Fear of a “Gender-bender” planet…(sigh)… November 18, 2009

http://www.naturalnews.com/027514_phthalates_feminization.html

This bothers me because I can’t necessarily say I would care if my infant son, Sun, were “feminized”. Who freaking cares as long as he’s happy!?

I am turned off by the phrase “gender-bender phthalate chemicals.” Mike Adams doesn’t seem to understand that the rigid heteropatriarchal heteorsexist able-bodied binary of female/male in the USA is, in itself, a problem; what does playing with certain toys have to do with exposure to “chemicals?” Is this guy serious? See below what I quoted (source: http://www.naturalnews.com/027514_phthalates_feminization.html):

(NaturalNews) In a bombshell finding that has far-reaching implications for society and culture, scientists at the University of Rochester have found that phthalates — the chemical found in many vinyl and plastic products — tends to “feminize” boys, altering their brains to express more feminine characteristics. The study has been published in the Journal of Andrology.

Phthalates are found in vinyl products (including vinyl flooring), PVC shower curtains, plastic furniture and even in the plastic coating of the insides of dishwashing machines.

The feminization process happens during pregnancy when phthalate exposure causes hormone disruptions in the unborn baby. This chemical feminizes males by disrupting the action of the hormone testosterone.

In this recent study, researchers found a strong correlation between the types of toys that male children play with and the level of phthalates found in their mothers when they were pregnant. Researchers discovered that boys exposed to high levels of phthalates in the womb tend to avoid playing with cars, trains or toy guns. They also avoided rough play, instead preferring more feminine toys and activities. (Barbie?)

Sometimes he can be very “know it all straight white middle class” guy who thinks he can speak for everyone and know what is “healthy” for everyone to eat.  He uses phrases and wording that are so encased in white middle-class heterosexual able-bodied male privilege…and it drives me crazy! But, at the same time, he feels strongly that he is helping many people. I have benefited from many things he has written, but he totally needs to take an awareness class around gender, whiteness, class, etc. because he is constantly doing this. I don’t think he’s aware of it. I think I should probably write him and let him know…

…and it’s not that he can’t write from the “white middle-class heterosexual able-bodied male privilege” perspective… I think what irritates me is that he doesn’t reflect on it or at least name where he is coming from, as opposed to making it as if it’s “common sense” or “universally” applicable.

 

A bunch of links & a query… November 18, 2009

I’m really bummed I haven’t been able to post more here in the past few months — more about that later, maybe, but for now, a few links:

First of all, check out the blogroll (on the right hand side of the blog — click over if you’re reading via RSS feeds!). I keep stumbling on new awesome vegan blogs but also even more excitingly, more blogs by vegans of color!

Secondly, a link I’ve had open in a browser tab for literally months: Self-Delusion and the Lie of Lifestyle Activism. This argues that the impact of individual changes such as building a compost pile or recycling are generally not enough to make a difference (& in the case of the widespread habit of recycling, can be counterproductive because of the emphasis on recycling as opposed to reducing waste). This is partly because, the post argues, modeling a behavior is not generally enough to get other people to adopt it. I read the full post months ago & didn’t wade through the plethora of comments, but I’m sure being vegan would be something that the author would put under that category as well. I don’t agree with everything — though there are some good points made there — but I think as vegans & vegan activists there is a lot to think about regardless.

Thirdly, I saw the other day that Battlestar Galactica’s Grace Park is now shilling for PETA. Sigh.

Right, now my query. This is generally not an easy time of year for me, between the darkening of the days (& the declining temperature) & the holidays. I’m doing a lot of work just to keep myself on any kind of even keel, but one thing that often gets put on hold is, well, doing activist things or even feeling excited or inspired by the issues. It’s not as if I’m contemplating stopping being vegan — that is most definitely NOT the case — more just that I haven’t had the energy or inspiration to go trawling through all the vegan blogs & campaigns & stuff that I used to do.

What do you do when you find yourself in kind of a rut? I know for burnout taking a break is a good idea, but it’s not that I’m burnt out (well: not in terms of veganism, although I did have a huge disillusioning infuriating situation earlier this year [related to other issues] that has made me really pissed off with certain aspects of the activist crowd where I live). I’m just kind of… maintaining at the moment. I want to be inspired & invigorated again (note: shock tactics won’t do the trick, so no one suggest I watch Earthlings, please). Suggestions?

