Vegan Warrior Princesses Attack!

We are FINALLY doing our Returned Ex-Vegans episode, woohoo! Today we bring you five unique and moving stories about people who went vegan, stopped being vegan, and became vegan again. Their stories illuminate the many reasons why we need to have compassion for those who struggle to stay vegan in this non-vegan world, and why we need to have an inclusive, sensitive, anti-capitalist movement that goes beyond defining veganism by consumption.

In This Episode

We want to say a deeply heartfelt thank you to our five contributors for their amazing stories. We lucked out that all stories were unique, each showing different sides of why being vegan is so hard for so many people, and how sometimes it takes a few tries to have it stick.

Their Stories

Sarah

Struggled with: disordered eating

Favorite quote:

Now that I’m approaching veganism from a healthy mindset, I don’t restrict myself from any foods. My therapist and I agreed that my lifestyle should still be restriction-free, but I no longer consider animals food (for me). I know that is a privilege that I have, and I don’t hold anyone else to that definition of food, but for me, it’s what works and keeps me mentally healthy. I’ve also shifted away from a food-centric veganism. Yes, food is obviously important for veganism, but there’s also planet-destroying-capitalism, plastic waste in the ocean, makeup products, testing on animals, the fashion industry, and using animals for entertainment. My veganism has expanded beyond food, and that’s been absolutely critical in keeping mental health in check.

Liza

Struggled with: white cis hetero-patriarchial vegan community, PETA, lack of options

Favorite quote:

I don’t give a shit if being vegan is trendy, and vegan assholes won’t bring me down or dampen my commitment to reducing the harm I do in the world as much as possible. Veganism has become part of my anti-exploitation activism, and I am sure that as I move through this world I will find even more aspects of exploitation I participate in that I had never considered before.

Leanne

Struggled with: convenience, conviction and community

Favorite quote:

In early 2017 I found the idea of being vegan was something I couldn’t let go of, and the back and forth was getting me down and I felt like a bit of a failure with it. I decided to give it one last go, all in with no exceptions. I felt like in order to stick with it this time, I needed to find a community and actively involve myself in veganism as activism not just as a diet if I wanted to make it stick.

Celina

Struggled with: family pressure, finances

Favorite quote:

I have been feeling really great about our current state of veganism especially since I have transitioned to being ethically vegan instead of being a health vegan. I can easily say to my family “Violence is not part of our family’s values.” And they shut up. I still get made fun of and sneered at plenty by the people who supposedly would support me no matter what, and love me unconditionally, but right now at least my nuclear family is vegan.

Nina

Struggled with: wanting to fit in, rebelling against parents

Favorite quote:

Sometimes I get frustrated when the people I love don’t understand how I feel about animals. But then I have to remind myself that I was raised vegan, and it still took me 24 years to make the choice to be vegan for myself.

Joke in the Middle

What do you call a potato with glasses?

Related Research Articles

* Conservatism predicts lapses from vegetarian/vegan diets to meat consumption (through lower social justice concerns and social support)...

To wrap up our Creepy Kids’ Movies series, we talk about how generally creepy most kids’ movies are – from fucked up lessons for children to things that are just downright disturbing. We had a LOT of fun with this one!

In This Episode

We get silly and wrap up our analyses of Coraline and The Last Unicorn, and also our discussion about Asexuality, with a fun and laughter-filled rundown of how fucking creepy and unsettling most mainstream kids’ movies are…like, how many Disney movies revolve around kissing someone when they are dead or unconscouis, locking a girl up by herself to deal with her magical powers, LGBTQIA erasure, etc.

Article Mentioned

11 Disney Movies That Are Actually Scary If You Think About Them (Glamour)

Joke in the Middle

What is colorful and smart?

Links and Information

News

* Vegetarian Protein Is Just As ‘Complete’ As Meat, Despite What We’ve Been Taught (HuffPost)

* Animal-Free Dairy-Tech Company Raises $24.7 Million (VegNews)

* Beyoncé Urges 112 Million Fans to Go Vegan for Coachella

(VegNews)

We are honored to have Molly Woodstock back on the show, this time to talk about asexuality!

