A group of New Zealand vegans are taking their dietary choices to bed. In a brand-spanking new phenomenon being called "vegansexuality," some animal-friendly Kiwis are choosing "not to be sexually intimate with non-vegan partners whose bodies, they say, are made up of dead animals."
One vegan respondent from Christchurch said: "I believe we are what we consume, so I really struggle with bodily fluids, especially sexually."
Another Christchurch vegan said she found non-vegans attractive, but would not want to be physically close to them.
"I would not want to be intimate with someone whose body is literally made up from the bodies of others who have died for their sustenance," she said.
Okay, hang on just a minute, here. I'm a strict vegetarian—a vegan, for all intents and purposes (any animal products that make their way into my diet do so accidentally, at this point), and while I'm not too keen on swapping saliva with my boyfriend just after he's eaten a big, juicy burger, I find this vegansexuality thing to be verging on the absurd. Unless these vegansexuals are engaging in some kind of cannibalistic, Praying Mantis-inspired sex, I don't really see what the problem is. You're not eating your partner, are you? You're not wearing a jacket or a pair of shoes made out of your partner, right?
The revelation of this new little movement came through the research of Annie Potts, co-director of the New Zealand Centre for Human and Animal Studies at Canterbury University.
Cruelty-Free Consumption in New Zealand: A National Report on the Perspectives and Experiences of Vegetarians and other Ethical Consumers asked 157 people nationwide about everything from battery chickens to sexual preferences.
Many female respondents described being attracted to people who ate meat, but said they did not want to have sex with meat-eaters because their bodies were made up of animal carcasses.
"It's a whole new thing – I have not come across it before," said Potts.
Their bodies are made up of animal carcasses? That's just ridiculous. While I can understand being hesitant about romantic involvement with a meat-eater due to potential health issues like heart disease, hypertension, and colon cancer, viewing their bodies as "made up of animal carcasses" is taking it a bit far. I picture a zombie-like creature with a ham hock for a heart and chickens feet for eyes.
"When you are vegan or vegetarian, you are very aware that when people eat a meaty diet, they are kind of a graveyard for animals," she said.
"Sorry, I don't do the hot beef injection, but I do give great cabbage head."
StarBelliedBoy said:
If you occaionally eat meat, you are NOT A VEGAN.
Meat is not the only animal product. Some times things are unavoidable. Can I still be vegan if I occasionally eat food with non-vegan sugar? Veganism is an ideal. People (and the situations they find themselves in) are not perfect.
StarBelliedBoy said:
If you occaionally eat meat, you are NOT A VEGAN.
I know this is complicated stuff, but meat is not the only animal product. Some times things are unavoidable. Veganism is an ideal. People are not perfect.
No fucking kidding. But if you call yourself a vegan and you can't remember that those chicken quesadillas have meat in them, you're pretty much a poser, and you need to reevaluate you existence.
StarBelliedBoy said:
If you occaionally eat meat, you are NOT A VEGAN.
I know this is complicated stuff, but meat is not the only animal product. Some times things are unavoidable. Veganism is an ideal. People are not perfect.
No fucking kidding. But if you call yourself a vegan and you can't remember that those chicken quesadillas have meat in them, you're pretty much a poser, and you need to reevaluate you existence.
What you just said kind of contradicts yr earlier explanation of the extremism of veganism. You said they were extreme because you "have to put everything you eat under a microscope", but yr example is slipping by eating something named for the meat in it?
StarBelliedBoy said:
No fucking kidding. But if you call yourself a vegan and you can't remember that those chicken quesadillas have meat in them, you're pretty much a poser, and you need to reevaluate you existence.
My apologies, I missed the part where someone said you could occasionally eat meat and still be a vegan. Probably because it did not happen.
Vestril said:
A lot of people worship a corpse nailed to a stick, so I guess I can't find it in me to be bothered overmuch by these peoples wacky ideas.
Actually, it's someone that's human yet Divine that rose from the Dead after being nailed to a stick that is worshipped.
Cigarette said:
I fail to see how veganism is particularly extreme. Hell, if it's the prime mode of nutrition for most of the animal kingdom, seems pretty reasonable to me.
You pretty much have to put everything you eat under a microscope and your diet is severely restricted. How is that not extreme?
As far as I know, "veganism" doesn't necessarily involve an uncompromising orthodoxy in making sure one is not consuming animal products.
Yea, I'm pretty sure that is what it means. As long as there's the concept of vegan sugar and vegan beer, then it's pretty darned uncompromising.
Right, and there are also pacifists who would not strike someone even in self defense, but that doesn't make that the definition of pacifism.
Yes, veganism is a fuzzy set just like any other -ism. Yes, some vegans won't eat honey and another one might. But we're not talking about those people. We're talking about people who decided to be vegansexuals. These aren't your moderate, leavened bread eating and isinglass beer drinking vegans vegans; theese guys are from the extreme side of veganism. You can tell, because they've gone another step further than even those already extreme ones.
apesamongus said:
Yes, veganism is a fuzzy set just like any other -ism. Yes, some vegans won't eat honey and another one might. But we're not talking about those people. We're talking about people who decided to be vegansexuals. These aren't your moderate, leavened bread eating and isinglass beer drinking vegans vegans; theese guys are from the extreme side of veganism. You can tell, because they've gone another step further than even those already extreme ones.
