image by Jarrrr
The term vegansexual first emerged in 2007 and created a bit of a stir in the vegan community. Coined by Annie Potts and Madala White of the University of Canterbury’s Centre for Human-Animal Studies in New Zealand, a vegansexual is a vegan who refuses to get romantic or sexual with a non-vegan, shying away from omnivores and refusing to splash around outside of the vegan pool.
These are not vegans who would prefer to date another vegan—they think it is downright nasty to get down with a meat-eater. The reasoning behind this varies from the very rational—they simply want to date someone with similar interests—to the more extreme—they find the smell and taste (yep, taste) of meat eaters repulsive. Some vegans have made claims that they find omnivores to have stinkier sweat and a more pungent flavor than herbivores.
The study done by Potts and White in 2007 found that vegan women, more so than vegan men, were more likely to be turned off by a meat eater.
I can understand the whole vegansexual idea from the viewpoint of longevity; if I am going to be in a serious relationship with someone, as far as compatibility goes, it will probably be easier and more convenient if they too followed a plant based diet. Plus, I adore animals to the point I refuse to eat them, and I would love to find someone else who feels the same. But as far as a fling or something casual goes, I wouldn’t judge by dietary behavior—it would severely limit my dating pool. I like to look at things from both angles, and how hurt would I be if I was out with someone who found out I was vegan and decided they didn’t like me anymore? Of course, veganism is much more than merely diet—so would it bother me to date someone who had no problem with exploiting animals?
For me, veganism is all about compassion, and I try to avoid judgment as much as possible. So, if I fell for someone, I wouldn’t write them off just because we might have dissimilar interests. Just like any relationship, you often have to work around differences, and as long as they didn’t try to change my beliefs, I wouldn’t try to change theirs. I will say however, from experience, that as a thoughtful, loving and compassionate individual who cares about my body and the planet, I have been attracted to people who are similar. So, even if the person I am dating is omnivorous when we first get to know each other, by observing what I eat and discussing why I live the way I do, they have organically modified their lifestyles. In my last relationship, my boyfriend started out as an omnivorous, albeit health conscious, eater. By the end of our three years together, he had made the decision—on his own—to become vegetarian.
Where do you stand on this? Would you date a non-vegan? Have you found that omnivores have a different scent and flavor than vegans? Does the term vegansexual rub you the wrong way? I want to know!
