{"id":40,"date":"2008-01-25T09:15:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-25T17:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.happycow.net\/blog\/?p=40"},"modified":"2008-01-25T09:15:00","modified_gmt":"2008-01-25T17:15:00","slug":"vegansexuality-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.happycow.net\/blog\/vegansexuality-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Vegansexuality Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Being a vegan people are always going to wonder how and why you do it. They\u2019ll tell you \u201cYou don\u2019t know what you\u2019re missing,\u201d and offer you a bite of their burger. Jokes will be made at your expense and far too often you\u2019ll be dining on a garden salad, as it\u2019s the only thing on the menu without an animal product. But who knew you\u2019d also be marginalized and able to create hostility and animosity in others simply for dedicating yourself to a compassionate, cruelty-free lifestyle?<\/p>\n

A few months ago researcher Dr. Annie Potts, Co-Director for New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies, created a fervour when she uttered the phrase: Vegansexual. The unexpected result was a backlash of negativity and abuse hurtled at anyone who lived a cruelty-free life. Within hours of being posted on thepress.co.nz, there were heaps of articles, blogs, discussions and captions reacting to the original article. There was speculation, attacks, jokes and analysis, but what was missing was a little perspective from Potts herself on how the term came to be. Until now, that is.<\/p>\n

Potts describes the term vegansexual as a group of people who lead a cruelty-free lifestyle and prefer to be exclusively intimate with like-minded individuals. Ultimately eliminating carnivores as optional bedmates. While carrying out a study on consumer habits of vegans and vegetarians, Potts asked how a person\u2019s vegetarianism impacted on personal relationships. This is when a number of respondents spoke up about their preference for relationships with non-meat eaters. One respondent went so far as to liken meat-eaters to \u201ca graveyard for animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

These sentiments did not go down well in the carnivore\u2019s camp. A vehement objection surfaced. Potts was shocked and described this reaction as, \u201cexaggerated and out of proportion to the level of threat vegansexuality poses to non-vegans.\u201d<\/p>\n

A taste of the meat-eaters perspective:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026Given the vegan ethos which prohibits the consumption of animal products by humans, it is not acceptable for a vegan to have sex with a human.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c”I only mix with my own kind” smacks of eugenics. Vegans are fringe loonies no different than fundamentalist Christians, women who demand shar’ia law (veil all day all night) and pro-lifers\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry, but anyone that picky is bound to be a lousy lay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c”I now pronounce you Vegan & Vegan. You may commence considering everyone who is not exactly like you disgusting, until death do you part. Amen.”\u201d<\/p>\n

Much of the feedback goes on to perpetuated the idea that vegetarians, and especially vegans, are prim, fussy or against pleasure. However, Potts disagrees. Describing vegansexuals as people who are very much into pleasure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’re passionate about their food, they enjoy wine, they like fashion, and they love their sex,\u201d she explained. \u201cAnd for them, attraction and pleasure seem to be intensified when they’re with an intimate partner who endorses a similar compassionate, cruelty-free lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a vegan herself, with a vegan partner for more than 16-years, Potts says she\u2019s perplexed that omnivores are taking such objection to people making choices about sexual partners based on compatibility and similarity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis shouldn\u2019t be such a big deal,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it does seem to have struck a nerve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Surprisingly though, the one who has been given credit for coining the term vegansexual, actually opposes its being used as a new form of sexual identity.<\/p>\n

She goes on to say, \u201cI’m not convinced that human sexuality is as cut-and-dried – or as fixed or categorizable (sic) – as that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Potts explains that she prefers the idea of \u2018vegansexuality\u2019 or a spectrum of inclination towards others who practice a cruelty-free lifestyle: at one end there is an increased likelihood of sexual attraction towards those who do not consume animals or animal products; at the other, it manifests as a strong sexual aversion to the bodies of those who consume animals and animal products. The latter she terms a more embodied ethical sexuality.<\/p>\n

Potts intends to follow up on the idea of vegansexuality with a more in-depth study focusing on those who believe they fit somewhere in this spectrum of vegansexuality.<\/p>\n

(Not surprisingly, someone has jumped on the vegansexual bandwagon and come up with some self-proclaiming merchandise. Cowpiecreek.com<\/a> has cashed in on the idea by creating a range of shirts, hoddies, sweatshirts and tracksuits emblazoned with \u2018Vegansexual\u2019. Just to simplify things for the carnivores out on the pull, now they\u2019ll know just how far they\u2019ll have to go to get your number.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Being a vegan people are always going to wonder how and why you do it. They\u2019ll tell you \u201cYou don\u2019t know what you\u2019re missing,\u201d and offer you a bite of their burger. Jokes will be made at your expense and far too often you\u2019ll be dining on a garden salad, as it\u2019s the only thing on the menu without an animal product. But who knew you\u2019d also be marginalized and able to create hostility and animosity in others simply for dedicating yourself to a compassionate, cruelty-free lifestyle? A few months ago researcher Dr. Annie Potts, Co-Director for New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies, created a fervour when she uttered the phrase: Vegansexual. The unexpected result was a backlash of negativity and abuse hurtled at anyone who lived a cruelty-free life. Within hours of being posted on thepress.co.nz, there were heaps of articles, blogs, discussions and captions reacting to the original article. There was speculation, attacks, jokes and analysis, but what was missing was a little perspective from Potts herself on how the term came to be. Until now, that is. Potts describes the term vegansexual as a group of people who lead a cruelty-free lifestyle and prefer to be exclusively […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8760,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vegan"],"yoast_head":"\nVegansexuality Explained - HappyCow<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.happycow.net\/blog\/vegansexuality-explained\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vegansexuality Explained - HappyCow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Being a vegan people are always going to wonder how and why you do it. They\u2019ll tell you \u201cYou don\u2019t know what you\u2019re missing,\u201d and offer you a bite of their burger. Jokes will be made at your expense and far too often you\u2019ll be dining on a garden salad, as it\u2019s the only thing on the menu without an animal product. But who knew you\u2019d also be marginalized and able to create hostility and animosity in others simply for dedicating yourself to a compassionate, cruelty-free lifestyle? A few months ago researcher Dr. Annie Potts, Co-Director for New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies, created a fervour when she uttered the phrase: Vegansexual. The unexpected result was a backlash of negativity and abuse hurtled at anyone who lived a cruelty-free life. Within hours of being posted on thepress.co.nz, there were heaps of articles, blogs, discussions and captions reacting to the original article. 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