Vegan Feminism

[VeganFeminism]

Hello all,

I have recently written about the connection between vegan feminism and gender critical feminism. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to give me some feedback on it? I am new to writing, so I'd appreciated any feedback at all.

medium.com/@thisveganfeminist/the-terf-war-where-do-vegan-feminists-stand-161b01286f3e

I like it. I am not vegetarian, mostly because having breastfed I now think the dairy industry is similarly cruel and I'd feel hypocritical. I try to eat minimal amounts of organic meat and dairy.

The one thing I'm not sure about is the female cows = meat bit. Male cows are just killed at birth, which is not a great outcome for them either. I think the issue is cows=food, not female cows = food.

But I do find it odd that a movement that doesn't consume specifically female produced food stuff (eggs and milk) on ethical grounds, doesn't recognise "female" in humans

I do find it curious that a category of 'veganism feminism' seems to have arisen in recent times.

As a vegetarian, and sometimes vegan, of 40 years standing it was always obvious that exploitation of animals was linked to wider exploitation of the planet, women and also human beings generally.

As a female of the species I've always felt a certain sense of 'sisterhood' with females of other species, especially mammals; but with just other sentient beings full stop.

I'd never have thought to categorise it in such a way, though. What gave rise to that, I wonder? Does it arise out of the seemingly endless categorisations of inte-sectionality? A more holistic sense of the world seems to have become somewhat lost in a series of ever more finely tuned gradations of oppression.

but also with other sentient beings, full stop

There is a FILIA podcast about this.

Don't know how to link properly, sorry:

filia.org.uk/podcasts/2018/10/8/filia-meets-carol-j-adams-filia-speaker-and-aurhor

I keep meaning to read up more on eco-feminism as a whole because it is very interesting. I see it as more holistic rather than intersectional?

Thanks for the comments. I'm new to this, so I massively appreciate any feedback.

Just for a different opinion, I wonder if veganism may just as easily go hand in hand with genderism - as belief in a ‘gendered soul’ separate from the physical body, might easily follow on to the idea of animals having souls too. In some ways, gender critical thinkers may be more inclined to categorise men and women as sex classes and animals as food species, based on biology/anthropology rather than an emotional/anthropomorphic approach. How many times on here do we hear “farmers know which bovines to milk” etc - and that Arla thread was a busy one

It all feels a bit spurious to me.

Yeah, me too. Certainly it's silly that anyone who has an understanding of how the farming industry operates can not believe in biological sex, but I think the rest of the parallels fell a bit forced.

Arguments for veganism do need, like any political or welfare argument, to be based on facts, or they fall apart.

I wonder if veganism may just as easily go hand in hand with genderism

I know some self-identified vegans for whom the attractions of veganism seems very similar to the attrations of genderism: virtue signalling, berating others, belonging to a special group. They make the most spurious arguments and have not interest in actually understanding the farming industry.

Obviously NAVALT.

I agree inasmuch as it's absurd to recognise oppression of female animals whilst pretending that female humans don't even exist.
However I prefer to keep my veganism separate to feminist activism. I don't see them as integral to each other though they do both stem from my ethical principles.
I don't like political vegans. I have joined a vegan radfem group but I didn't connect with any of them really - it was very focused on calling out misogynist prominent male vegans.

I've been vegetarian and had spells of veganism for 45 years. I've actually found myself turned off veganism in recent years for several reasons.

I see a number of young women around me who use veganism as a way of maintaining a low body weight. I can think of two in particular for whom healthy eating and veganism have supported anorexia. I think it's a complicated subject, but in some cases veganism can be a way of being thin and observing society's expectations of how women can look. And of course some people are naturally slim without dieting and without being anorexic, and some vegans aren't slim, and that is all absolutely fine.

I went to a vegan food festival with talks a few years ago and had to leave early because it revealed a kind of fascism — including suggestions that people who ate meat deserved to be killed — that reminded me very strongly of TERF rhetoric. Most of the speakers were male and there was the kind of 'if you're not totally with us you're against us' emphasis that scared me.

I also agree with whoever said that some of the worst attributes of veganism match those of genderism. For some people it's about being green, trying not to cause unavoidable harm and suffering in the world. For others it's about rebelling, being special, being better, getting attention. That's why it's hand-in-hand with genderism.

And again, NAVALT.

Hmmm. Interesting, need to log and have time to think about this. As a definite feminist and a years long vegetarian moving ever closer to veganism, raising three teen feminists who are already vegans, thank you for the link. (Need more time to ponder, when I’m not batch cooking loads of vegan meals )