Many of us are familiar with the ongoing and recent disturbing actions of some mainstream vegan groups that aim to sell veganism while reinforcing problematic sexual politics of meat. I won’t fill up space discussing them in this post. If you’d like to read some excellent blogs on the subject, I suggest: Carol J. Adams’ post here, Vegansaurus’ post here, and Gena Hamshaw’s post here.
In light of certain vegan groups’ tactics that I believe greatly undermine the integrity of the vegan movement, I was very nervous when I saw VegNews‘ new “The Vegan Man Issue” on the newsstand. I was nervous because I like VegNews, and I knew there was a lot at stake for them to put out an issue focusing on man. I have worked with their advertising department (some really nice folks), and was once even offered their coveted residential internship while I was in college (I had to turn it down due to date conflicts with my study abroad program). I adore and admire many who write for them, including regular stars Laura Beck and Gena Hamshaw. I really appreciate and respect VegNews for supporting vegans of all backgrounds, and covering issues that many vegan media outlets do not. They regularly champion vegan minorities, authors, and organizations like Bryant Terry of Vegan Soul Kitchen, Jasmin Singer and her nonprofit media outlet Our Hen House, and Ari Solomon, vegan business owner of A Scent of Scandal and vocal advocate for queer-vegan rights. VegNews helps build vegan community, too. I’ve met some seriously awesome people at their sponsored vegan drinks in SF.
I was nervous to read their latest issue, if only because I really didn’t want them to let us down. But I knew I had to buy a copy and review it on Queer Vegan Food. I read it cover to cover. There’s some great stuff in this issue: Gena’s wonderful kale chip recipe looks fantastic, Laura’s timeless wit and ever-useful advice column rocks as always (no more body shaming! hooray!), and there’s some other winning recipes, an article on environmentalism, nutrition advice, book reviews, and more. “The Vegan Man Issue” isn’t all bad, but I feel strongly that the stuff that’s wrong and damaging needs to be identified.
So here goes:
First, there’s the Editor’s Note by Elizabeth Castoria. The whole Esquire satire is weird at best, offensive at worst. Gendering VegNews as feminine (“I bat my editorial eyelashes”) and Esquire as masculine (“the rugged jawlines of your studly cover subjects”) is weird and confusing. I know Esquire advertises itself as a “guide for men who want to live a fuller, richer, more informed and rewarding life” but since when is VegNews a “women’s magazine”?
Then it gets even worse: the editor writes: “I don’t think you know what a man is.” That’s where I started to get interested. Great, I thought, VegNews will contest society’s problematic gender constructs. But editor Castoria doesn’t contest anything in her editorial; instead, she reinforces all of these constructs. Castoria writes: “There are men aplenty in your pages, many of whom even have the six-packs to prove it. You suffer no shortage of testosterone.”WHAT?! Since when is being a man contingent upon having a six-pack or testosterone? What if the tables were turned, and VegNews were writing to Cosmopolitan editors suggesting they were featuring “real women” because they “had the D-cup to prove it”? Do cancer patients who have low levels of testosterone suddenly no longer qualify as men, VegNews? What about transmen? What the heck are they trying to prove with this hormone discussion? This reads like VegNews is a magazine only for “women” that is doing a “men’s special” just like Cosmopolitan occasionally puts out special sections “for the boyfriend“.
This all feels so bizarre, and overall insulting to VegNews‘ diverse audience and scope. The editor’s note also suggests that vegan men are coming into more positions of power, without acknowledging that men in general have much more power in the world than women, and doesn’t establish that there might be some intersections or connections that anyone even remotely familiar with Carol J. Adams’ The Sexual Politics of Meat and the Pornography of Meat would understand.
VegNews does quote Carol J. Adams and someone named Jovian Parry, who is apparently a doctoral student in meat, gender, animality and pop culture at York University in the issue-anchoring article “The Evolution of Man,” but the article misses a few important marks. First, it promotes the idea of men being powerful as vegans without questioning what this power looks like in terms of gender, race, class, sexual orientation, ethnicity, abelism, etc. The rise of the power vegans articles seem to reinforce the notion that the powerful white male majority can stay powerful while being vegan. (A note about the ads: I have never seen this many full-page supplement and protein ads in the magazine! I guess they think “men” want to be advertised to about protein and supplements.)
The overwhelming majority of the “evolved men” profiles at the bottom of each page of the article are of powerful white men who happen to be vegan. Perhaps this wasn’t intentional, but it’s a poor representative sample of the diverse man-identified people who represent the face of the vegan movement.
There’s more, but I feel I’ve shared enough. While I am glad to see that VegNews acknowledges the sexual politics of meat are at play for man-identifying vegans (and everyone else, too), “The Vegan Man Issue” only reinforces these problematic ideologies.