My head is spinning. Here's what I hear from you:
You: This is even extremer than the already extreme veganism.
Me: I don't think veganism is extreme.
Starbelliedboy: Such and such a reason.
Me: Rebuttal.
You: Veganism is extreme. Look at this obtuse example.
Me: Yr analogy doesn't hold up.
You: Yr right. Vegans aren't necessarily extreme despite what I said before. These guys are, though, because they're extremer than extreme vegans.
Then I am confused as to how you got from what I wrote to what you wrote, as they have nothing to do with one another.
Because the existence (or even the concept) of vegan sugar (or beer) does not make it a categorical imperative that you only ever use vegan sugar or run the risk of mythical expulsion. Is it preferable? Yes.
"Vegansexuals are people who do not eat any meat or animal products, and who choose not to be sexually intimate with non-vegan partners whose bodies, they say, are made up of dead animals.
The co-director of the New Zealand Centre for Human and Animal Studies at Canterbury University, Annie Potts, said she coined the term after doing research on the lives of "cruelty-free consumers". "
The researcher coined the term. Nowhere in the article does it say that any vegans are running around calling themselves "vegansexual". This is not some new movement, or group of people calling themselves "vegansexuals". In fact, the vegan couple pictured alongside the article say that they would NOT call themselves "vegansexual". It's no differant then someone not sleeping with someone else because of their beliefs, whether it be religion, drugs, alcohol, cigerettes, or whatever that person puts value on in their life.
Then I am confused as to how you got from what I wrote to what you wrote, as they have nothing to do with one another.
Because the existence (or even the concept) of vegan sugar (or beer) does not make it a categorical imperative that you only ever use vegan sugar or run the risk of mythical expulsion. Is it preferable? Yes.
Then it doesn't sound like that person is much of a vegan. If it's against your (generic "your") definition of veganism to not eat whatever and you do, then you are no more a vegan than some guy who eats a cheeseburger.
apesamongus said:
Yes, veganism is a fuzzy set just like any other -ism. Yes, some vegans won't eat honey and another one might. But we're not talking about those people. We're talking about people who decided to be vegansexuals. These aren't your moderate, leavened bread eating and isinglass beer drinking vegans vegans; theese guys are from the extreme side of veganism. You can tell, because they've gone another step further than even those already extreme ones.
My head is spinning. Here's what I hear from you:
You: This is even extremer than the already extreme veganism.
Me: I don't think veganism is extreme.
Starbelliedboy: Such and such a reason.
Me: Rebuttal.
You: Veganism is extreme. Look at this obtuse example.
Me: Yr analogy doesn't hold up.
You: Yr right. Vegans aren't necessarily extreme despite what I said before. These guys are, though, because they're extremer than extreme vegans.
Look, I'm just trying to avoid borderline cases. I'd say that even loose vegans are sort of extreme, but that would require more discussion as it is borderline. But since I don't need to say that to make my point, I tried to avoid it.
Even if sorta-kinda, I-still-eat-honey vegans aren't extreme (an idea I don't agree with, but I will concede for the sake of this argument), their vegan sugar eating brethren are. They're extreme for exactly the reason mentioned above - the whole "food under a microscope" thing.
apesamongus said:
Then it doesn't sound like that person is much of a vegan. If it's against your (generic "your") definition of veganism to not eat whatever and you do, then you are no more a vegan than some guy who eats a cheeseburger.
This is beyond ridiculous. I know you want it to make sense that a person who breaks down and consumes one of the 99.9% of products that contain non-vegan sugar rather than starve or go thirsty is no different than you eating a cheeseburger, but it does not. The day that the world revolves around a vegan diet (Or an all around vegan lifestyle beyond just diet) you may at least have a sliver of a point, but as it is pure veganism is an impossibility. Some times you will fail, whether by personal choice or circumstance. Vegans acknowledge this. Internet absolutists attempting to create some semantic maze to equate the inequitable, not so much.
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Comments
Westley
Vatican City
April 2004
AUG 07, 2007 05:30 PM
Westley
Vatican City
April 2004
AUG 07, 2007 05:42 PM
StarBelliedBoy
Philadelphia, PA
December 2003
AUG 07, 2007 05:50 PM
Cigarette
Cleveland, OH
April 2004
AUG 07, 2007 05:56 PM
Westley
Vatican City
April 2004
AUG 07, 2007 05:59 PM
Chainlink
Key West, FL
August 2005
AUG 07, 2007 06:09 PM
apesamongus
Atlanta, GA
July 2002
AUG 07, 2007 06:25 PM
apesamongus
Atlanta, GA
July 2002
AUG 07, 2007 06:30 PM
Cigarette
Cleveland, OH
April 2004
AUG 07, 2007 06:43 PM
Westley
Vatican City
April 2004
AUG 07, 2007 06:46 PM
Joel_T
Springfield, IL
November 2006
AUG 07, 2007 06:52 PM
apesamongus
Atlanta, GA
July 2002
AUG 08, 2007 06:22 AM
apesamongus
Atlanta, GA
July 2002
AUG 08, 2007 06:29 AM
texasborn79
Lubbock, TX
October 2006
AUG 08, 2007 10:48 AM
Westley
Vatican City
April 2004
AUG 08, 2007 06:46 PM
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