CW: Mention of rape

A few years ago, a friend told me to start “living up to all the feminist shit” that I write about. We were drinking vodka martinis in a hotel bar in downtown Chicago—bracing for a chilly night out—when she started begging me to dump my then-boyfriend. She didn’t even know that he enjoyed hurting me during sex or that I couldn’t even brush my teeth before running errands without arousing suspicions of infidelity. She just knew I wasn’t happy and that she didn’t like the guy. Two months later, after saving up thousands of dollars and asking my folks if I could crash with them for a while, I broke up with him.  

Much to the chagrin of my physically and emotionally abusive ex, I’ve always been outspoken when it comes to the rights of women and girls. Even when I didn’t feel like I could stand up for myself, I advocated for other women and non-binary people through my writing, my social media platforms, and my conversations with friends and family. But since leaving my ex, I’ve made up for lost time when it comes to “living up to all the feminist shit.” I quit my job and pursued writing full time, writing about things like college sexual assault and how Western feminists can help non-Western feminists without fetishizing them. I marched to protect Planned Parenthood. I drove across the country by myself—twice. I helped my sister deliver her youngest daughter, and I moved to Los Angeles with less than $400 to my name. Hell, just last week I even yelled back at a street harasser.

But of all the “feminist shit” I’ve done in the past three years, going vegan takes the cruelty-free cake. Nothing else has empowered me to set healthy boundaries and call out sexist bullshit like extending my circle of compassion to farmed animals.

Hear me out.

I know that a white woman making this kind of statement, perhaps especially in Trump’s America, might be upsetting—and I get that. Historically, the feminism of white women has been far from intersectional. Many white women voted for Trump, and reportedly less than half of white women voters in the U.S. believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations of sexual assault against Brett Kavanaugh. It’s also true that, although I started switching to veganism while living in a remote pocket of southeast Missouri, I now live in southern California, where affordable vegan food is widely accessible. But I think it’s a valid point that needs to be made, and women of color have been expressing similar sentiments for decades. In fact, vegan feminists like Angela Davis and Audre Lorde inspired me to stop eating meat back in 2016.

Nothing else has empowered me to set healthy boundaries and call out sexist bullshit like extending my circle of compassion to farmed animals.
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As a lesbian woman of color, author, poet, womanist, and vegan, Audre Lorde knew better than perhaps anyone that intersectional feminism extends beyond the scope of human female rights. In her own words, “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle, because we do not live single-issue lives.” And while liberation icon Angela Davis hasn’t always spoken out on her vegan lifestyle, that’s changing more and more these days. As Davis reportedly said a few years ago during the 27th Annual Empowering Women of Color Conference, “I think it’s the right time to talk about it because it is a part of a revolutionary perspective—how can we not only discover more compassionate relations with human beings, but how can we develop compassionate relations with the other creatures with whom we share this planet.”

While going vegetarian, and for nearly a year afterwards, I thought being vegetarian was enough. But after learning about the many ways female farmed animals are brutalized just so humans can eat cheese pizza and omelets, I ditched dairy and eggs too. As someone who was raped quietly by their partner in a bed—who was pushed, pinned, and choked but never punched, kicked, or cut—I realized I could no longer participate in a system that enables consumers to absolve their guilt by minimizing someone else’s suffering. Pain is pain, and there is no acceptable way to hurt, forcibly dominate, or exploit someone.  

The idea that exploiting some animals for their milk, meat, and eggs is acceptable, while other animals are meant to be pets or to live in the wild, is the same sort of logic that sexism, misogyny, classism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, xenophobia, islamophobia, racism, ableism, and every other form of discrimination are based on. “Dominance functions best in a culture of disconnections and fragmentations,” as Carol Adams put it in The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Vegetarian Feminist Critical Theory. “Feminism recognizes connections.” Factory farming is not just harming animals; it is destroying the planet, exploiting the poor and communities of color, creating a public health crisis through the negative effects of animal-based foods, and quite literally feeding a worldwide culture of toxic masculinity.

Around the world, societies feminize compassion and masculinize eating meat. As Adams explained in The Sexual Politics of Meat, “Meat becomes a symbol for what is not seen but is always there—patriarchal control of animals and of language.” Indeed, during the 2016 election cycle, Donald Trump was criticized in headline after headline for treating women “like pieces of meat.” But well-intentioned or not, this sort of language only further promotes the idea that some bodies deserve to experience violence while others don’t. As Adams told Bustle back in 2016, “By challenging oppression on both sides of the species line, by saying that animals matter, too, and so we won’t eat them, we are also saying anyone who is compared to an animal matters and is due equal treatment.”