In This Episode

WE ARE SO EXCITED about this week’s epsiode, y’all. Molly Woodstock, our fave, is back on the show to talk to us about asexuality, a sexual identity that is often completely misunderstood if not entirely erased from public discourse and media representations.

Asexuality, as defined by WhatIsAsexuality.com, is defined as: a sexual orientation characterized by a persistent lack of sexual attraction toward any gender. Asexuality is a sexual orientation, like homosexuality or heterosexuality. And like being straight or being gay, it’s about what someone feels, not what someone does. Dating, having sex, masturbating, falling in love, getting married, or having children do not conflict with asexuality in any way. There are many reasons why an asexual person might do these things that do not require sexual attraction to be present. Asexuality is not a choice.

Experiencing arousal or orgasm also do not conflict with asexuality. At least 1% of people are believed to be asexual.

About Our Guest

Molly is the host of Gender Reveal podcast, Smash Everything! podcast, is the content editor for Travel Portland and Portland Monthly Magazine.

Joke in the Middle

What is colorful and smart?

Links and Information

News

* United Kingdom to Ban Wild Animal Circuses (VegNews)

* Vegans Now Have Their Own Cryptocurrency (VegNews)

For some ungodly reason, EVERYONE, except us, loves The Last Unicorn. You asked us to review it, so we’re all complicit in this mess.

In This Episode

Sigh. You know we love y’all, right? Our relationship is strong enough to survive this, yes? So…per many many listener requests, we watched The Last Unicorn…and we hated it. Since literally every other person in existence loves this movie, maybe we’ve fallen into an alternate universe? We’re very confused. Still, we had fun doing a ranty-recap and making each other laugh, hopefully y’all can enjoy us enjoying not enjoying this movie ;x

Joke in the Middle

What kind of bees produce milk?

Links and Information

News

* ‘Dismal’ Offerings On Vegan Cruise Leave Guests ‘Starving’ And Angry (Plant Based News)

* Anti-Dairy PSA Airs During Olympic Closing Ceremony (VegNews)

* The #MeTooing of Wayne Pacelle (Spectator): MAJOR WARNING – this article is a steaming pile of upsetting trash. Proceed at your own risk. Also:

Since Nichole hasn’t been able to stop thinking about Coraline, a gorgeous and creepy AF 3D stop-motion animated film by Henry Selick and Neil Gaiman, we decided to talk about this week, kicking off a short creepy kids’ movie series.

In This Episode

This week we’re talking about Coraline, a dark fantasy horror movie for kids (and adults!). This film is breathtaking in its technical execution, its beauty, and most of all, in its exploration of a dark and difficult topic: abuse. We absolutely fell in love with this movie and recommend it to everyone who loves dark and creepy things.

Content warning: talk of child abuse, neglect, gaslighting, mind control

For fun, we also explore some fan theories about the “secret” meaning of Coraline. Our favorites can be found in this video:

Joke in the middle

How do dinosaurs pay their rent?

Spotlight On

Collectively Free, an amazing organization that does direct actions and community building events. Please check them out and support their work!

Links and Information

News

* Investors Condemn Whole Foods for Ignoring Vegan Shift (VegNews)

* Ranchers Petition USDA to Define Beef (VegNews)

* New Vegan Eatery Shares Profits with Employees (VegNews)

This week we pair up with The Bearded Vegans to cover the dumpster fire that is the mainstream Animal Rights movement, as revealed by the recent #TimesUpAR campaign.

In This Episode

In a collaboration with our dear friends Andy and Paul from The Bearded Vegans podcast, we take a deep dive through a timeline of the recent public allegations that have come out against male leaders in the animal rights movement. We then follow it up with a conversation about public apologies by other men in the movement, avoiding ally theater, and how we can all help create a better movement going forward.

UPDATED TO ADD: It has come to our attention that Collectively Free was not credited for the #ARTooWhite actions at the Animal Rights Conference in 2016. We apologize for this oversight, we are huge fans of both that action and that organization!

Public allegations timeline

Jan 14th

* Carol Adams posts publicly on Facebook – tagging Paul Shapiro (formerly the Vice President of Farm Animal Protection at HSUS and author of Clean Meat).

