Vegan Feminism History, Theory, Activism

Veganism speaks to human relations with other animals and the environment, but given its critique of power and resistance to oppression, it is also a useful framework for analyzing current and future gender relations. Vegan Feminism examines this correlation as documented in largely untapped archives and living memories of women’s activist history coupled with modern critical analyses of gender, food, and multispecies interactions. It champions vegan feminism as crucial for effective activist mobilization, academic research, and social policy development. Traditional feminist theory has not fully acknowledged women’s shared oppression with other animals, nor does it extend its critique of consumption to include veganism. A similar shortcoming persists within the animal rights movement, as its associated theory typically lacks adequate consideration of gender. To bridge theories of oppression and liberation from both feminist and vegan discourses, Vegan Feminism contributes insights from the social sciences using a mixed-method approach that includes qualitative content analysis of social movement records and popular media, qualitative interviewing with leading feminist figures in the animal rights movement, and a critical review of existing academic research on the intersection of gender, food, and animals. Vegan Feminism offers a novel sociological analysis of feminist animal activism in the West from the 19th century to present.