Vegan Sexuality: Challenging Heteronormative Masculinity through Meat-free Sex

Abstract

The terms 'vegansexuality' and 'vegansexuals' entered popular discourse following substantial media interest in a New Zealand-based academic study on ethical consumption that noted that some vegans engaged in sexual relationships and intimate partnerships only with other vegans. At this time it was suggested that a spectrum existed in relation to cruelty-free consumption and sexual relationships: at one end of this spectrum, a form of sexual preference influenced by veganism entailed an increased likelihood of sexual attraction towards those who shared similar beliefs regarding the exploitation of non-human animals; at the other end of the spectrum such a propensity might manifest as a strong sexual aversion to the bodies of those who consume meat and other animal products. The extensive media hype about (and public response to) vegansexuality was predominantly negative and derogatory towards 'vegansexuals' and vegans/vegetarians. A particular aggression was evident in online comments by those positioned as heterosexual meat-eating men. In this article we examine the hostile responses to vegansexuality and veganism posted by such men on internet news and journalism sites, personal blogs and chatrooms. We argue that the rhetoric associated with this backlash constructs vegansexuals -and vegans more generally -as (sexual) losers, cowards, deviants, failures and bigots. Furthermore, we suggest that the vigorous reactions of self-identified omnivorous men demonstrate how the notion of alternative sexual practices predicated on the refusal of meat culture radically challenges the powerful links between meat-eating, masculinity and virility in western societies.

Vegan Killjoys at the Table—Contesting Happiness and Negotiating Relationships with Food Practices

“…Listening to vegans talk about their narratives of transition better locates the practice within the ethical, political and relational complexity of everyday life providing lived knowledge that might not emerge from abstract philosophical discussion. This research is intended to contribute to the nascent scholarly consideration of the everyday lived realities of vegan practice (e.g., [16,17]). I pay special attention to the recursivity between vegan eating practice and social relationships.…”

“…These practices centred upon materialities associated with food and with the spatial micro-geographies of food storage and preparation. However, I ague that boundary practices constituted a continuum and in some cases spoke to a desire not of co-habitation but for a clearer separation from the omnivorous affective community, in the form, for example, of a desire for vegansexuality [16], only having a sexual partner who was also vegan. The following extracts present some examples firstly of boundary maintenance and co-habitation strategies-"In the house we had a very strict kind of separation of all of our cooking implements and he had his own frying pan and all that kind of thing and he tended not to cook anything that was smelly or smoky or anything like that.…”

“…Others were confident that their non-vegan partner would eventually become vegan. As an expression of preferring shared values in a lover vegansexuality [16] is not exactly surprising but it is of interest here for the attempt to create a safe separate space in which to construct an alternative vegan affective setting and potentially a broader vegan social community. Alongside the examples of co-existence several respondents expressed a strong preference for a vegan partner-"I've been on dates with people where at some point I've mentioned veganism and they're like 'Oh I could never do that, I just love meat too much', and that instantly kind of puts me off them a little bit.…”

Meat Culture

“…Texts published in the early 1990s problematizing the hegemony of meat-eating-such as Carol Adams' The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory and Nick Fiddes' Meat: A Natural Symbol-were pivotal in establishing and growing this new crossdisciplinary area of study. In the 25 or so years since these first publications emerged, scholars in the humanities and social sciences have continued to interrogate the various representations, meanings, practices, ethics, and modes of identity associated with meat production and consumption (and also its opposite, veg*nism).2 Attention has been directed to issues such as meat's portrayal in popular culture, including meat (and dairy) industry marketing and advertising (Adams 2003, Packwood Freeman 2009, Cole 2011, Pilgrim 2013, Taylor 2016; the gendered construction of meat consumption (and of animal slaughter) , Luke 2007, Potts & Parry 2010; the shifting technologies and capitalist economies connected to meat production, distribution and procurement (Noske 1989, Horowitz 2006, Marcus 2005, Twine 2010); the politics and ethics of selective breeding and genetic modification of 'farmed animals' , including the killing of infants born into but 'surplus' to the meat or dairy industries (Imhoff 2010); the suffering of animals contained in Concentrated Animal Feed Operations (CAFOS), as well as those born into free range farming situations (Eisnitz 2007, Foer 2010, Lappe 2010; and the environmental impacts of intensive farming (Twine 2010, Taylor 2012.…”

The Disruptive Potential of a Queer Vegan Praxis

“…An example of this is that heterosexual couples trying to conceive are often encouraged to get nutrients like calcium from milk, or protein from meat. Meanwhile, those who adhere to a vegan diet, especially heterosexual men, are cast as losers, cowards, deviants, and failures (Potts and Parry, 2010). While this linkage of meat eating to a heteronormative brand of masculinity is extremely helpful, especially in understanding how veganism can be used in terms of resisting that particular hegemony, Potts and Parry lack an extensive exploration of a queer approach as it relates to veganism.…”