2 Responses to Vegan Relationship Survey

1. Eccentric Vegan commented on Jun 19th, 2008 at 2:21 pm

   1. Are you vegan? Yes
   2. When did you become vegan? about a year ago. Vegetarian for 25 years prior.
   3. How do you describe the extent to which you take your veganism? very seriously, deeply. It’s one of the core aspects of my identity.
   4. What is your age group? 32
   5. Are there any other vegans in your immediate or extended family? yes: husband, mother. Sister and nephew are vegetarian.
   6. How do your parents/family feel about your veganism? Has this changed over time? If so, how?
   My mom is fine with it, embraces veganism herself. My dad thought it was a phase 26 years ago. He’s learned it’s not
   When I first went vegetarian, I was 6 and I lived with my mother only (my parents were separated). My mom thought the idea was good and adopted vegetarianism herself. On visits with my dad, however, he sometimes would only provide nonvegetarian food. I refused to eat it and I’d find something else to eat myself. Eventually he got the idea and stopped messing with me. Now he’s even been known to make statements like, “Wow, that tastes good. You’d never know there wasn’t meat in it.”
   7. Where do you live? Are there many vegans in your area?
   Right now I live in NYC. There are lots of vegans here. But this is really just an extended vacation. i used to live in Vegas and I’m going back to Vegas. There aren’t very many vegans in Vegas, except that people from Vegas are also called “vegans”. Does that make sense?
   8. How do you meet other vegans? meetup.com, friend of friend, other websites
   9. Do you live alone? no
   10. Do you live with other vegans? How many? What is their relationship to you? yes, my husband.
   11. Do you live with any non-vegans? How many? What is their relationship to you? How is that working out? No, not now. I have in the past lived with nonveg roommates. It was fine. Nothing too major about my veganism. Any issues were about rent :/
   12. Is your veganism directly related to the influence of a relationship? Details? Not really. I was inspired to go vegetarian by a vegetarian teacher. But there were so many influences in my decision to go vegan that I can’t pinpoint one person.
   13. Are there any vegan activists or celebrities that have inspired you? all of them/ none of them
   14. Have you influenced others to become vegan? How? You’d have to ask them
   15. Do you date only vegans? No, when I was single I dated omnivores. But I never considered omnis as serious romantic partners. That is, I wouldn’t have married an omnivore.
   16. What is your sexual orientation? hetero
   17. Would you object to being romantically involved with someone who is not vegan? Please explain your reasons. Currently, yes, because I’m in a committed relationship to a vegan. But as a hypothetical, no. But like I said, I couldn’t marry an omni.
   18. Do you know of any children/people that are vegan from birth? Please give any details that you can. NO.
   19. Are the vegans you know healthy? Please give details. Yes, most of them are healthy. Some do it for weight loss and they are not the healthiest people in the world. And then there are illnesses that aren’t related to diet… However, I know plenty of omnis who aren’t healthy either.
   20. How do the people you know/meet react towards your veganism? Have you noticed any change in people’s reactions over the years? When in a big city or when talking to college educated people, they’ve met other vegans or vegetarians before and don’t think I’m all that weird. When in small towns or when talking to people who aren’t as educated sometimes they’re surprised and have all sorts of strange assumptions about vegans. In fact, the most common comments is something like, “I did that for a while, too” as if it’s just a diet. That annoys me, but it’s actually a good sign because it does show how more acceptable and more popular veganism is. When I was young the most common comment was something like, “What do you eat? Salads?” Which is annoying too, but demonstrates an extremely limited understanding of veganism and an utter lack of experience with vegans or vegan food. So… all in all, it’s better today than 20 years ago.
   21. Do you know more vegan women or men? yes
   22. From your experience, do you think that men or women are more open to the vegan concept, generally speaking? I think both are open to it, but men probably have more barriers to it. There’s a wimp stigma attached to veganism and a macho stereotype attached to meat that affects men more than women. I’ve noticed this with my husband. Some narrow-minded people unfairly stereotype him based on his veganism. They’ve said he was “gay,” “pussy-whipped,” and worse.
   23. How are your friendships with vegans different to your friendships with non-vegans? Yes. I’m much more willing to go out to eat and share food with vegans. And I’m more open about my emotions with vegans. I think they understand my perspective better. But that’s probably just my own stereotype of omnivores.
   24. Does being vegan influence how you relate to others? If so, how? Yes, I tend to anticipate criticism. I think that sometimes makes me shy or asocial.
   25. Do you have pets? Are they vegan? Yes, I share my home with a dog and four cats. The dog is mostly vegan. He eats vegetarian or vegan dogfood that we buy or make ourselves. But he’s a dog, so he’ll eat whatever he finds. And well, sometimes he finds nasty, meaty stuff. Dogs are omnivorous scavengers. They can go vegan without worry. The cats are not vegan or vegetarian. Cats are true carnivorous hunters. I simply don’t feel entirely comfortable switching them to a vegan diet, particularly because two have major health issues. I don’t truly trust any cat or dog food maker and I think there simply isn’t enough history of good science to justify any processed cat food so right now I basically follow my vet’s recommendation.
   26. Has being vegan changed your relationship to animals? Yes, My commitment to animal rights has grown tremendously since becoming vegan.