There’s also an undeniable link between animal abuse and violence against women. A survey of women in domestic violence shelters found that 71 percent had partners who had abused or threatened to abuse companion animals, and recent studies show that slaughterhouse work can lead to domestic violence, social withdrawal, anxiety, drug and alcohol abuse, and PTSD. A 2009 study by criminologist Amy Fitzgerald found that, in comparison with other industries, slaughterhouse employment increased total arrest rates, including arrests for rape and other violent crimes. According to PTSD Journal, “These employees are hired to kill animals, such as pigs and cows, that are largely gentle creatures. Carrying out this action requires workers to disconnect from what they are doing and from the creature standing before them.” That desensitization makes it easier for them to be desensitized to other forms of violence, such as domestic abuse.

Like every group of humans that has ever been labeled “other” or “less than,” farmed animals are used, bullied, and killed simply because society has deemed them undeserving of our love or concern, their bodily autonomy and desire for a happy life somehow “different.” It’s exactly why I feel like feminists have a special responsibility to stand up for all animals—we should be able to empathize with victims of violence our society silences.

Around the world, societies feminize compassion and masculinize eating meat.
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The meat, dairy, and egg industries profit off female reproductive systems, and billions of baby animals are separated from their mothers each year so we can drink their mothers’ milk instead. Starting at around 12 months of age, cows living at dairy factory farms are forcibly impregnated through artificial insemination, over and over again until the cows are too exhausted to go on, at which point they’re sent to slaughter. And when cows living at dairy factory farms give birth to male calves, those babies are taken from their mothers–who visibly grieve–and sold for veal.

Sadly, the egg industry isn’t any better, even if you stick with “free-range” eggs. “Free-range” hens are still debeaked, crammed into sheds, and pushed to lay up to 500 eggs annually. Just like caged hens, “free-range” chickens will never see their mothers or play in a pasture.

I never anticipated that “living up to all the feminist shit” would include going vegan, but eschewing animal products is one of the most feminist things I’ve ever done. It doesn’t undo all the times that family members, co-workers, “friends,” or boyfriends did things to my body that I didn’t want them to do. And it doesn’t change the fact that I spent years in an abusive relationship. But it is incredibly empowering to know that I’m not contributing to an industry that profits from abusing innocent bodies and exploiting the female reproductive system. No matter what kind of day I’m having, I know that I’m making a difference.

Being vegan has been easier than I expected. I’ve found that it’s completely possible to eat vegan for a week with only $20, and all my favorite recipes can be veganized. Plus, vegan options are common at most restaurants these days, and I still get to frequent some of my favorite fast-food chains, like Taco Bell, Subway, and White Castle. And most food banks offer a variety of plant-based staples, like rice, beans, soy milk, pasta, and canned veggies. But simply cutting back on animal products also helps animals, the environment, and human health.

Perhaps most importantly, going vegan has taught me a vital lesson about self-love: When you extend your circle of compassion to every single sentient being on Earth, it becomes easier and easier to stand up for yourself. It’s impossible to foster the belief that farmed animals deserve to live happy lives, free of deprivation, abuse, and harassment, without also acknowledging that you deserve the same. Rejecting the concept that some animals deserve peace, while others deserve pain, pushes you to value and protect your own well-being—whether that means leaving an unhealthy relationship, prioritizing self-care, or telling a street harasser to piss off.

Milwaukee, WI — Tensions arose on the UW Milwaukee campus over a controversial guest that came to speak on the campus to students yesterday.

Famed YouTuber and self-proclaimed “Meat-Variety” activist Tim Munchin was invited to speak at Culinary Hall at 7:30 pm by the college’s Students for Dietary Freedom chapter.

“Munchin’s appearance today gives voice to those who have been marginalized due to our society’s pervasive culture of political correctness,” said SDF leader Bobby Vittles to us yesterday.

“The idea of ‘every human life being sacred’ is nothing more than a PETA-leftist conspiracy theory to limit dietary freedom. Some humans are not meant to live. Some are meant to be tasty culinary dishes instead. College students tend to get hungry often, and sometimes ramen noodles do not suffice. Not everyone is a vegetarian, hippies!”

While some welcomed Munchin’s presence on campus, others were angered and shocked by the University’s decision to give a platform to someone they believed to be an advocate for the normalization of cannibalism.

Outside the Culinary Hall, students organized a March Against Cannibalism rally against the speaker. They say they organized the protest in solidarity with students that have been targeted as potential culinary victims on campus and now live in fear for their own lives.

“HOW THE FUCK ARE PEOPLE TREATING THIS SHIT LIKE IT’S NORMAL?” Proclaimed Michael Sane, Co-Founder of Students Against Flesh Eaters (SAFE), the group that organized the demonstration against the speaker last night. “DO PEOPLE NOT REALIZE THAT IF YOU ARE SUGGESTING EATING OTHER HUMANS AS A VIABLE DIETARY ALTERNATIVE THAT YOU ARE ADVOCATING FOR CANNIBALISM?!”

Munchin spoke to the press an hour before taking the stage. He negated a lot of the criticisms against his controversial philosophy of meat variety advocacy.

“Meat Variety activism is often misunderstood and misinterpreted as cannibalism. I do not advocate for cannibalism. I only advocate for human flesh being a viable protein source for those who get bored with our nation’s politically correct dietary options. Social justice warriors and PETA-leftists are always going to be triggered by views different than their own.”

