Gone are the days when veganism was a mocked subculture where activists championed animal rights against wearing fur and testing products on animals. Today, veganism has permeated to the masses and is often painted as an aesthetically pleasing canvas on Instagram. Lifestyle social media influencers have also jumped onto the bandwagon to worship and advocate this lifestyle as part of their personal branding. Searches for “veganism” and “Instagram” have gradually risen to prominence since 2012, creating a positive correlation relationship between the two.
But veganism has challenged societal norms and is questioned by its legitimacy of the “prestige” lifestyle. Vegaphobia is described as an aversion towards vegetarianism and veganism. The PR overhaul on Instagram, unfortunately, fails to outweigh the heavy media play created by major newspaper publishing companies. Such exposure causes threats and hostility towards vegans, forcing them to react differently among non-vegans (talking about veganism only when asked, constantly distancing themselves from elements of vegan stigma). This forces people to feel self-conscious about a moral issue and act within social barriers, straining relationships between vegans and non-vegans.
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The U.S. has seen a 600% increase in people self-reporting as vegans in the last three years. Major U.S. cities like Los Angeles and New York City have a higher concentration of vegan-friendly restaurants which are heavily patronized by customers who are likely to be fresh college graduates or from the upper class. As a lifestyle for the young, vega phobia is relatively less common among people under 30 years old, women, and the higher educated. The segregation between status quo causes omnivores to harbor guilt as they are unable to fully comprehend and feel inferior.
If vegans are already stigmatized as a minority group, how negatively viewed are they compared to other minority groups such as Blacks and Homosexuals? A recent study focusing on whether vegans are targets of systematic bias by omnivores revealed that more negative attitudes were displayed towards vegans than the other minority groups.
So why do people hate vegans? Research shows that veganism causes non-vegans to get self-conscious, as it implies a failure of them to participate in a moral issue. Out of guilt, non-vegans may then develop a sense of hatred and displeasure towards vegans. Unresolved guilt plays out along a continuum stretching from framing one’s own non-vegan practices as “moderate” (such as “I don’t eat that much meat”) to actual anger and hostile behavior towards vegans. Some may also feel that adopting veganism is a form of food deviance, thus triggering more stigma and criticism. Food practices are socially powerful markers of social and cultural identity, making it difficult for many to accept any deviation from what is deemed as a socially appropriate diet. Meat-eating in particular has been closely implicated in the construction of masculine identity, where there is a subtle appeal as to why men eat meat despite being aware of veganism benefits — it makes them feel like a man. This brings about a snowball effect when people engage in veg-phobic behavior or conversations in fear of getting ostracised or stigmatized.
Anti-vegan media hostility has also been on the rise, as seen in a majority of the UK national newspapers representing veganism in a bad light. The media plays a significant role in the shaping and spreading of cultural ideas, and in this case, can heavily influence the social perception and acceptance of veganism. In the articles, veganism has been perceived as ridiculous, self-abstinent, difficult and impossible to sustain, a fashionable phenomenon, hypersensitive, or even hostile. As such, the reason for vega phobia can be strongly traced back to media reports who take on a negative stance on veganism.
Vegans themselves may also trigger vega phobia! This is the case when they conduct extreme behaviors, one clear example being an advertisement from PETA where they suggested that feeding meat to children is child abuse. Although it is effective in catching the audience’s attention, the usage of guilt appeal (moral reproach) may backfire, triggering discontentment from non-vegans, and creating more hate towards veganism.
Lastly, vega phobia differs culturally, mainly between Western and Asia regions, with the former experiencing a higher proportion of vega phobia mindset. This is due to the different eating habits in different cultures — western countries adopt a more meat-eating culture as compared to Asian countries where adopting plant-based diets such as veganism may be more of a norm. As such, adopting a vegan lifestyle would be more accepted in Asian countries than it would be in Western countries, so vega phobia is less prominent in the former as well.
All these causes leading up to feelings of hatred and prejudice towards vegans do have significantly damaging repercussions. Strong feelings of dislike, as well as negative perceptions towards the vegan community, can eventually escalate into hostile action and discrimination. In 2018, William Sitwell, a magazine editor, had to quit his job after spewing criticism about vegans, even terrorizing them with death threats, by asking his fellow colleague, “How about a series on killing vegans, one by one?”. Portraying vegans in a bad light has adverse effects that may even affect basic human rights. In 2017, a vegan in Switzerland had her citizenship revoked because her neighbors have been overwhelmed by her advocation for veganism. Many vegans have also reported that whenever they voice out their identity as vegans, they are often faced with malevolence.
These are instances of the harsh reality of unjust treatment that vegans would have to put up with constantly, further demonstrating how a group of people can be so unfairly treated just because they do not adhere to the social food norms of meat-eating.
Relationship-wise, groups of vegans and avid meat-eaters can grow apart as a result of vegaphobia. Meat-eaters who are engraved in the belief of vegaphobia may have negative perceptions that are so strong they despise and avoid vegans, through social distancing. Social distancing (the act of physically distancing themselves from vegans) not only allows non-vegans to refrain from a courtesy stigma, but it also reinforces food norms on meat-eating. Humiliating and distancing socially from vegans will only emphasize how these norms are acceptable and appropriate. This convinces society to adhere to the normal behavior of meat-eating, strengthening identification between non-stigmatized and stigmatized groups.
Social distancing becomes more personal when intimate relationships are jeopardized. For example, the presence of a vegan family member can be problematic. Family food traditions may get disrupted when someone in the household changes their diet to veganism, as the vegan family member no longer (fully) participates in family food traditions, which are highly emotionally valued. Vegans find themselves engaging in meals (with friends and family) less for various reasons — either they do not want to be seen as a liability, or they did not get invited for meals by other meat-eaters. In the case that they do engage in meals with other meat-eaters, they often receive antagonistic questioning from omnivores, including family and friends. Interrogations are often followed by open ridicule and discrediting of veganism as unwarranted or merely a temporary phase. This act of ridicule and discrediting of vegans creates an explicit bias toward them. This explicit bias that has been formed then becomes the base of subsequent vegan ridicule, creating a cycle of prejudice towards vegans. Eventually, this leads vegans to experience tensions in social relationships with non-vegans.
Strain in relationships may result in lost friendships, reduced contact, or even exclusion from social activities, portraying the high social costs of veganism. A recent survey in 2018 found that 92 percent of respondents experience vega phobia from family and friends, further proving the point above. The example of social distancing in a familial context suggests how intimate relationships can be harmed due to beliefs and practices that lie outside social barriers.
The reputation of vegans can deteriorate further as lesser people are interested in adopting vegan diets. Vegaphobia may prevent individuals from reducing their meat intake as they anticipate the stigma that would follow from food deviance and they want to avoid experiencing the same negative treatment as vegans. Individuals anticipate that if they were to reduce consumption of meat products—hence adopting the ways in which deviant, plant-based people behave, such as vegans—they would be subject to similar stigmatizing treatment for their food choices, hence choosing not to adopt such diets in fear of being ostracized.
All in all, we need to be conscious of our diet and consume responsibly. Other than educating non-vegans on the benefits of veganism, the introduction of reductionism (gradual reduction in consumption) and flexitarianism (consuming plant-based foods with the occasional inclusion of meat and animal by-products) has helped to build bridges for non-vegans to gradually understand veganism as an alternative dietary lifestyle. Although we can never fully eliminate prejudice against veganism, we need to note that any effort, no matter how small, are crucial to reducing vega phobia.
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