Vegaphobia Explained

Vegaphobia, vegephobia, veganphobia, or veganophobia is an aversion to, or dislike of, vegetarians and vegans.[1] [2] [3] The term first appeared in the 2010s, coinciding with the rise in veganism in the late 2010s.[4] [5] Several studies have found an incidence of vegaphobic sentiments in the general population. Positive feelings regarding vegetarians and vegans also exist. Because of their diet, others may perceive them as more virtuous or principled.[6]

Terminology

Three French Veggie Pride activists used the term meaning discrimination against vegetarians, in a 2011 document.[7]

British sociologists Matthew Cole and Karen Morgan used the term vegaphobia and the derived adjective vegaphobic in a 2011 study, meaning prejudice against vegans specifically.[8] Later authors used the term veganphobia (vegan-) in this sense.

Subsequent studies defined vegaphobia as the dual aversion to vegans and vegetarians together. A 2019 study of vegaphobia in this sense added the term vegaphobe for a person with vegaphobia. Previously, the Swiss-Polish actor and producer Jola Cora had also used the dual aversion concept but called it vegephobia (with an 'e'), in a 2013 conference talk titled "Vegephobia, what is it?"[9]

Attitudes in the general population

"In the media, in pop culture and even in progressive, enlightened polite society it is still widely acceptable to make fun of vegans", writes Farhad Manjoo in a 2019 New York Times opinion piece against mocking vegans.[10] Manjoo cites findings from a 2015 study by Canadian psychologists, that the general population rates vegans more negatively than atheists and immigrants, and tolerates vegans only slightly better than drug addicts. Vegans get more negative ratings than vegetarians, and vegan men receive more negative ratings than women. Vegans are rated better if they are motivated by health reasons than if their veganism is driven by ethical or animal rights concerns.[11] [12]

Among around a thousand Belgian Flemish meat eaters surveyed in 2016, vegaphobia against vegetarians was more common among men than among women, among older more than younger people, among people with a firmer intention to keep consuming meat, and among less educated people.[13]

These findings are consistent with vegans who feel discriminated against by people that eat meat.[14] In 2018, a survey of over 1,000 British and American vegans from the weight-loss application Lifesum found 80% of respondents to have experienced some form of anti-vegan prejudice.[15] The fear of being stigmatized when becoming a vegan also keeps some meat-eaters from transitioning to a vegan diet.[16]

Vegan chocolate has been criticised with thousands of "mean tweets", a fact the British chocolate company Cadbury drew attention to in a 2022 campaign.[17] [18]

Meat eaters rate vegans less negatively when they have been reminded that meat comes from animals, a survey of 300 US residents found. The reminder also increased their discomfort while eating meat.[19]

A study published in the Sex Roles journal in 2023 found that men on vegan diets are commonly perceived as less masculine, a stereotype shared across genders and surprisingly even among some female vegans. This reflects a deeply ingrained association between meat-eating and masculinity, highlighting widespread and unexpected biases even within the vegan community.[20]

A 2024 column lamented anti-vegan jokes made by progressives and moderates in the Belgian media.[21]

Attitudes of the media

Academic Laura Wright stated in 2015 that media organizations and wider discourse routinely mischaracterize vegan diets, highlighting situations where media outlets reported the death of children as being from a "vegan diet" rather than the parental neglect that was the actual cause.[22]

A 2011 study found that British media discredit vegans through ridicule, and portray veganism as difficult or impossible to maintain. The six most common vegaphobic statements found in these media were, in order of frequency: ridiculing veganism, erroneously equating veganism with asceticism, perpetuating the myth that veganism is difficult or impossible to sustain, describing veganism as a fashion trend, portraying vegans as sentimentalists, and defining vegans as hostile. The study found that of 397 articles, 20% were neutral, approximately 5% were positive and 75% were negative. In 2018, it was revealed that William Sitwell, a British food editor had sent a vegan an email that mentioned "killing vegans one by one".[23] American Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain in his 2000 book Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain stated he despised vegans and quipped that vegetarians and vegans “are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn.”[24]

On social media, some vegans have also been attacked for their choice to have sexual relations only with other vegans.[25]

Causes of vegaphobia

There are many theories to explain negative attitudes towards vegans and vegetarians.

