blogging

Women’s History Month

/ thevegancatlibrarian / Leave a comment

Why We Have This Month and Why Still Need It

It is almost the end of March, so I am still on time to write about it, about Women’s History Month. What does this mean? As I hinted in a previous post, some months are dedicated to acknowledging, remembering, commemorating and observing important events in the history of the people to which such months are dedicated. March is the month dedicated to women’s history as well as having the International Women’s Day on the 8th of this month. This makes people think that now is all well, if there were problems, they were in the past and we can now celebrate each month something good. Unfortunately this is not the case. These are not the cases. And I will explain why.

Why a Women’s History Month

From Wikipedia we read that:

Women’s History Month is an annual declared month that highlights the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. It is celebrated during March in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, corresponding with International Women’s Day on March 8, and during October in Canada, corresponding with the celebration of Persons Day on October 18.

Wikipedia – Women’s History Month page

What would you understand from these words? That there is the acknowledgement of what women have done from more or less recent history: that we recognise the hard-working women that have never stopped fighting for their rights, from better working conditions to the right to vote, to sexual rights, etc. That is the idea. That women have fought and they have won, that now we can look at the past and see what the fair sex has done and be grateful that it’s been done. There is nothing else to do, right? Mh.

But there is no “man’s history month” and men too have done quite a lot. So why is there a women’s month?

Similarly to Black History Month, LGBTQ+ History Month, etc., it means that there are actually unresolved things going on, that we still need to work on bettering the situation of these people in every aspect of their lives. So it has been decided to dedicate one month a year to say “Thank you for your contributions” or “Sorry, you still don’t have some basic rights because you are different”. And this brings us to…

Why Still Need a Month Dedicated to Women

Because there are still women that are beaten and raped daily;

Because women are denied basic rights;

Because little girls are forced into marrying much older men;

Because women are still not granted protection by the authorities;

Because there still is a pay gap;

Because it is the 21st Century and women are slut-shamed.

And I not talking (only) about those countries that are considered developing countries, but also those that are allegedly developed ones.

The most recent events in England have shed some (dark) light on problems affecting the relationship between women and authorities (you can read more here and here);

In U.S.A. there still are States where marrying girls under 16 years old is legal;

In Poland, women have been stripped of the right to abortion even in extreme circumstances (you can read more here on the background of the situation and here);

Ireland is famous for having her women travelling to England in order to abort, even after the recent Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 (more info here);

In Italy, rape and sexual assault victims are still blamed for how they dressed at the time of the attack.

Concluding

Why am I talking about these matters on a vegan blog? As I previously explained, I am a firm believer in veganism as a holistic social philosophy. Like many others, I went vegan for the animals and the environment, but soon I realised that one can’t do much in aid of these issues without integrating the issues concerning people, which are strictly connected to affairs of social justice: we can’t achieve total animal liberation and have a clean, healthy Earth without the eradication of racism, fair working conditions for everybody, equal rights for women and men, recognising the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, etc.

Be kind, be more empathic, stand up against abuse: this is the way to a better world for everybody and our beloved Earth.

Sending messages of hope to all of you!

Starting on your vegan life

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The title of this blog is quite clear: I am a librarian who loves cats and follow a vegan lifestyle.

This very first post I want it to be focused on what means to be vegan.

What does it mean to be vegan? This is now such a popular term that probably it doesn’t need much explanation, because now everybody is vegan or knows someone that is vegan. However. I don’t think that many people, vegan and non, really fully grasp the meaning of “going vegan”. I say this because I see people on Instagram, Twitter and also in article, are a bit confused with the essence of veganism. For example, there is so much ado about Beyond Meat: this is a company that produces plant-based food and so many vegans really adore it. Well, while this is plant-based, it doesn’t mean it is vegan. Because Beyond Meat is owned by Tyson Food that in Wikipedia we read it “is an American multinational corporation based in Springdale, Arkansas, that operates in the food industry. The company is the world’s second largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork after JBS S.A. and annually exports the largest percentage of beef out of the United States.” I mean, this is a big no-no for vegans. And yet, so many are sharing the dreadful journey of cows and porks to the slaughterhouse, while they buy plant-based food from a company whose profits will go in the pockets of an other organisation dealing in the killing of animals.

Similarly, your beloved Oreos: they are produced by Mondelez International which “manufactures chocolate, cookies, biscuits, gum, confectionery, and powdered beverages”. And this stuff is not vegan, trust me. Or look it yourself on the ingredients.

This is not veganism.

This is capitalism investing in a trend.

Capitalism is very insidious and has managed to infiltrate a very profitable market.

People calling themselves anarchists and buy blood-stained food.

People who genuinely think they are vegan, are actually indirectly paying for the killing of millions of non-human animals.

And this is also part of the problematic common belief that veganism is expensive. Obviously, if you buy such overly-processed foods from these companies, they’ll make you pay for it. Because it is so fashionable to buy something “vegan”, following the trend, and oh we need these plant-based burgers so much!

To be vegan, means not exploiting animals for any reason: it is not only for food, or clothes, but also for entertainment and cosmetics and you have to do some research to see which are the decent companies and those that are not. It is requiring some effort, but it has to be done.

To make it a bit easier for you, I’ll post soon a list of those food companies that are not vegan.

So how do you start this vegan lifestyle?

Start reducing the intake of meat, fish, dairy, eggs, honey. As you do this increase the use of legumes (lentils, beans, etc) and veggies such as cauliflower, broccoli, spinach: these foods are rich in important nutrients, proteins, minerals and fibres. Tofu and tempeh are other items that you can integrate in your diet: but please look at some recipes to make them as their flavour is too bland (tofu) or quite pungent (tempeh), and you will enjoy them much more!

In terms of clothing: you’ll probably have something with wool or leather. There are two ways you can deal with this: you either discard those items (give them to goodwill, recycle etc.) or you can keep them. This second way follows the idea that you already bought such items, you already financed the exploitation of animals, you cannot go back and you accept it. Either way, make your choice, both are okay.

Animals are still exploited for cosmetic and medical tests. On the medical tests, you cannot do much: there are very few organisations that is against the use of animals in their tests, so we have to look into it. For cosmetics, the only big pace where this kind of test is required by law is China: this applies to imported goods meaning that all those brands importing to China are voluntarily or not agreeing to their product being tested on animals. Avoid them. There are many websites dedicated to asking various cosmetic companies what are their policies on testing the products and if they sell to China. This is very thorough.

Please be aware that there are many multinationals (like Unilever, Nestle, Proctor and Gamble, Pepsi, Coca Cola) settled in more sectors: for example, Unilever goes from food to cosmetics and you have to be careful as they are very sneaky.

So you have some tool to go vegan. Let me know what you think, what is your experience. I will soon post some of the companies that are absolutely not vegan.

Stay tuned!