Vegan (pronounced vee-guhn or vey-guhn)
(1) A vegetarian who omits all animal products from their diet and does not use animal-based or sourced products such as leather or wool.
(2) Someone from Vega, towns in Scandinavia, the US or (mostly in fiction) other places so named.
(3) A collective name adopted in the 1980s by fans of the singer-songwriter, Suzanne Vega (b 1959).
1944: A modern English construct, veg (contraction of vegetable) + an, coined by Donald Watson (1910-2005) to distinguish those who abstain from all animal products (eggs, cheese, etc) from those who merely refuse to eat the animals. The -an suffix occurred originally in adjectives borrowed from Latin, formed from nouns denoting places (Roman; urban) or persons (Augustan) but now productively forms English adjectives by extension of the Latin pattern. The suffix an, and its variant ian also occurs in a set of personal nouns, mainly loanwords from French, denoting one who engages in, practices, or works with the referent of the base noun (historian; theologian); this usage especially productive with nouns ending in ic (electrician; logician; technician ). Vegan is a noun & adjective, vegansexual is a noun and veganism, vegansexualism & veganist are nouns; the noun plural is vegans.
Donald Watson was an English animal rights advocate who founded The Vegan Society in 1944. Although the actual establishment of the society was either 5 or 12 November (the records are contradictory), World Vegan Day is each year celebrated on 1 November. In 1984, a dissident faction broke from the group and formed The Movement for Compassionate Living and ever since, veganism has been a contested space, the factions including (1) radicals who pursue direct action against the slaughter industry and its customers, (2) purists who exclude to whatever extent possible the presence of animal products in their lives while variously tolerating, ignoring or disapproving of those who don't and (3), vegetarians who can't resist nice handbags and shoes. Latest vegan news here.
The Sexual Politics of Meat
Her most novel concept was the "absent referent", used to explain the consumption of meat and the objectification of women in pornography, the referent literally absent in the case of the life of the dismembered beast being consumed; metaphorically in the oppression of the life of the subjects of pornography. Adams constructed parallels within the patriarchal system, men’s sense of entitlement over animals similar to their varying expectations of the right to abuse, exploit, or degrade women in the use of their bodies. Structurally she noted, language is replete with terms and phrases which interchangeably can be used to describe either women or animals with a hierarchy of use based on speciesism depending on men’s perceptions of degrees of female attractiveness. All such use she claimed, regardless of how else it could be classified, is hate speech.
Most graphic was the notion of the pornography of meat which drew a visual comparison between meat advertised for sale on shelves and the portrayal of women in various media; two different forms of consumption which use the same techniques of production and distribution. Within the western consumer model, Adams found a construct of white male supremacy which relegated all others, different races, non-human animals and women, to inferior roles or places.
Linder Sterling (b 1954) is a radical feminist artist. In November 1982, as part of a punk performance in Manchester’s Haçienda club, she appeared in a dress made from meat, while packages of leftover raw meat wrapped in pornography were distributed to the audience. The performance culminated with a quite aggressive critique of the exploitation of women which, at the time, seems genuinely to have been confronting.
By 2010, the "waves" had made feminism diffuse, the inherently post-modern platform of social media had imposed on pop-culture an inevitable equivalency of value and there was perhaps no longer a capacity to shock, just to be photographed. Lady Gaga’s (b 1986) meat dress (asymmetrical, with cowl–neck), worn at the MTV Video Music Awards is now remembered as just another outfit, named by many as the fashion statement of 2010. While there was cultural comment, the piece's place in history is as a frock, not for any meaning, implied or inferred. Lady Gaga though remained phlegmatic, quoted later as saying, "... it has many interpretations.” She later clarified things by saying the meat dress wasn't significant as a piece of clothing but was intended as a comment on the state of the fashion industry and the importance of focusing on individuality and inner beauty rather than superficial appearances. One implication may have related to impermanence; because the garment was made wholly from raw meat, it had to be preserved with chemicals before and after the event but there are limits to what's chemically possible and the parts of the garment which had decomposed were discarded before the remains were dried and a permanent coating applied. The preserved dress has since been displayed. Lady Gaga no longer wears "meat-based" clothing.
Something of a local legend in the world of vegan activism, Tash Peterson (b circa 1995) is an animal rights activist based in Perth, Australia. Not actually in the militant extreme of the movement which engages in actual physical attacks on the personnel, plant & equipment of the industries associated with animal slaughter, Ms Peterson's form of direct action is the set-piece event, staged to produce images and video with cross-platform appeal, the footage she posts on social media freely available for re-distribution by the legacy media, her Instagram feed providing a sample of her work in various contexts. Ms Peterson is a vegansexual (a vegan who chooses to have sex or pursue sexual relationships only with other vegans).
Her events have included approaching people in the meat section of supermarkets, wearing a blood-soaked butcher's apron while carrying the simulated carcass of a chicken, donning a rather fetching cow-skin (presumably synthetic) bodysuit in front of a milk and yoghurt display while carrying a sign surmising the processes of industrial dairy farming in anthropomorphic terms, wearing bloodied clothing to fast food outlets while using a megaphone to address queues of customers, explaining the details of what's done to animals so they can enjoy their burgers and, eschewing even the sensible shoes she usually wears, adorned in nothing but a pair of knickers and liberally smeared with (what she claimed to be her own menstrual) blood, staging a protest in Perth's Louis Vuitton shop, shouting at the customers and calling them "animal abusers".
Ms Peterson was banned from all licensed venues in Western Australia after storming pubs and restaurants, her critique of course the content of the meals rather than their sometimes dubious quality; after that, she travelled briefly to the eastern states but has since returned to Perth. She has an active and apparently lucrative account on OnlyFans with all that that implies but there is an element of animal rights activism even there so whether her two interests should be thought vertical or horizontal integration might be an interesting question for economic theorists.
Veganism can be merely a personal choice and there are many who have adopted at least the dietary aspects simply because they believe there are benefits for their health but it can also be a political statement and political statements need publicity, the preferred modern form being the celebrity endorsement and if need be, one paid for. In 2010, the animal rights organisation PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) offered to subsidize Lindsay Lohan's stint in rehab, on the condition she became a vegan. For PETA, it was the chance to make the point that while undergoing treatment for substance addiction, Ms Lohan would be able also to rid herself "... of one more toxic substance: meat.", adding "As you know, a crucial part of any recovery is showing charity to others. One way to do this is to be kind to animals, the Earth, and your own body. You'll never regret it."
Ms Lohan had previously attracted the attention of the organization, in 2008 making their "worst dressed list" after being photographed wearing fur. According to E! Online, PETA offered to contribute US$20,000 towards the US50,000 cost of the court-ordered stay, half to be paid for adopting the vegan diet while in rehab, the remainder if the diet was followed for one year following her release. The encourage acceptance of the offer, it was accompanied with a vegan-care pack including a DVD about the slaughter industry called Glass Walls (narrated by Paul McCartney (b 1942)) and a vegetarian/vegan starter kit. While rehab went well, the offer apparently wasn't taken up and although she seems to now eschew fur, her Instagram feed continues to feature much leather (handbags & shoes) and meat (the odd recipe provided including a chicken pie and machboos, a favorite in the Middle East).
No comments:
Post a Comment