Several studies have found associations of vegaphobia with various demographic and political traits. Vegaphobia is most common among people with conservative or right-wing beliefs, especially the ones associated with Abrahamic religions,[26] [27] being often most pronounced in far-right individuals and groups.[28] For some right-wing adherents, eating meat is not only a delight, but also a part of their attitudes towards life. Thus, they can perceive those who advocate against meat consumption as a threat to their way of life.[29] A survey of about 1,000 participants showed that vegans are perceived as a threat mainly by older and less educated people, and by meat eaters who are particularly convinced of their habit. A 2019 study also found a positive correlation between world-views rooted in social dominance of some groups over others (i.e., institutionalised discrimination) and a negative perception of vegans.

One explanation for vegaphobia is founded on the meat paradox: many people who eat meat do not like harming animals. Vegans remind them of this cognitive dissonance, and one way to resolve this inner conflict and reduce dissonance is to maintain prejudice against vegans.[30] [31] [32]

Another proposed reason for vegaphobia is that meat eaters may feel judged by vegans and vegetarians for eating meat. Discrediting ethical vegans as do-gooders is then a way to invalidate the judgement of oneself. These negative attitudes against vegans are stronger when vegans are thought to think of themselves as morally superior.[33] [34]

While meat eaters may have an inner conflict about the killing of animals for their food, this explanation of vegaphobia may not hold up to environmental reasons for avoiding meat. Environmentalist meat eaters may not see a conflict in eating meat because they see their individual environmental impact of meat consumption as low.[35]

Vegans may not always be discredited for ideological reasons. Sometimes the reason may be that the vegaphobe cannot share food with them.[36]

Vegaphobia has been framed as an intersectional problem connected to masculinity, race, and gender identity issues.[37] [38] [39]

Vegaphobic acts

Against vegetarians

In the early 1990s, McDonald's started describing its French fries as vegetarian when they, in fact, contained beef-derived flavouring, leading to a ten million US dollar settlement in 2002 for misleading Hindus and other vegetarians into eating food against their conscience.[40]

In 2020, a parliamentary employee of the nationalist Alternative for Germany called someone who ordered vegetarian food in the canteen of the German parliament a pejorative term, saying "we are going to get you".[41]

Against vegans

Philosopher Oscar Horta links vegaphobia to discrimination against vegans, which he observes, among other instances, at the workplace.[42] [43]

Vegans have in individual instances been harassed in the workplace and have been terminated from jobs or excluded from the applicant pool for their veganism.[44] [45]

[46] A survey by the law firm Crossland Employment Solicitors found that among "over 1,000" UK-based vegan employees, nearly a third felt discriminated against at their workplace.[47] A London NHS trust (a unit of the UK's National Health Service) in 2017 put up a discriminatory job advert for an occupational therapist (OT) saying, "Unfortunately, OTs with vegan diets cannot be considered", and that "Veganism or other highly restrictive eating practices cannot be accommodated." When challenged by The Vegan Society, the trust changed the advert and apologized.[48] [46] [49]

A vegan was denied a Swiss passport by local voters,[50] and people have thrown KFC chicken at vegans in England,[51] in both cases as a reaction to their lawful animal rights protest. In 2018, William Sitwell, then editor of the Waitrose Food magazine, responded to a request for a vegan column by proposing "a series on killing vegans, one by one".[52]

A vegan college student from Bristol was told to watch bull castration and visit an abattoir or fail her course in animal management. The university reconsidered after support from The Vegan Society.[53]

A primary school in Solihull forbade a five-year-old from bringing soya milk to school. It took three months and the help of The Vegan Society for the father of the child to change the school's mind.[54]

When learning about a vegan person's diet, many nonvegans list all the animal-based foods that they like, without consideration for how this can make vegans feel uncomfortable ("I just love bacon").[55] :363

Some vegans use the term veganphobia (with an 'n') when discussing prejudice and discrimination against vegans specifically.[56] [57] [58]

Tracking

The in 2019 petitioned the Argentine government agency National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism to include vegaphobia in its discrimination mappings.[59] [60] [61]

Criticism

The application of the term "vegaphobia"—and the extent to which it can be compared to other forms of discrimination—is a somewhat divisive issue.[5] [62] [63] Sophie Wilkinson of Grazia opined in 2018 that discrimination against vegans (unlike sexism, racism, and homophobia) does not go beyond the level of microaggressions. She also wrote that "discrimination is about being treated differently for who you are, not for what you choose to do", implying that being a vegan is not who you are, but rather what you choose to do.[64] Others have distinguished between two kinds of veganism, lifestyle and ethical. Veganism motivated by ethical beliefs about animals was ruled to be a protected belief in the United Kingdom under the Equality Act in an unfair dismissal lawsuit in 2020.[65] [66]

