This makes me want to cry. As vegans, there are so many things we need to do, and not one of them involves participating in and adding to the male misogynist culture.
There are vegans out there doing amazing things for animals AND feminism, but they are so often overshadowed by press-hungry idiots like Diablo.

Contributors to the popular feminist blog Feministing have criticized the emphasis of the “Skinny Bitch� books on weight loss, noting that some women with eating disorders use vegan diets to restrict their food intake. Ms. Freedman isn’t buying that critique. “It’s not politically correct to suggest women should be thin,� she said. “But it is healthier.�

Even though she basically just did. What pissed me off about this is that it's ALWAYS women's bodies who are used to sell "sex" and thus the products. I know PETA has used men in their I'd rather go naked campaigns but it's very disproportionate to the number of nude women they use.

As far as converting men to vegetarianism/veganism for the men I know who've turned either way it has a limited shelf life, if they were converted by a hot girl or their girlfriend I've found that once the relationship is over they go right back to meat eating, though there are probably just as many who've kept the lifestyle.

we should also be commenting on the flip side of the vegan sexism, which is horrible veganistic attitudes towards the body (not all vegans, not essential to veganism, just a phenomenon that exists).
por ejemple: the book skinny bitch. ugh.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/the-skinny-on-skinny-bitch/
http://www.chow.com/grinder/4841

the authors have been described as like the voice in the head of someone afflicted with anorexia. they're abusive, hateful, and care more about being skinny than being healthy, and more about you being vegan than anything else.

invisible_hand, I don't think it's fair to categorize "skinny at all costs" as a "veganistic" attitude at all. If anything, it's probably got more to do with those two authors having been involved in the fashion industry than anything. It's really unfortunate that they are somehow the face of veganism in the MSM now. Isa Moskowitz is a much better example of how every vegan I know feels about food.

"Even though she basically just did. What pissed me off about this is that it's ALWAYS women's bodies who are used to sell "sex" and thus the products. I know PETA has used men in their I'd rather go naked campaigns but it's very disproportionate to the number of nude women they use."

Amen, UltraMagnus!!! I sent PETA an email using the link from Ann's previous post. They replied with a nicely written rationalization of their strategies. I replied back with exactly what you wrote.

"Ms. Freedman isn’t buying that critique. “It’s not politically correct to suggest women should be thin,� she said. “But it is healthier.�
Actually, Ms. Freedman, no it's not. My experience with some vegan/vegetarian friends and aquaintances is that they eat way too much saturated fat, refined sugar, and processed food. Some got little to no exercise. This was backed up by the nutritionist I went to for my eating plan. She had a good number of vegetarian/vegan clients whom she had to show how to eat a healthy diet. Just ending one's meat consumption doesn't automatically mean one is healthier. A vegan/vegetarian diet requires the same attention as any other--healthy foods in the right portions and exercise. To say otherwise, like Ms. Freedman and her ilk do, is not just irresponsible, it's dangerous.

The same goes for "skinny=healthy." I don't care how skinny you are, if you eat crap and don't exercise, you're NOT going to be healthy. Skinny people have heart attacks and diabetes, too.

Finally, assuming men won't convert to vegetarianism/veganism without a little T & A? Way to assume all men are troglodites, asshats! But WE'RE the ones who hate men? *sigh*
Feminism will go a lot further toward winning converts because we're working to dispel the manly man=meat eater myth.

As for Mr. Diablo calling me a "feminazi" and saying I have an attitude and I'm hostile (like the other feminist who went in to the club to register her disapproval), fine by me. I'll take that as a compliment.

This is disgusting. Normally I'm pro-sex and protective of free speech and sex work even when it makes me uncomfortable, but this is just so tacky and exploitative. Uggh.

Oh and NOT ALL VEGANS ARE SKINNY! The media likes to promote vegans as having Madonna's body, or something. I've been vegan since I was 19, and a vegetarian since I was 10, and I still have a flabby gut like the rest of us.

The New York Times was beaten to the punch on this story by a Canadian magazine -- check out this piece in Maclean’s from a few weeks ago. Almost identical.

I think it would be worth asking why it is that the mainstream media publicizes vegans who are sexist so much more often than vegans who are feminist. Why are sexist vegans more likely to be seen as the "public face"?

Here's that Maclean's story shabby refered to:
http://www.macleans.ca/culture/lifestyle/article.jsp?content=20080306_98967_
98967

The stories are pretty much identical. Same thesis, many of the same interviews.

Here's that Maclean's story shabby refered to:
http://www.macleans.ca/culture/lifestyle/article.jsp?content=20080306_98967_
98967

The stories are pretty much identical. Same thesis, many of the same interviews.

Let's all just remember for a moment that like feminists, vegans and vegetarians have many different faces and believe in many definitions. Johnny Diablo no more represents vegans than Wendy Shalit does feminism.

Thank you, pinkpicnic.

I'm tired of being lumped in with anti-feminist people like Diablo or PeTA.

I also know that eating any diet can be healthy or unhealthy: cutting out meat and substituting it for vegan cupcakes doesn't mean you're healthier. However, health is not the number one reason to be vegan. It's more of an ethical lifestyle choice than diet and health.

There are also plenty of people who do choose healthy balanced vegan diets, complete with exercise. Big surprise: vegans are HUMANS, and one big blanket cannot cover every vegan.

Just agreeing with the whole "not all vegetarians/vegans" are skinny, or healthy. The thing with veganism, as with any diet, is that you have to consider what foods you eat, and in what quantities, in order to be healthy. I know vegetarians who are unhealthily skinny, and obese vegetarians. Simply cutting meat out of your diet does not automatically make one healthy, especially if you just eat more starches to compensate.

Seriously, I know plenty of people who think that their vegetarianism is healthy, but they eat huge pasta dinners with chocolate cake for dessert. I eat meat, but I usually limit my portion size, which helps me eat much more healthily than just cutting out meat.