Of course I support my vegetarian brethren in their dietary and compassionate endeavors, but I sometimes get sick of seeing pictures and viewpoints of a very limited veg demographic. VegNews is a magazine I really like, but the pictures remind me of an L.L. Bean catalog – mildly-liberal white middle-class people in lots of khaki or neat denim and the occasional t-shirt. Where are the people of color? Where are the articles with perspectives from non-white ethnicities or countries? I realize it’s a vegan-focused magazine and most Indians are addicted to dairy, but roughly 50% of the population of India is [lacto-ovo] vegetarian and to me that’s phenomenal. I can hardly believe that VegNews doesn’t have articles or features with/about Indians/India all the time (I’ve never seen one yet).
Perhaps more surprising (given the high visibility within vegan restaurants and “scenes” in USA) is the complete lack of subculture representation. Maybe I have a skewed perspective, living near Allston, MA, but tons of the vegans I’ve met or seen are punk rock or emo or indie (even a few goths) and I don’t recall ever seeing even a tattoo or piercing in VegNews (nor in most vegetarian catalogs). It almost feels like they’re saying, yes, we care about animals, but we’re totally normal in every other regard, so come on mainstream, accept us. Whereas, they should be saying, we have broad compassion and welcome vegetarians of all stripes, mainstream should follow our example.
A recent issue of VegNews (April 2008) made a valiant effort to showcase some diversity, featuring a person of color on the cover and an article called “Privilege or Necessity?” dealing with the class issue (and argument that being vegan is too expensive for some), which was incidentally very good. That article featured another picture of people of color, but aside from that, the magazine still feels very white and privileged overall (making this feel like a one-off, rather than a new direction), but at least there’s an inkling of diversity (even an article by someone queer). Still, I’d love to see a broader perspective in general and even some articles addressing how vegetarianism fits into other cultures or movements (feminism, environmentalism, etc.) or even how it could or should fit in.
While I recognize the importance of staying focused on a unifying theme, I don’t see how animal rights are fundamentally different than human rights and therefore any movement fighting for equality does, in my mind, tie into the compassionate mindset that is the basis for [moral] vegetarianism. Of course, this particular issue papercuts both ways as many movements centered on human rights are woefully disinterested in the terrible conditions of animal agriculture, but I feel like we vegetarians have a deeper compassion (not limited to just one species) and therefore need to step up. Can you really say that no animal should be made to suffer by keeping it penned in a very small cage, but that it’s fine for women to get paid 30% less for doing the same job as men and that it’s fine to persecute people based on skin color or for having a same-sex relationship?