Jan 18th

* HSUS Exec Refuses to Deny Sexual Harassment Allegations

Jan 25th

* Humane Society CEO Under Investigation for Sexual Relationship With Employee, article on Philanthropy.com

Jan 26th

* The Animal Welfare Movement’s #metoo Problem, article published on The Philanthropy Chronicles by Marc Gunther

Jan 29th

* Humane Society CEO is subject of sexual harassment complaints from three women, according to internal investigation, article on Washington Post

Jan 30th

* Female Employees Allege Culture of Sexual Harassment at Humane Society. Two senior officials, including the CEO, have been investigated for incidents dating back over a decade, article on Politico

* Paul Shapiro posts a public statement – It is a PDF of, what appears to be, a letter that was printed out and then scanned, hidden in a Dropbox link

* Rick Bernthal, chair of the board at HSUS sends email to deputy directors telling them to focus on their work

Jan 31st

* Humane Society donors call for firing of chief executive after sexual harassment complaints, article on Washington Post

* Top Lab-Grown Meat Advocate Accused of Creating Atmosp...

Going off our usual format, we’re celebrating 3 years of VWPA with a terrible (AWESOME) joke, updates on the upcoming book club, tangents galore, and a slew of ridiculous rants. This episode is the hottest of hot messes.

We’re continuing our conversation about universal basic income, or UBI, this week, this time confronting common stigmas that keep most people from believing that UBI would be a good thing for society.

In This Episode

A continuation of last week’s episode on Universal Basic Income. See those show notes for links to all of our research! Also, Nichole does a ranty-recap of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, another Matthew McConaughey classic!

Joke in the Middle

What time did the man go to the dentist?

Links and Information

News

* Mosa Meat to Debut Slaughter-Free Meat by 2020 (VegNews)

* The FBI’s Hunt for Two Missing Piglets Reveals the Federal Cover-Up of Barbaric Factory Farms (The Intercept)

This week (and next week) we are finally tackling a topic that we’ve been interested in for a long time: universal basic income (UBI)! In this episode, we define what UBI is, talk about the results of some studies done relating to UBI, talk about how much it might cost and where that money could come from.

In This Episode

Today we’re talkin’ universal basic income (UBI). The episode recording went REALLY long, so we decided to split it into two parts. Today’s portion talks about the facts and figures around UBI; next week we tackle more of the societal stigmas and beliefs around giving people money and why a lot of them don’t hold water.

Joke in the Middle

Why kind of ant can count?

Links and Information

News

* Grass is Running Out for Grass-Fed Beef (VegNews)

* Major Meat Producer Cargill Invests In Pea Protein to ‘Accelerate Production’ (Plant Based News)

Resources

* Wouldn’t Unconditional Basic Income Just Cause Massive Inflation? (Medium)

* Giving housing to the homeless is three times cheaper than leaving them on the streets (Vox)

* Should we give every homeless person a home? (BBC)

* California Spends Six Times More On Prison Inmates Than On College Students (Think Progress)

* Universal Basic Income: Why Elon Musk Thinks It May Be The Future (International Business Times)

* Why we should give everyone a basic income | Rutger Bregman | TEDxMaastricht (YouTube)

* The Meatonomics Index (Meatonomics.com)

On the recommendation of a listener, we watched The Corporation and it got us on 10 all over again about how corporations are the WORST.

In This Episode

We watched The Corporation, a documentary from 2003 that talks all about why corporations are the fucking worst. Though we didn’t love the format of the documentary, the information within was really good and got us thinking about a lot of things, including how corporations externalize costs to all of us and how they profit off war and disaster.

Joke in the Middle

Did you hear about the guy who invented Lifesavers?

Links and Information

News

* Arizona Gets its First Vegan Supermarket (VegNews)

* Mac ‘n Cheese Championship Goes Down in Baltimore (VegNews)

* It is now illegal not to offer vegan food at prisons, hospitals and schools in Portugal (Metro UK)

* BREAKING: Veganuary Goes Global With Sign Ups From 182 Countries (Plant Based News)