See also

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Vegaphobia: derogatory discourses of veganism and the reproduction of speciesism in UK national newspapers. Matthew. Cole. Karen. Morgan. 1 March 2011. The British Journal of Sociology. 62. 1. 134–153. 10.1111/j.1468-4446.2010.01348.x. 21361905. free.
  2. Book: Griffin, Nathan Stephens. Understanding Veganism: Biography and Identity. 2017-07-20. Springer. 978-3-31952102-2. 24, 47, 120. en.
  3. Hargreaves . Shila Minari . Raposo . António . Saraiva . Ariana . Zandonadi . Renata Puppin . 2021-04-12 . Vegetarian Diet: An Overview through the Perspective of Quality of Life Domains . International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health . 18 . 8 . 4067 . 10.3390/ijerph18084067 . free . 1661-7827 . 8069426 . 33921521.
  4. News: Khara. Tani. November 7, 2018. Why do vegans have such bad reputations?. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. July 20, 2019.
  5. Web site: Vice Media. There's a Term For Hating On Vegans And It's Vegaphobia. July 20, 2019. November 26, 2018. Manisha. Krishnan.
  6. Ruby. Matthew B.. Heine. Steven J.. April 2011. Meat, morals, and masculinity. Appetite. 56. 2. 447–450. 10.1016/j.appet.2011.01.018. 21256169. 7771176.
  7. Book: La végéphobie. Rejet du végétarisme pour les animaux & discrimination des personnes végétariennes . . 2013 . fr.
  8. Web site: Reynolds . George . 2019-10-25 . Why do people hate vegans? . 2021-05-05 . The Guardian . en.
  9. Web site: Vegephobia, what is it? Jola Cora at IARC 2013 Luxembourg. VeganKanal. 12 September 2013. YouTube.
  10. News: Manjoo. Farhad. 2019-08-28. Stop Mocking Vegans. en-US. The New York Times. 2021-05-21. 0362-4331.
  11. MacInnis. Cara C.. Hodson. Gordon. 2017-11-01. It ain't easy eating greens: Evidence of bias toward vegetarians and vegans from both source and target. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. en. 20. 6. 721–744. 10.1177/1368430215618253. 147065882. 1368-4302.
  12. Web site: 为何人们讨厌纯素食主义者？. 2021-07-15. 澎湃新闻 (The Paper).
  13. Vandermoere. Frédéric. Geerts. Robbe. De Backer. Charlotte. Erreygers. Sara. Van Doorslaer. Els. 2019-07-19. Meat Consumption and Vegaphobia: An Exploration of the Characteristics of Meat Eaters, Vegaphobes, and Their Social Environment. Sustainability. en. 11. 14. 3936. 10.3390/su11143936. 2071-1050. free. 10067/1607180151162165141. free.
  14. MacInnis. Cara C.. Hodson. Gordon. 6 December 2015. It ain't easy eating greens: Evidence of bias toward vegetarians and vegans from both source and target. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. 20. 6. 721–744. 10.1177/1368430215618253. 147065882.
  15. Web site: There's a Term For Hating On Vegans And It's Vegaphobia. 2021-05-05. Vice. 21 November 2018 . en. a new survey from Lifesum, a weight loss app, of UK and US-based vegans found that eight out of 10 respondents had experienced “vegaphobia” which it defined as a prejudice against vegans..
  16. Markowski . Kelly L. . Roxburgh . Susan . 'If I became a vegan, my family and friends would hate me:' Anticipating vegan stigma as a barrier to plant-based diets . Appetite . April 2019 . 135 . 1–9 . 10.1016/j.appet.2018.12.040 . 30605705 . 58643649 .
  17. Web site: Momodu . Derek . 2022-03-23 . World's first 'Mean Tweetshop' opens in London to challenge scepticism towards plant-based chocolate . 2022-03-27 . . en.
  18. Web site: Mustaqeem . Syraat Al . 2022-03-23 . Mean Tweetshop: Cadbury's wraps plant-based chocolate in vegan slurs . 2022-03-27 . . en.
  19. Earle . Megan . Hodson . Gordon . Dhont . Kristof . MacInnis . Cara . Eating with our eyes (closed): Effects of visually associating animals with meat on antivegan/vegetarian attitudes and meat consumption willingness . Group Processes & Intergroup Relations . 24 June 2019 . 22 . 6 . 818–835 . 10.1177/1368430219861848 . 164266896 .
