For Day 14 of Vegan MoFo, it's time for another post about vegan lifestyle, not just food.
If you are vegan/vegetarian or even read the news a lot, you have probably heard the term "vegansexual" or "vegesexual." If you're not familiar, it refers to veg people who will only date/marry/procreate with other veg men or women. Nooo it does not refer to people who like to "be with" fruits or vegetables. Just veg person and veg person. Anyway. This can be kind of a conflicting issue. On one hand, there are a lot of wonderful, loving people in the world who are not vegan. On the other hand, it seems only logical that one would want to date someone who shares their beliefs, ideals, and lifestyle habits. And if you are planning on marrying or committing to that person and have children, that makes those lifestyle choices even more important when getting paired up with a mate. I have only dated vegan men most recently, but I am not sure where I stand on this. I can't imagine going out with a guy to dinner and he has a plate full of dead animal flesh and pus-filled dairy cheese. Gross! And to think of kissing him after eating that?! Don't think so. But I'm not sure if it's being "too picky" to expect a partner to be a strict vegan like myself, or if it would be alright to compromise if they were just a vegetarian or, heaven forbid, a omnivore who is a good guy. This is tough.
This wave of vegesexuals and dating based on dietary practices has been in the news quite a bit lately, and not just in vegan news sources. While there is this VegNews article and others like them on the issue, more mainstream news have even talked about it. Check out this article in the New York Times wrote about this dating practice! We're famous, guys!
So, lemme know what you think! Are you vegansexual? Or do you date vegetarians or omnis even if you're vegan? Leave a comment on your practices and opinions! And don't be shy!
3 comments:
I'm not. I dated a fellow veg and although it made the food issue easier, it really didn't add a lot to the experience otherwise. My husband is omni, but loves everything I cook. I love cooking at home, so he eats vegan most of the time. If he wants meat, he will make it or get it when we eat out. For us it's a happy medium.
If I were out there in the dating pool, I would definitely look for veganism as a quality, but I wouldn't exclude someone I really liked if they weren't. There's always conversion via vegan cupcakes!!
haha so true!
To me, if one is vegan because of his or her ethical choices, then there is no way he or she could share an intensely intimate relationship with someone who isn't. While it might be OK in the short term, I would predict problems in the long term. After all, a vegan ethos has branches in core beliefs on everyday life. If a pair were to differ on eating hamburgers, for example, then the difference could really be on their respective stances regarding genocide. Barring a change in behavior -- the meat-eater converts, or the vegan gives up his or her beliefs -- I can see no relationship of enduring quality to develop from a pair with that sort of mismatch.
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