My veganism is first and foremost about my sense of ethical and moral responsibility to respect the lives of all creatures on this planet. I believe veganism is about inclusion and empowerment. It is about breaking down oppressive power structures that exploit human- and non-human animals of all stripes and species. I feel it is my responsibility as a compassionate vegan to draw attention to what I believe degrades and hurts human animals. When Quarry Girl exposed VegNews was using stock photos of actual meat, I held my breath and waited for them to recognize they were in error and change their ways. And they did! That’s the kind of magazine I think (and hope) VegNews wants to be–the kind that constantly looks for opportunities to improve and more effectively cater to their diverse readership. It is my hope that if enough of us weigh in, VegNews will recognize how they have blundered with “The Vegan Man Issue” and will take steps to ensure that sexism and heterosexism have no place in their pages. This is my hope, and it is my call to action. Thanks for reading.
queerveganfood.com 
Thanks!
As you so smartly point out, the problem with these “real men eat plants” and “manly vegan” messages is that they underscore our society’s troublesome conflation of a certain physique and certain sensibility with masculinity. I feel true sympathy for young men who are made to feel less manly because they choose compassionate lifestyles, but at the same time, if our response to that problem is to say “hey, you can build muscle and be an athlete and be sexually aggressive as a vegan!” we’re essentially compounding the idea that those three things are the hallmarks of being a man. And when we do that, we set ourselves back, because we underscore the very stereotypes that make men afraid to be vegan in the first place. Instead, we should focus on blasting through those stereotypes, and talking about how stupid they are.
This is exactly how I feel, Gena. I am glad VegNews has engaged with this discussion, because it’s one that the vegan movement needs to be having right now.
Ah, they engaged? Where?
Oh, I guess I just meant that they engaged by posting about gender issues at all. No formal comment on my post or anything so far.
Sarah, thanks for writing this. When we read Joshua’s article we thought about writing a letter to the editor. It’s still crazy to us how accepted “that’s so gay” is in vegan and animal rights communities. Our blog post about it got a ton of responses. Yet we here it almost weekly. We love Veg News. We were thrilled that they covered our wedding in ’05 as one of their vegan wedding issues and were honored to be on their list of “Vegan men we love” in this current issue. The deal for us (gay married vegan couple living in the burbs) is to keep the conversation going and to build as many bridges as possible (like your blog does). Oh, and I also think that Veg News is open to all points of view, and would publish articles about oppression, stereotypes, bigotry, within the veg/AR movement.
Dan and Mike, The Gay Vegans
As gay men, I wonder if your experience in the AR movement is different from for me as a gay woman. . . .we should chat sometime!
Excellent article. Veganism has the potential to enunciate an entirely new set of values that spans every area of life, and to reject exploitation and power imbalance in every way. I wonder whether VegNews recognized this but decided not to take it on for fear of being too “radical,” or if they were simply ignorant and lacked self-awareness as a publication. I’m not sure which is worse.
I suspect there may have been different levels of awareness at play. The editorial is inexcusable. Someone thought it was funny, had the power to print it, and went ahead with it. It’s just sexist and wrong. The other pieces just play it safe, as you point out, and I think that may have been more unintentional (again, the whole “you can be a vegan man and still sexually aggressive/powerful/dominating” thing Gena brought up really seemed to be the underpinning message of this issue).
I loved this article. Your points are dead-on for me. It’s disturbing to me that a magazine that advocates for an end to the oppression of animals publishes material that perpetuates the oppression of LGBT people. And of course, the reinforcement of the “perfect” male body is alarming, too. Thank you SO much for this courageous piece!
Right on, Court!
You have written a challenging essay as always Sarah. Thank you. As an empowered vegan white male, but one who will never have a six-pack as hard as I work out, I will have to give it some thought. I always look forward to receiving my issue of VegNews in the mail and I will do so even more now.
Thanks, Jonathan.
Thank you for writing this! I was equally nervous upon hearing that VegNews was doing a “man issue.” I haven’t seen it yet, but your deconstruction confirms my biggest fears. Sigh. Down with factory farming, down with the gender binary! (Can’t folks see they are connected?!)
I completely agree!
You know what I think is sexy? A writer’s ability to think critically, identify problems, and offer solutions. And a willingness to eat ethically and with a conscience.
That makes you very, very sexy, Sarah Brown. You wrote an excellent article, a welcome wake-up call. For that, I thank you.
Oh goodness, Katherine, I am blushing. I miss you and thank you for sharing and supporting me and the animals always!!!
Great article! I hope more people will read this and react.
It is weird (at least) that they call their magazine a women’s magazine? I’m really wondering where that comes from… I thought it was a vegan magazine. And by portretting all men as the stereotypes we are used to, but want to get away from, their losing some of my respect. Nonetheless, everybody makes mistakes and I hope they will see that they made a huge one with this issue.
I agree, I think that VegNews is a great publication overall and hope that this issue is addressed.