  20. Web site: Hendy . Eloise . 2024-01-17 . We Asked Women If Vegan Men Give Them the Ick . 2024-01-17 . . en.
  21. Web site: Van de Velde . Lieve . 2024-06-05 . Uit het hart Dat spotten met vegans en vegetariërs, moet dat echt? . De Standaard.
  22. Book: Laura Wright. The Vegan Studies Project: Food, Animals, and Gender in the Age of Terror. 1 October 2015. University of Georgia Press. 978-0-8203-4854-4. 89–91.
  23. Web site: Higgins . Abigail . 2018-11-02 . Why do people hate vegans so much? . 2021-05-21 . Vox . en.
  24. Web site: Nekritz . Matthew . 2023-10-23 . Beyond Bourdain: Disassembling the Meat-Eater’s Anti-Vegan Bias . 2024-08-04 . The Harvard Crimson . en.
  25. Potts. Annie. Parry. Jovian. 15 February 2010. Vegan Sexuality: Challenging Heteronormative Masculinity through Meat-free Sex. Feminism & Psychology. 20. 1. 53–72. 10.1177/0959353509351181. 144430044.
  26. Judge . Madeline . Wilson . Marc S. . A dual-process motivational model of attitudes towards vegetarians and vegans . European Journal of Social Psychology . February 2019 . 49 . 1 . 169–178 . 10.1002/ejsp.2386 . free . 11343/214063 . free .
  27. Vandermoere . Frédéric . Geerts . Robbe . De Backer . Charlotte . Erreygers . Sara . Van Doorslaer . Els . Meat Consumption and Vegaphobia: An Exploration of the Characteristics of Meat Eaters, Vegaphobes, and Their Social Environment . Sustainability . 19 July 2019 . 11 . 14 . 3936 . 10.3390/su11143936 . free . 10067/1607180151162165141 . free .
  28. News: Weill. Kelly. 24 August 2018. Why Right Wingers Are Going Crazy About Meat. en. The Daily Beast. 28 May 2020.
  29. Dhont . Kristof . Hodson . Gordon . Why do right-wing adherents engage in more animal exploitation and meat consumption? . Personality and Individual Differences . July 2014 . 64 . 12–17 . 10.1016/j.paid.2014.02.002 . 1854/LU-5030419 . free .
  30. Bastian. Brock. Loughnan. Steve. 19 May 2016. Resolving the Meat-Paradox: A Motivational Account of Morally Troublesome Behavior and Its Maintenance. Personality and Social Psychology Review. 21. 3. 278–299. 10.1177/1088868316647562. 27207840. 13360236.
  31. Web site: Gorvett. Zaria. The hidden biases that drive anti-vegan hatred. 2021-05-21. BBC. en.
  32. Rothgerber . Hank . Efforts to overcome vegetarian-induced dissonance among meat eaters . Appetite . August 2014 . 79 . 32–41 . 10.1016/j.appet.2014.04.003 . 24727102 . 12089867 .
  33. Minson . Julia A. . Monin . Benoît . Do-Gooder Derogation . Social Psychological and Personality Science . 18 July 2011 . 3 . 2 . 200–207 . 10.1177/1948550611415695 . 13891898 .
  34. Web site: 'Vegaphobia' Is the Dislike of Vegans. 2021-05-05. Vice. Tani. Khara. 2018-11-19. en.
  35. Scott . Evon . Kallis . Giorgos . Zografos . Christos . Olsson . I Anna S . Why environmentalists eat meat . PLOS ONE . 11 July 2019 . 14 . 7 . e0219607 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0219607 . 31295301 . 6622546 . 2019PLoSO..1419607S . free .
  36. Bresnahan . Mary . Zhuang . Jie . Zhu . Xun . Why is the vegan line in the dining hall always the shortest? Understanding vegan stigma. . Stigma and Health . 2016 . 1 . 1 . 3–15 . 10.1037/sah0000011 .
  37. Oliver . Catherine . 2021-10-24 . Mock meat, masculinity, and redemption narratives: vegan men's negotiations and performances of gender and eating . Social Movement Studies . 22 . 62–79 . 10.1080/14742837.2021.1989293 . 239837115 . 1474-2837. free .
  38. Web site: Staloch . Laura . 2023-06-01 . Vegans are perceived as less suitable for jobs stereotypically associated with masculinity, study finds . 2024-01-17 . PsyPost . en-US.
  39. Delmestri . Giuseppe . 2018-08-01 . Vegaphobia. Emancipation and institutional change for an overlooked diversity dimension . Academy of Management Proceedings . 2018 . 1 . 17488 . 10.5465/AMBPP.2018.17488abstract . 150031743 . 0065-0668.