2. Lindsey commented on Jun 22nd, 2008 at 6:41 pm

   Hi! New reader here!
   Here’s the survey! Hope this helps!

   1. Are you vegan? yes
   2. When did you become vegan? a gradual transition between January and March of 2008
   3. How do you describe the extent to which you take your veganism? I consume no animal products. Sometimes I will eat something with honey as an ingredient (in chips or bread, e.g.), but I will not buy bottles of honey (I buy agave nectar instead). I also avoid buying leather, silk, and wool.
   4. What is your age group?
   under 18 _____
   19-30 ___X___
   31-55 ______
   56 -75 ______
   Over 75 _____
   5. Are there any other vegans in your immediate or extended family? Just my husband
   6. How do your parents/family feel about your veganism? Has this changed over time? If so, how? My mother totally understands it and thinks it’s very noble of me. My father is happy that I have a healthier diet now, but he still tries to tell me that dairy cows are happy and that fish are stupid.
   My in-laws have said almost nothing on the issue. They’re a laissez-faire type of people. I’ve been vegan for only a few months, so we’ll see if this changes - probably not since they’re not acting very extreme about my veganism.
   7. Where do you live? Are there many vegans in your area? I live in the Mid-South (in a rural county north of Memphis). VERY few vegans - this is BBQ hell, not even an exclusively vegetarian restaurant in a metro area of one MILLION people
   8. How do you meet other vegans? online, but may go to the Memphis animal rights group one day
   9. Do you live alone? no
   10. Do you live with other vegans? How many? What is their relationship to you? just my husband who become vegan shortly after me
   11. Do you live with any non-vegans? How many? What is their relationship to you? How is that working out? no, thank God
   12. Is your veganism directly related to the influence of a relationship? Details? nope
   13. Are there any vegan activists or celebrities that have inspired you? Yes, many - I was mostly influenced by the profiles and bulletins that some activists posted on MySpace, quotes from celebrity vegans on PETA’s web site, Breaking the Food Seduction by Dr. Neal Barnard (my first exposure to veganism)
   14. Have you influenced others to become vegan? How? yes, my husband by telling him everything I learned and by cooking for him. Also, my best friend has cut many animal products from her diet, but I don’t think she’ll ever go exclusively vegan. She has, in turn, affected her fiance a bit, but he’s still stuck in the meat-it tastes good trap.
   15. Do you date only vegans? If I weren’t married, then I would have to date either ethical vegetarians or vegans.
   16. What is your sexual orientation? straight
   17. Would you object to being romantically involved with someone who is not vegan? Please explain your reasons. Yes because compassion for animals is so fundamental to who I am. I also see veganism as evidence of enlightenment. It would be hard for me to be with someone who was ignorant. On the other hand, having a relationship with a non-vegan could greatly expose and maybe even convert the person to veganism. Even if not, he would still be eating many more vegan meals than before, most likely. I think every vegan meal is a positive step for animals.
   18. Do you know of any children/people that are vegan from birth? Please give any details that you can. no
   19. Are the vegans you know healthy? Please give details. My husband and I are healthy as far as I can tell. We are both still very overweight from our previous diet of animal products and our lack of exercise. We’ll be changing that soon! No other health problems though.
   20. How do the people you know/meet react towards your veganism? Have you noticed any change in people’s reactions over the years? Haven’t met too many people since becoming vegan. The few I’ve met have perked up at the mention of it and thought it was cool, and they seem curious, and of course I’ve already gotten the where do you get your protein question!
   21. Do you know more vegan women or men? Well, there’s probably a tad more women, but there’s quite a few men out there too. (I’m basing this count on what I see online, since I know none in person!)
   22. From your experience, do you think that men or women are more open to the vegan concept, generally speaking? women - for the most part, they are less hooked on meat and are more health-conscious and compassionate
   23. How are your friendships with vegans different to your friendships with non-vegans? don’t have any vegan friends
   24. Does being vegan influence how you relate to others? If so, how? Veganism is still new to me, but it has changed how I relate to my friends a bit. Now when I’m with them, I feel that I have an agenda to push when the issue of food comes up. And their non-veganism makes me have a little less respect for them. I see friends who I once thought of as intelligent and compassionate now just as pawns of society (not as much as some people though). I try to hold my judgment as much as possible and keep everything I say positive.
   25. Do you have pets? Are they vegan? no pets, but when I adopt some dogs eventually, they will be vegan.
   26. Has being vegan changed your relationship to animals? Not really, since I’ve always been in love with them. I probably am more conscious that humans being superior to animals is a huge lie that most religions and societies shove down peoples throats. One change is that I don’t kill insects because I find that to be hypocritical.

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