I drew this a minute ago and realize I forgot to post it… anyway if you want to get my art with a guarantee I can’t forget to post it, check out my little Patreon. A lil warning college has been kicking my keister this semester, so I’ve had very little time for personal projects. Please be patient with me.
I follow lots of vegans on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr. Every day I am presented with articles and blogs about about being vegan, debates that go on within the community, recipes, book reviews, thought provoking quotes, photos that make my heart melt, and other photos that I can’t scroll past fast enough because they break my heart.
This week, I want to share with you two things that caught my eye this week that I hope that you will find interesting: a new book from Gary Francione, and an article on fat shaming in the vegan community.
The Morality of Eating Animals
I’m a big fan of Gary Francione. in addition to being a professor at Rutger’s University, Gary is also an animal activist, promoting non-violence and animal rights. He’s written seven books in total, the most recent Eat Like You Care: An Examination of the Morality of Eating Animals, was published in June. From the Amazon description of the book: “ Many of us are uneasy thinking about the animals who end up on our plates. We may have thought about stopping eating animal products but there are many excuses that have kept us from doing so. The authors explore the 30+ excuses they have heard as long-time vegans and address each one, showing why these excuses don’t work. Packed with clear, commonsense thinking on animal ethics, without jargon or complicated theory, this book will change the way you think about what you eat.”
I’ve purchased the book but haven’t yet read it. I’ll you know what I think in the coming weeks.
You can follow Gary on Facebook here, or on Twitter here. You can read more about Eat Like You Care here.
Fat Shaming in the Vegan Community
This could honestly be a blog post entirely on its own. I don’t consider fat shaming to be Ok under any circumstances. This week I found it particularly upsetting to read about vegans who thought “fat vegans” were sending a bad message for the movement, needed to exercise more self control, were poor role models, and not attractive enough to be effective animal advocates. Sigh.
The article that I read about fat shaming was from vegan blogger Gary Smith from The Thinking Vegan. Gary recently shared an article written by someone who experienced “fat phobia and sizism in a lot of vegan communities.” It was this article, when shared by Gary, that provoked some of the above responses. Gary has written numerous articles on fat shaming in the vegan community and I always appreciate his well thought out and sensible responses. In his most recent article, he makes the point that veganism isn’t a diet. It’s true. Being vegan isn’t about being skinny. It’s about rights for animals, and not eating animal products is just one way that vegans choose to not participate in animal exploitation.
There are lots of links to other articles discussing fat shaming in the vegan community within Gary’s article, and within the other articles that he links to.
Fat shaming is never Ok. Ever. Vegans come in all shapes and sizes. Can’t we just embrace who we are and extend kindness and compassion to all living beings - not just the animals, but to the humans, too?
You can follow The Thinking Vegan on Facebook here, and on Twitter here.