Thanks for this article, Sarah. I haven’t seen this VegNews issue but suspected that there would be some problematic perspectives in it. I’m glad to see you addressing them.
Thanks, Ginny.
[…] was so happy to stumble across this critique of VegNews’ “Vegan Man Issue” on Queer Vegan Food. Like Sarah, I too was a little nervous when I heard that one of my favorite vegan magazines was […]
As a straight vegetarian making my way towards vegan, I wanted to say that I appreciated reading your perspective on the ‘Vegan Man’ issue. I included that ‘straight’ adjective only because I wanted to say that I wonder when we will be able to stop identifying as other than those who love each other, animals, and the earth. Thanks for being not only willing, but brave enough to speak out. Diane
Thank you, Diane!!!
I was so afraid of what the latest issue of Veg News would have inside and your review really summed it all up. I was thrilled to find your blog today and realize I am not the only one out there that still makes reference to “The Sexual Politics of Meat.” Well written and I am excited to follow your posts!
Thank you, I look forward to hearing from you again!
As a 24 yr old male living in eastern pa I feel that VegNews did good by putting this “Man Issue” out. Really, I don’t think it takes a research study to show that “manly men” eat steak and girls eat salads. I know, a sterotype. However, most other vegans I know are female. Why not branch out to men?
I have some mixed feelings about this issue, especially being the vegan in a “mixed” relationship where my partner surely would like to be considered manly. Reinforced gender roles which equate masculinity with meat make masculinity less appealing to men. I agree that this shouldn’t be perpetuated, but I think it’s a matter of picking our battles. For VegNews, the major motivation is veganism and there are many men who will only consider veganism if they can maintain their masculinity. I wish traditional gender roles didn’t have to be reinforced to show men that they can be manly and also be vegan, but if you can’t make strides on both agendas, why not try just one? Perhaps veganism could be a starting point for knocking down gender stereotypes once the masculinity barrier to becoming vegan is overcome. I think bombarding people with too much social “radicalism” or change is a surefire way to get them to shy away from these ideals.
Kaitlyn, thank you for this comment. I agree with you that catering to diverse vegans’ needs is important. I wouldn’t want to say that there’s a one-size fits all approach to marketing veganism. I’ve spent enough time in the raw vegan world to appreciate how certain proven health-related benefits of veganism often get people in the door, although ethics/morals/environmental concerns are what, more often than not, keep people vegan. That’s fine. What I don’t think is ok is marketing veganism while perpetuating sexism, heterosexism, homophobia, racism, transphobia, etc. Picking “our” battles assumes that this is a battle we all share; as a vegan movement, the only way we can “share our battles” so to speak is if we work together to step away from battling altogether, and to move into a space of compassion for all beings. The struggle ends when we unite for kindness and non-suffering for all human- and non-human animals. I don’t think it’s at all radical or “bombarding” to advocate for compassion on all levels. It causes harm to promote veganism in ways that marginalize others, and reinforce oppression. Thanks
Thank you for this thoughtful post, Sarah. I’ve been reading the VegNews “man issue,” and something wasn’t sitting well with me. I guess it’s that I feel alienated by it. I’m queer vegan man…and often appear on the cabaret stage as a female character…and experience myself as something in between the typical male/female constructs. Then I read VegNews, what I usually experience as something like home, a place where I can enjoy the company of like-minded folks. But this time I feel on the outside because I’m not fitting into the manly man definitions they are perpetuating. Then I wonder (especially after reading the interview with Nick Cooney) if I’m I not a good advocate for veganism, too “wierd” or not “manly” enough. I don’t think so! By living our truth we are the greatest advocates we can be. These avenues of oppression (homophobia, sexism, speciesism) are totally linked.
Justin, Thank you. You are a brilliant advocate for veganism and I am totally in awe of your courage to live your truth and encourage others to do the same. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
My main issue is the main vegan man interviewed for this issue. Nick Cooney is a rapist but gets a pass cause he’s done “such good work” for the vegan community. He isn’t being held accountable for his actions. I don’t care if he passed a lie detector test or that tons of people say he is awesome. Even if he doesn’t believe what he did is rape, it was. Vegan community needs to hold human rights as strong as they hold animal rights.
Also, can’t wait to get sued for posting this.
I wish you’d taken that VegNews internship. Then you could see what kind of people they ACTUALLY ARE. Also, I’m surprised you didn’t pass out from holding your breath over their reaction to using meat photos – don’t you remember how long they stalled, hoping if they ignored everyone’s outrage the problem would just go away? And the lame apology they first offered?
Your response is excellent, thoughtful, and spot-on. I’m just surprised you expected so much from them in the first place.
Also, to the person above me, if you’d met the publisher, you’d realize why he has no problem glorifying Nick Cooney.
– Former VN paid employee.
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Many thanks -Hugh