What Creates a Vegan-Feminist?
An awakening, another individual, or perhaps a simple understanding.
Vegan-Feminism is a subset of the overall moral theories of Veganism and Feminism intertwined. Vegan-Feminism creates an authentic, honest, and moral individual who agrees that if mistreatment is wrong for one or some sentient species, it should be wrong for all. But what creates a Vegan-Feminist?
Is there a moral chain of events that takes place in order to awaken said individual to understand the correlation between non-human animal exploitation and human exploitation? Are there certain texts that must be analyzed before an individual can see the impact of the meat-eating and secretion-sucking patriarchy that abuses women, children, and non-human animals?
Non-human animals, Feminists, and even Vegans are not a monolith. Every individual, regardless of race, gender, moral belief, sexual preference, or even species, can not be lumped in the same sum and be labeled as thinking or behaving in the same way. We all have different experiences in life, and each experience should be valued and empathized with so long as these experiences do not cause unjustified or unnecessary harm to innocent sentient beings.
When we ask the question, “What Creates a Vegan-Feminist,” we must acknowledge that all Vegan-Feminists will have their own story of how they came to hold the beliefs they have, and that experience should be commended. Some will have felt compelled based on their belief in animal rights, others by their passion for women’s rights, and some simply see the hypocrisy in caring for one species while paying for the slaughter of others.
Many Vegan-Feminists, including myself, will have had a slew of lived experiences that led them to this moral philosophy and lifestyle. To learn about my journey, read “Why I Became a Vegan-Feminist.” These can include personal experiences with non-human animal suffering, domestic violence, racial inequality, gender inequality, and more.
Other Vegan-Feminists may have picked up their copy of The Sexual Politics of Meat by Carol J. Adams or any of her other amazing critical theories that have been available since the 1990’s.
Among the substantial number of experiences amid Vegan-Feminists, one variable remains the same: compassion. Compassion leads to self-evaluation and education.
All Vegan-Feminists have made the correlation between violence against women and violence against non-human animals. All Vegan-Feminists, unless Vegan-Feminist from birth, have decided to make an informed and educated adaption to their lifestyle. All Vegan-Feminists recognize that abuse, exploitation, oppression, and violence should not be forced or executed on any individual, regardless of species. This grounding in compassion creates a Vegan-Feminist.
