Sharing vegan food with family members will not only increase their familiarity with that food; it also creates positive associations with veganism and hopefully reduces any tension.
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Appropriating Anti-Slavery Abolitionism in Anti-Speciesism Claimsmaking
Human and nonhuman abolitionist movements, despite their similarities, remain two distinct movements, each with unique social, political, economic, and historical circumstances.
Continue readingWhat Adoption Discrimination Tells Us about Human/Nonhuman Intersections
Through primary socialization, humans are taught to understand, engage with, and fill various social roles as necessary for participation in society. Nonhuman Animals living in or around human societies are often folded into this socialization process. Socially constructed identities may be projected onto other animals and this can lead to considerable stigma for humans and other animals alike. The politics of “pet” adoption illustrate this.
Continue readingA Critique of Open Rescues
Open rescues, although exciting and heroic, unfortunately maintain the system as it is. This tactic therefore protects the interests of conservative foundations that maintain most grant monies. Open rescues also give non-profits something to write about and fund-raise behind.
Continue readingHeganism is Sexist
Aggravating sexist understandings of Nonhuman Animal rights advocacy can only encumber efforts to achieve Nonhuman Animal liberation. Heganism works to assuage fragile masculinity to encourage men’s participation. In doing so, however, it reinforces the notion that veganism is essentially “for women” and that men will be stigmatized if they participate without veganism being explicitly defeminized. The otherizing of women, however, is exactly the type of otherization that sustains speciesism. Hierarchies must be dismantled, woman-hating must be challenged, and all persons–be they men, women, human, or nonhuman–should be acknowledged as sentient beings worthy of equal moral consideration.
Continue readingUn-naming the Enslaved: Names, Identity, & Speciesism
Names are more than personal identifiers. They are also symbolic representations of personhood. Witholding names from individuals has been an important ideological tool of oppression.
Continue readingRape as an Anti-Speciesism Tactic and the Vegan Male Discourse
Can analogies be helpful for advancing anti-speciesism? Sometimes. Capitalizing on rape culture to scare women into compliance is cruel, however. I cannot imagine how that would be psychologically persuasive, only traumatizing.
Continue readingScience was a Founding Principle of the Vegan Movement
A century ago, vegan founders warned that a disregard for science would imperil the movement’s effectiveness. “Veganism has everything to gain by a wholehearted scientific attitude, and everything to lose by an unscientific approach,” one such leader concludes. Has the modern vegan movement heeded the warning?
Continue readingNeuroscience Explains Vegan Commitment to Nonvegan Companies
For some years now, I have been outspoken in my criticism against LUSH Cosmetics. LUSH is a purveyor of premium bath and body products, and it regularly engages in misogynistic stunts to promote them. With every renewedContinue reading
Explorers Race to the Poles, Animals Lose
The exploitation of Nonhuman Animals was central to the polar explorations. Nonhuman Animals often comprised their clothing. Countless Nonhuman Animals were killed and rendered, potted, and otherwise preserved for the supplies picked up in nearby ports or donated by advertisers sponsoring the expeditions.
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