“Can I be a Feminist Without Being Vegan?”
My answer may surprise you.
Many skeptics of xoxo vegan girl would believe that my answer to this question is a cut-and-dry “no.” However, that isn’t the case.
Not every single person on the planet can be vegan, nor would I expect them to be.
Taking a look at the Tanzanian tribe, the Hadza, members of this tribe survive off of their animal agriculture system and would perish without it. Their cattle can eat the grass of their land and be later killed for their meat. Since humans can not survive off of a grass diet, the cow serves the purpose of nourishment. Members of tribes and colonies outside of our more developed societies do not have the same resources or abilities that we do.
Those struggling with homelessness who receive their nutrients from food either donated to them or found in unsavory conditions (like the dumpster) do not have the same choices that we, the housed, do. The unhoused should take every opportunity to nourish their body with the resources they find.
A food desert is an urban area where many lower-income people live. They have access to unhealthy food like fast food and very few vegan options (rice and beans) and do not have the same luxuries the majority of the population takes for granted. Having a grocery store of any kind is a privilege; the southside of Chicago has only three. Veganism may not be possible for these individuals; that’s why it is crucial for those who can implement a vegan lifestyle to do so. The higher the demand for vegan options, the more producers (like those in food deserts) will provide.
Indigenous Peoples living on certain reservations are forced to endure extreme grocery prices. The cost to ship essential items like fruit, water, and peanut butter is so high that customers are forced to cough up over $16 for a bottle of ketchup. In these communities, hunting and fishing are necessary for the community’s survival. Due to the climate, the land is often not suitable for crop agriculture, so creating gardens or animal-free farms is not a possibility.
Although I don’t agree with taking the life of a nonhuman animal for food, some people do not have a choice. We, as vegans, have to accept this fact. The overwhelming majority of the developed region’s population can be vegan, though, and we should focus our efforts there rather than worrying about people in tribes, colonies, Indigenous communities, and the unhoused doing what they need to survive.
When it comes to people in situations where veganism is not possible, I wonder if social movements like Feminism are of genuine concern to them. Seemingly, those in these situations are more worried about their survival and not different philosophical or moral dilemmas that have arisen based on modern and developed society. This is not to say that these individuals are incapable of pondering these theories, but that they may not have the luxury of dissecting ethical conversations; they are more concerned with where their next meal will come from or if it will come at all. The dilemma for these individuals is most likely not what they are consuming but if they will be consuming anything at all.
The only way I could see a nonvegan as a feminist would be if the individual in question lived off the land and hunted all of their own nonhuman animals for meat. Consuming animal flesh is not gender/sex-specific, whereas the consumption or use of animal byproducts, like milk and eggs, is. This individual would have to abstain from purchasing anything nonvegan, and if they insisted on utilizing nonhuman animals as commodities, they would have to hunt in a way that was equal between the sexes of the nonhuman animals. The individual would have to keep a tally of the sexes of the animals they were hunting to ensure they were not hunting one sex more than the other. The individual would also not be able to create a nonhuman animal farm as that would result in the enslavement and systematic commodification of female nonhuman animals as the females would be used as reproductive machines, unequal to their male counterparts.
However, Feminism is deeply concerned with the concept of consent. Just as a child, someone with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome, or a severely mentally disabled person can not consent, neither can nonhuman animals. If a nonhuman animal can not consent to be killed, how is their killing justified, especially from a feministic point of view? If a nonhuman animal can not consent to being artificially inseminated, how is the act justified, especially from a feministic point of view? If a nonhuman animal can not consent to being consumed, used, or exploited, how can those actions be justified, especially from a feministic point of view? Even in the case of the hunter living off the land, as described in my thought experiment, the hunter still lacks the animal’s consent to be hunted, therefore making the act of hunting nonconsensual and anti-feminist.
6.1% of Americans live in food deserts, 2.6% of the US population are Indigenous, and of that 2.6%, less than 15% of those people live on reservations, and 0.2% of the US population is homeless. Chances are, if you are reading this, you have a smartphone or computer, access to data or wifi, and the ability to afford to pay for those luxuries. Chances are you are employed or receive income, have a roof over your head, and have an accessible and healthy grocery store within a short distance or the ability to order groceries online and have them delivered.
If not, as honored as I am that you are reading my blog, I believe there are larger things to worry about that directly affect you rather than reading the philosophy blog of a young journalism major.
Suppose I was correct in my hypothesis of your current situation, and you have the privilege of concerning yourself with one moral dilemma. In that case, you can take on another. If you can fight for the equality of human females (and all humans), you can also fight for the equality of nonhuman females (and all animals).
Feminism doesn’t require a sacrifice. Feminism is a philosophy that doesn’t really have a guidebook or rules. Most self-proclaimed feminists aren’t activists; they don’t change what they wear or what they eat or attend protests; they merely change their mindset. Feminism is simply an attitude that requires nothing more than wanting equality for all genders. Some feminists may change where they shop and what they wear or choose only to support woman-owned businesses (which is great), but not all feminists do, nor is it required to call yourself a feminist.
Veganism does require a lifestyle change. It requires a new philosophy based on equality and anti-speciesism. Through this philosophy, you see how inhumane and unnecessary the industries that profit from animal abuse really are. You open your eyes, take a deep breath, and learn the truth. You take that knowledge and apply it to your life, all for the betterment of humankind and animalkind.
The animal agriculture industry and other industries that profit from animal abuse profit off the backs of mistreated human minorities. To learn more about how women in the animal agriculture industry are brutalized, read “The Horrors of Women in the Animal Agriculture Industry.” To learn more about how racist slaughterhouses are, read “The Racism Within Slaughterhouse Walls.”
So, to answer the big question, “Can I be a feminist without being vegan?” my answer is no. If you have the ability to be a feminist, you have the ability to be vegan; therefore, you have the moral obligation of veganism. Feminism without veganism is speciesist, sectional, and nonconsensual. Feminism should include all women, regardless of species.
“If we have the ability to do better, why wouldn’t we?”
-xoxo vegan girl