  40. Web site: McDonald's to pay $10M to vegetarians - Jun. 5, 2002. 2021-05-09. money.cnn.com.
  41. News: Fiedler. Maria. 2020-11-20. Debatte im Bundestag wird zur Generalabrechnung mit der AfD. de-DE. Der Tagesspiegel. 2021-10-30. 1865-2263.
  42. Horta. Oscar. 2018-10-08. Discrimination Against Vegans. Res Publica. en. 24. 3. 360. 10.1007/s11158-017-9356-3. 149303895. 1356-4765. The fact that vegans are often considered worse than nonvegans epistemically, morally, and in general due to vegaphobia, explains some cases where they are intentionally treated worse, and also why vegans are in many cases pressed by others to quit veganism..
  43. Web site: IRN 2020 - Discrimination Against Vegans. The Vegan Society. 4 March 2021. YouTube.
  44. Web site: Prejudice towards vegans endemic in the workplace . 2024-08-04. HR Magazine. en.
  45. Web site: What rights do vegans have?. 2021-05-09. The Vegan Society. en.
  46. Web site: 2017-07-18 . Vegan rights in the UK courts . 2021-05-09 . The Lawyer . en-GB.
  47. Web site: Nearly half of vegans feel discriminated against at work. 2021-05-09. Crossland Employment Solicitors. 9 May 2019 . en.
  48. Web site: Fouzder . Monidipa . Vegan challenges discriminatory job ad . 3 July 2017 . 2021-05-12 . Law Gazette . en.
  49. Web site: Mathes . Sarah . Veganism as a… Religion? . 2022-03-12 . . https://archive.today/20220312224458/https://medium.com/@sarahmwrites/veganism-as-a-religion-c31be69bb4c7 . 2022-03-12 . live.
  50. Web site: Roberts. Elizabeth. 2017-01-12. Vegan denied Swiss citizenship for her 'loud' views on animal rights. 2021-05-09. CNN. en.
  51. Web site: Parker. Hayley. 2020-09-17. Drivers lob chicken legs at vegan activists protesting outside Wayne Walker's. 2021-05-09. StokeonTrentLive. en.
  52. Web site: 2018-10-31. Waitrose magazine editor quits after joke about killing vegans. 2021-05-09. The Guardian. Jim. Waterson. en.
  53. News: 2021-04-13. Bristol vegan student 'told to visit farm or fail course'. en-GB. BBC News. 2021-06-27.
  54. Web site: Hockaday. James. 2021-06-24. Vegan dad couldn't sleep because daughter couldn't take soya milk to school. 2021-06-27. Metro. en.
  55. Greenebaum. Jessica Beth. August 2017. Questioning the Concept of Vegan Privilege: A Commentary. Humanity & Society. en. 41. 3. 355–372. 10.1177/0160597616640308. 148375150 . 0160-5976.
  56. Web site: Banned vegan TikToker complains 'veganphobia is real' – after comparing animal rights to coming out as LGBT+. 2021-06-08. uk.news.yahoo.com. en-GB.
  57. Web site: Wrenn. Corey. 2016-11-08. A Month of Vegan Research: Veganphobia. 2021-06-08. Corey Lee Wrenn, Ph.D.. en-US.
  58. Web site: 2018-11-01. Meat martyrs be warned: the vegans will inherit the Earth . Hinsliff . Gaby . 2021-06-08 . . en.
  59. Web site: UVA . 2013-10-25 . Petición al INADI . 2022-08-20 . UVA.
  60. Web site: Bouzón . Sofia . 2021-12-14 . Veganismo y discriminación en Argentina . 2022-08-20 . LatFem . es-AR.
  61. Web site: UVA . 2019-11-30 . OBSERVATORIO NACIONAL DE LA VEGEFOBIA . 2022-08-20 . UVA.
  62. Web site: Addis . Richard . UK court gives veganism status of a religion . 2021-08-01 . The Day. 7 January 2020 .
  63. Web site: 2013-05-16 . Végéphobie, bisouphobie : l'explosion des phobes . 2022-03-12 . Contrepoints . fr-FR.
  64. News: Wilkinson. Sophie. December 3, 2018. No, Vegan-Based Discrimination Is Nonsense. Grazia. July 20, 2019.
  65. Web site: 2020-01-03 . Ethical veganism is a belief protected by law, tribunal rules . 2022-04-22 . The Guardian. Damien. Gayle . en.
  66. Web site: 2020-01-03 . After tribunal's ethical veganism ruling, what is a protected belief? . 2022-04-22 . The Guardian. Damien. Gayle . en.

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