A theoretical veganism question came to me today. Here it is in the roughest of forms. Tell me what you think:
Animality :
I consider myself a vegan in practice and in theory. So I'm constantly reevaluating my relationship and the larger human relationship with non-human animals. (Sorry if that seemed to be creating an immediate divide between the two.) Animality, quite simply put, is the essence of being an animal, something which we necessarily tie to being non-human. However, as I have put in other posts, humans are necessarily animals and I think there is something quite radical about embracing one's animality, that is to say, questioning cultural norms that go against "animality" and hiding one's "animalness." We also see how animality ties in with feminism quite frequently (check out Carol Adams or Pattrice Jones for more on that) and how The Woman is often connected with The Animal, that is to say that She possesses more animal-like qualities that Man (male) does not possess (see: emotions, involuntary menstruation, focus on the body rather than the mind, and all the rest of that garbage.) So. I think more and more amongst vegan advocates we see a shift towards embracing our own animality, that is to say that since humans are necessarily animals we must recognize our own needs and desires as necessarily human, rather than dismissing them when they arrive. Our animal needs are just as legitimate as our "rational" needs.
Vegetarianism and Embracing Our Animality... Does it Clash ?
FYI, this is a space of thought, not of thesis. I attended a lecture on vegetarianism and the speaker coined vegetarians and vegans alike as "Abstinents" as if it were some necessary withdrawal from society, an abstaining from part of the cultural story-telling, etc. However, the argument can be made that meat and killing is a desire. Fortunately in our society most of us have come to terms with the fact that killing one another is unacceptable (exceptions: government-approved activities such as war, grassroots independence movements, etc.), so my argument for vegetarianism doesn't crumble by me saying this :)
However, to what point can one remedy the notion that we embrace our own animality and desires and all the while "abstain" from an industry so horrible?
I think the answer lies somewhere in the fact that questions and categories are not quite as discrete as I've made them out to be. Animality does not mean savageness, after all, it simply means recognizing that we are animals and as such are not simply brains detached from the rest of our physical beings. One can be animal and ethical at the same time. But all the while the argument is continually made that meat is a desire, a need to consume the flesh of another being. I think this question merits some more evaluation... So please don't hesitate to give me feedback!