Veganism and choices about non-vegan based medications/prescriptions October 27, 2009

I remember I was in a bicycle accident a few years ago and needed stitches because the under part of my bike sliced up my leg.  After getting stitched up in the ER, the doctor asked me, “When was the last time you had a tetanus shot?” I told her it had been about 11 or 12 years. She told me that I needed one immediately. After about 5 minutes of her telling me why I should get it (versus me knowing that animal products are used in it), I decided to do it. Though I did make the conscious choice for stitches that were removable (versus the animal based ones that are absorbed into the system), it bothered me about making the conscious choice about getting the tet shot. I wonder if I was really at danger. What would have happened had I not done it? Was the doctor really valid in her concerns? Was I simply giving in to ignorant fear and probably not thinking too clearly because I was still in shock from the bike accident?

The other year, a good friend of mine had emergency root canal surgery. A strict raw foods vegan, he was torn about getting a prescription for a heavy antibiotic in which the caps were not vegan. He and I asked the pharmacist if she could order a vegan capsule for him, but they were not able to find it. Ultimately, he decided to take it, but felt really horrible about it.

How does one negotiate these situations? Many people who practice veganism also rely on medications, prescriptions, etc that were developed using animal ingredients and/or experimented on animals. This is not a judgmental question, just a question I have because I have a lot of people telling me they are 100% vegan in lifestyle, but I am wondering what “100%” really means. Is that possible for many people, when dealing with reliance on prescriptions, medications, surgery, etc? Please share your story or thoughts on this.

Best,

Breeze

Quick & Easy Vegan Comfort Food Cookbook Giveaway October 15, 2009

Greetings!

I’m excited to announce the release of my first cookbook Quick & Easy Vegan Comfort Food. Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food is perfect for new vegans, long-time vegans, or meat eaters trying to bring more healthful options into their diets. Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food has more than 150 go-to recipes for those looking for the tastes of home. The book opens by debunking myths that sometimes get in the way of eating vegan and introduces readers to favorite ingredients, cooking tools, and my love of quick, easy and tasty veganized comfort classics.

Dishes include Southern favorites such as Fried Chik’n Seitan, Collard Greens and Sweet Potato pie, Midwestern Tuno Casserole and Sloppy Josephs, while recipes for Black Bean Enchiladas and Fool Your Friends Tacos represent the Southwestern classics. There’s something for everyone and best of all, it is all animal-free.

 

Head to the Vegan Guinea Pig Blog and enter to win a free copy of Quick & Easy Vegan Comfort Food just by leaving a comment and telling me what your favorite comfort food is. Good Luck and thanks for your support!

Vegetarian Meat… October 15, 2009

Ran across this journal article this morning and wonder what people think about this concept.I have the entire pdf. Email me at breezeharper (at) gmail (dot) com.

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Journal of Agric Environ Ethics (2008) 21:579–596
Vegetarian Meat: Could Technology Save Animals and Satisfy Meat Eaters?
Patrick D. Hopkins and Austin Dacey

Abstract    Between people who unabashedly support eating meat and those who adopt moral vegetarianism, lie a number of people who are uncomfortably carnivorous and vaguely wish they could be vegetarians. Opposing animal suffering in principle, they can ignore it in practice, relying on the visual disconnect between supermarket meat and slaughterhouse practices not to trigger their moral emotions. But what if we could have the best of both worlds in reality—eat meat and not harm animals? The nascent bio- technology of tissue culture, originally researched for medical applications, holds out just such a promise. Meat could be grown in vitro without killing animals. In fact, this technology may not just be an intriguing option, but might be our moral obligation to develop.

Critical Race Theory and Food Studies Research Group Listserv September 28, 2009

I am doing my PhD research and simply can’t find what I need. So, I decided to start a research group listserv that I hope will benefit those of us interested in intersections of food and race/ethnicity… but from a critical race and/or critical whiteness and/or critical race feminist and/or decolonial theory analyses. Please spread the word to scholars that you think would benefit from this.

What it’s about: We would be exchanging information, brainstorming ideas, posing questions about where to find resources, posting announcements about funding, books, jobs. Post conference announcements, new URLs that focus on the topics this listserv addresses. You get the drift.

I will be paying special attention to providing academic/scholarly information about available vegetarian, raw food, and vegan literature.

http://groups.google.com/group/critical-race-theory-and-food-studies-research is the site to go to and join. I also want to start a new journal with the same title, and would need to apply for funding. Thus far, I can’t seem to find any journals on this subject that are “peer-reviewed.”

Twlight and Vegetarian Vampires? New Philosophy book… September 24, 2009

Has anyone ever seen Twlight? If so, I am wondering about this book. Has anyone read it? I have never watched Twilight, but I know it’s incredibly popular. See the book below? I just ran across it on while searching for books.