Attendees of the event varied in political ideology. One such individual attendee was Becki Smith, a sophomore Media Communications student who spoke to us after the event. She said she wasn’t immediately convinced that human meat should be a viable dietary option, but she is still thinking about it.

“I had seen a few YouTube videos of Munchin’s, and the first time I heard of his advocacy for a variety of protein options to include human meat, I was like, ‘Eww! Gross! Who would want to eat human beings?’ However, after thinking about it more deeply, I realized I might have internalized societal pressure to care more about human beings than for free thought or personal autonomy ya know?”

When it came to the protesters, she did not have many kind words to say.
“I can’t understand what the big deal is,” she snorted.

“College is not suppose to be a ‘safe-space’. It’s meant to challenge you on your ideas — and in this case, your diet. These Social Justice Warriors are acting as if the college allowed a Neo-Nazi to come on campus or something. Just because your feelings got hurt due to someone calling you ‘potentially delicious’ doesn’t mean you get to throw a fucking temper tantrum and try to shut down free speech.”

“People do not understand the particular danger that they are putting other people in by allowing this to happen,” Sandra Blanket told the University’s student paper, Puddle Weekly.

“This is not about being a meat lover or a vegetarian/vegan. This is not about PETA. Heck I fucking HATE PETA. NOBODY likes PETA, not even most vegans. Stop using that as a political smear tactic against us. We have valid concerns that we are trying to raise. Munchin’s rhetoric is more than just words. Can American Citizens have different diets? Of course! It’s a free country, this is not about that. This is about the not-so-fine line between being a meat lover and being a straight up sick fuck that kills people for food.”

During the event Munchin argued that the act of consuming human meat is nothing new nor abnormal. “Humans eating human meat has existed in our country and around the world for more than 400 years!” Munchin bellowed to the crowd. “The Settlers of Jamestown, The Donner Party, even Jeffrey Dahmer were judged out of context!”

The crowd cheered.

“It’s OK to have variety! Munchin cheered back. “Protein variety is good! MEAT VARIETY IS GOOD!”

The protest and march against the speaker is also in response to a reported rise in incidences involving students’ body parts that have gone missing without consent, mainly fingers and toes. They believe speakers like Munchin and those who share his views is what’s contributed to this rash of violence.

“Like I said, to call these incidences ‘cannibalism’ is absurd. To advocate for cannibalism is to advocate for murder. I do not advocate for murder. I only advocate for human body parts being available to consume. I offer the suggestion that if students get hungry and meatless options do not suffice, they can seek out alternative sources of protein; this may be from progressive body volunteers, body farms, etc. I have on good authority that this ‘rash of violence’ on campus is just more fear-mongering. Every part that’s gone missing was volunteered—offered up consensually. Don’t let the crazy PETA-leftists interested in restricting dietary freedom and forcing a vegetarian agenda down our throats tell you otherwise.”

But Sam Wheeler, a senior theater major at UW, says otherwise. He claims a hooded figure came into his room late on Wednesday night, ripped back the covers, and lopped off three toes on each foot before he could “even scream.”

Wheeler maintains that his aggressor thanked him on behalf of Munchin and “alt-meats” everywhere before leaving him to crawl his way to his desk where he called the health center.

“I am not one of those vegetarian/Vegan leftists,” Wheeler insisted. “But this was far from consensual. How could I have even been asked—it was 4 in the morning, I was asleep! Me speaking out against Munchin is not based on a ‘Vegetarian agenda’ — you don’t have to be a vegetarian or vegan to oppose this violent nonsense, period.”

His testimony is as follows:

I thought Munchin, Vittles and others like them were just good men who loved meat just as much as I do. I was wrong. They are nutcases. I should have known. I should have opposed him way before he and others started munching on the toes of me and others, but I am opposing him now. He does not represent me as a meat-lover nor does Vittles or any of the SDF or as a meat lover. Taking people’s body parts against their will is wrong. This is happening in Munchin’s name and he needs to put a stop to it. I would like to make that clear.

The controversy around the incidences have left many meat-lovers split on the issue of meat-variety activism in general. While some remain repulsed and angry like Wheeler, many attendees of the speaking event felt differently. Dumi Boyman, a freshmen Exercise Science major, was one such individual.

“You know I am really sorry that dude had to go through that. It seriously must suck for a grown man to have to crawl on his hands like a baby again. However, he needs to not freak out and chill. Just because there are a lot of incidences of missing body parts on students doesn’t mean that there is an epidemic of cannibalism or anything. I think these protestors are a little too obsessed with cannibalism, and I think that makes them the real cannibals if you ask me.”

Only time will tell what will transpire; the debate on college campuses between expanding dietary freedom and preventing what protesters would call “sick, fucked up shit” is an ongoing and vital dialogue with no end in sight.

Until then, both sides can only agree on one thing: Nobody likes PETA.