, Tarzana. It’s a schlep out to the deepest, darkest part of the West Valley, but it’s worth the drive. Easily the most elegant vegan restaurant in greater Los Angeles; lots of good vegan wines as well, or so my wife tells me. I just have a Virgil’s in a chilled glass. (And yes, thanks to the animal fats used to coat casks, not all wines are vegan.)

3. Fattys Cafe, 1627 Colorado Blvd, Eagle Rock. For those of us in Pasadena, this is much closer than the first two; it’s a quirky, fun place in the up-and-coming Eagle Rock district near Occidental College. Unlike my first two choices on this list, it’s not pure vegan at Fattys — but most dishes can be made “strictly vegan”, and they’ve got some really interesting things on the menu. We come here a lot.

All three restaurants are highly recommended.

And a day late, the Saturday Random Ten:

1. “Ain’t Talkin’ About Love”, Van Halen
2. “Someday, Someway”, Marshall Crenshaw
3. “Wreck of the Day”, Anna Nalick
4. “Mandolin Rain”, Bruce Hornsby and the Range
5. “Samson”, Regina Spektor
6. “Runaway Train”, Rosanne Cash
7. “The Cruel War”, Dolly Parton and Allison Krauss
8. “Up in Heaven” (Not Only Here), The Clash
9. “Oh my Sweet Carolina”, Ryan Adams
10. “Clear as a Bell”, Rosie Thomas

Bonus Track: “Tuesday’s Gone”, Lynyrd Skynyrd

The Times on meat and dating

Published
by
Hugo Schwyzer
on August 9, 2007
in Food, Relationships and Veganism
. 34 Comments

Here’s a New York Times article guaranteed to make this vegan feminist groan: Be Yourselves, Girls, Order the Rib-Eye. (H/T: Feministing)

It begins:

MARTHA FLACH mentioned meat twice in her Match.com profile: “I love architecture, The New Yorker, dogs … steak for two and the Sunday puzzle.”

She was seeking, she added, “a smart, funny, kind man who owns a suit (but isn’t one) … and loves red wine and a big steak.”

The repetition worked. On her first date with Austin Wilkie, they ate steak frites. A year later, after burgers at the Corner Bistro in Greenwich Village, he proposed. This March, the rehearsal dinner was at Keens Steakhouse on West 36th Street, and the wedding menu included mini-cheeseburgers and more steak.

Ms. Wilkie was a vegetarian in her teens, and even wore a “Meat Is Murder” T-shirt. But by her 30s, she had started eating cow. By the time she placed the personal ad, she had come to realize that ordering steak on a first date had the potential to sate appetites not only of the stomach but of the heart.

Red meat sent a message that she was “unpretentious and down to earth and unneurotic,” she said, “that I’m not obsessed with my weight even though I’m thin, and I don’t have any food issues.” She added, “In terms of the burgers, it said I’m a cheap date, low maintenance.”

Yikes.

One serious problem in talking about veganism/vegetarianism in a feminist context is that so many people associate not eating animal products with the desperate attempt to conform to an ideal of thin-ness. Those of us who embraced vegan living out of a desire to live cruelty-free are keenly aware that there is a lamentable perception that others, particularly women, use the vegan label to mask an eating disorder. As is often pointed out, it may seem more socially acceptable for an already slender woman to say “Oh, I don’t eat meat or cheese, I’m a vegan” than for her to say “Oh, I’m on a diet.” The former suggests a commitment to justice and kindness; the latter suggests self-absorption and narcissism.

Of course, the reverse is also true, as the Times article suggests. If a popular perception develops that vegetarianism/veganism is simply a socially acceptable way of masking an eating disorder, than being an enthusiastic carnivore becomes a clever way to announce (like Mrs. Wilkie) that you’re “unneurotic.” It also subtly suggests a strong libido. There’s a strong (and may I say, as a vegan man married to a vegan woman, utterly false) perception that a woman with a strong appetite for steak may also have a stronger appetite for sex than a woman who avoids meat altogether. (Some Victorians certainly believed this, and discouraged female carniverousness for reasons that had damn all to do with animal rights.)

For those of us committed to gender justice and to animal rights, the challenge is to make the case that veganism has nothing to do with neurotic self-denial. We do need to do a better job (I know I need to do a MUCH better job) of making the case that living a life without consuming animal products can be a life filled with pleasure, delight, fulfillment. My own character runs to the Puritanical side these days, but I know plenty of vegans who are, as Martha Flach Wilkie claims to be, “unpretentious and down to earth and unneurotic.” It is possible to be very interested in the “pleasures of the flesh” while being firmly committed to not eating animals. The “female carnivore = sexy” trope is a false one.

The article notes that for some women

…especially those who are thin, say ordering a salad displays an unappealing mousiness.

“It seems wimpy, insipid, childish,” said Michelle Heller, 34, a copy editor at TV Guide. “I don’t want to be considered vapid and uninteresting.”

My wife is a salsa dancing, weight-lifting, Pinot-drinking, kick-boxing force of nature. There’s not a self-denying bone in her body; she does not share my censorious, neo-Calvinist outlook on the world. Her appetite for life and its pleasures is immense; it awes me and inspires me everyday. And though she was a carnivore for years and years, she joined me in a vegan commitment at the beginning of 2007. She’s loud and proud and unpretentious — and she’s living and eating cruelty-free. She’s the epitome of a healthy, happy, hedonistic vegan, and if there are two things she is most definitely not, it’s “vapid” and “uninteresting.”

Sigh.