Twilight and Philosophy: Vampires, Vegetarians, and the Pursuit of Immortality

On Amazon.com, the product description reads as:

Product Description
The first look at the philosophy behind Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling Twilight series

Bella and Edward, and their family and friends, have faced countless dangers and philosophical dilemmas in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight novels. This book is the first to explore them, drawing on the wisdom of philosophical heavyweights to answer essential questions such as: What do the struggles of “vegetarian” vampires who control their biological urge for human blood say about free will? Are vampires morally absolved if they kill only animals and not people? From a feminist perspective, is Edward a romantic hero or is he just a stalker? Is Jacob “better” for Bella than Edward? (source: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470484233?ie=UTF8&tag=sistvegawebs-20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=0470484233)

Vegetarian vampires? Interesting….

Sistah Vegan Book Release Update September 19, 2009

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to update folk and let them know that my book,

Sistah Vegan: Food, Identity, Health, and Society: Black Female Vegans Speak is now available for pre-order.

I am very excited about this, as it’s been nearly 4.5 years since its inception.

Best,

Breeze

Frugality/Simple Living/Low-Impact Blogs From A Vegan Perspective? September 13, 2009

Lately I’ve been going back to reading a lot of blogs devoted to various aspects of frugality/simple living/voluntary simplicity, etc. There’s some overlap there sometimes with decluttering-type blogs too. Anyway, one thing that has always frustrated me is that a lot of these blogs are coming from a right-wing perspective (I stopped reading one well-known frugality blog after the blogger made some comments that were both anti-immigrant & bought into the “welfare frauds” myth).

Another thing that frustrates me is that many of the ones that don’t do this still are focused on, say, raising chickens both as a frugality measure & as a way to cope with Peak Oil.

Does anyone have any blogs to recommend that talk about reducing consumption from a perspective that doesn’t simply suggest we should kill animals ourselves instead of letting corporations do it for us? And additionally that isn’t saturated in racism, sexism (a lot of these blogs seem to glorify women staying at home — many of these bloggers are women — in a way that isn’t just “women should be able to stay home if they want & should be able to work outside the home if they want”), etc. as well?

One could argue that, given that it is often possible to eat more cheaply on a vegan diet (& do so more sustainably) that many vegan blogs would fit into this category, yes — but I’m interested in not so much vegan blogs that occasionally talk about other frugality/consumption issues, but frugality blogs that start from a perspective that doesn’t see killing animals as the obvious answer.

Week 2: Update on Vegans in the USA and Race/Ethnic Identification September 4, 2009

Hello everyone,

Below are the latest results of my survey. 917 people have responded thus far. My favorite write-in is number 49:

“If it is personal choice and not ancestry I choose Red, White, & Blue American.”

Followed by number 47:

“Asian/Asian American is not only insulting, it’s inaccurate. Looking at the geography of Asia, it’s pretty obvious that there’s no racial, ethnic commonality accross all of Asia, so this is an idiotic classification and inadequate. I’m Indian”

-Breezie

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Comment Summary
<< Back to Summary

If your racial/ethnic identification was not listed, please type it below.
#	Response Date	Response Text
1	Aug 26, 2009 10:04 PM	Irish-Filipina
2	Aug 26, 2009 10:07 PM	Afro-Latina Black woman of Puerto Rican descent but for your stats, if i had to choose, i’d prefer black vs. latina.
3	Aug 26, 2009 10:14 PM	I do not racially identify because I have absolutely no reason to. My DNA points to European ancestry, but I don’t have any attachments aside from DNA to my ethnic heritage. Therefore, I am simply a US citizen who inherited mutated skin genetics.
4	Aug 26, 2009 10:14 PM	biracial
5	Aug 27, 2009 12:01 AM	Questions like this are VERY uncomfortable for me to answer. If I had to pick one of these it would be “Latina”, but I am very atypical in my Hispanic-ness. Culturally I was raised Hispanic (in the USA), but as an adult I really am not part of the Hispanic community at all and don’t relate to any other Hispanic-Americans, especially not in NYC. I also look Chinese-ish, and my mother is European descended and Puerto Rican-born. Unlike you, I just can’t really find any ethnicity to identify as.
6	Aug 27, 2009 12:02 AM	Questions like this are VERY uncomfortable for me to answer. If I had to pick one of these it would be “Latina”, but I am very atypical in my Hispanic-ness. Culturally I was raised Hispanic (in the USA), but as an adult I really am not part of the Hispanic community at all and don’t relate to any other Hispanic-Americans, especially not in NYC. I also look Chinese-ish, and my mother is European descended and Puerto Rican-born. Unlike you, I just can’t really find any ethnicity to identify as.
7	Aug 27, 2009 12:54 AM	We are all a mix really! I’m ¼ Finnish which is not Celtic or Germanic or Slavic but Finno-Ugric….& I’m 1/32 Cherokee!
8	Aug 27, 2009 1:10 AM	South Asian (East Indian) American
9	Aug 27, 2009 1:34 PM	Indian
10	Aug 27, 2009 3:34 PM	I identify as white, but I am about 1/8 native american
11	Aug 27, 2009 4:03 PM	Azkenazi/ Eastern European Jew
12	Aug 27, 2009 4:44 PM	south asian
13	Aug 27, 2009 6:28 PM	white and latina
14	Aug 27, 2009 7:25 PM	I am a biracial Korean/Caucasian, but because my mother is an adoptee I consider myself more acculturated to whiteness (e.g. I grew up being treated “white”).
15	Aug 27, 2009 8:19 PM	Middle Eastern and White European Descended
16	Aug 27, 2009 8:58 PM	South Asian
17	Aug 27, 2009 9:03 PM	Middle Eastern AND European
18	Aug 27, 2009 9:04 PM	human race (the US census considers me white. I don’t identify with that though.)
19	Aug 27, 2009 9:44 PM	plus about an 1/8th Cherokee
20	Aug 27, 2009 9:52 PM	White and Middle Eastern
21	Aug 27, 2009 9:54 PM	Ashkenazic Jewish
22	Aug 27, 2009 11:18 PM	Chicano/a is how I self identify, though I accept Latino/a
23	Aug 27, 2009 11:42 PM	Indian, South Asian
24	Aug 28, 2009 12:23 AM	3/4 white, 1/4 mexican
25	Aug 28, 2009 4:16 AM	I am Irish and Potawatomi
26	Aug 28, 2009 1:08 PM	Jewish
27	Aug 28, 2009 6:22 PM	Mostly European and some Native American
28	Aug 28, 2009 7:05 PM	Armenian
29	Aug 29, 2009 5:49 AM	Chicana
30	Aug 29, 2009 10:07 AM	portuguese
31	Aug 29, 2009 5:28 PM	Born and raised in South Africa.Citizen of that country.
32	Aug 29, 2009 6:23 PM	jewish
33	Aug 30, 2009 7:22 AM	Jewish
34	Aug 30, 2009 4:53 PM	korean/caucasian
35	Aug 30, 2009 6:03 PM	Black/Asian American (Thai)
36	Aug 30, 2009 6:38 PM	Asian but of Indian descent (yes, India is in Asia)
37	Aug 30, 2009 7:49 PM	I’m European-descended, from Spain, though I have found that being from Spain sometimes means that you can list yourself as hispanic on official US documents, such as when you’re applying for financial aid, etc.
38	Aug 30, 2009 8:14 PM	Spanish/Mexican American…not Latina
39	Aug 31, 2009 1:52 AM	& Jewish, identify as white
40	Aug 31, 2009 5:05 AM	Latina and White
41	Aug 31, 2009 6:24 PM	Jewish
42	Aug 31, 2009 6:48 PM	I am biracial (black and white). The multi-racial category doesnt indicate which racial/cultural influences have shaped who I am. So multiracial is less informative. Usually I just choose Black to makes sure that Black people are represented even though I occasionally pass for white.
43	Aug 31, 2009 7:31 PM	white/hispanic
44	Aug 31, 2009 8:50 PM	Jewish of Eastern European descent, which, outside of New York City is NOT considered white (just ask the KKK, you you’re of Jewish heritage, you’re not white)
45	Aug 31, 2009 10:37 PM	South Asian (Indian-American)
46	Sep 1, 2009 1:00 AM	‘other’
47	Sep 1, 2009 1:21 AM	Asian/Asian American is not only insulting, it’s inaccurate. Looking at the geography of Asia, it’s pretty obvious that there’s no racial, ethnic commonality accross all of Asia, so this is an idiotic classification and inadequate. I’m Indian
48	Sep 1, 2009 1:28 AM	African Jamaican and African American
49	Sep 1, 2009 5:38 PM	If it is personal choice and not ancestry I choose Red, White, & Blue American.
50	Sep 1, 2009 8:17 PM	Irish/Native American
51	Sep 2, 2009 1:15 AM	Jewish
52	Sep 2, 2009 1:41 PM	hispanic
53	Sep 2, 2009 2:07 PM	I am mostly white but also some Cherokee.
54	Sep 2, 2009 5:05 PM	25% itailan,25% cuban and 50% American?
55	Sep 2, 2009 7:53 PM	Indian
56	Sep 3, 2009 4:36 AM	Dominican/Jewish
57	Sep 3, 2009 5:05 PM	with 1/32 Cherokee