Newsflash: vegans don't enjoy sex with carnivores
Reports are appearing all over the internet about a 'new breed of vegan that has evolved in New Zealand: vegansexuals. This is the name given to people who refuse to sleep with people who eat meat.
To an outside audience, this must sound hilarious. But is it really all that much of a shock? Plenty of non-smokers refuse to date cigarette addicts, and I've known plenty of couples who share similar dietary habits and other lifestyles.
There are tea-total couples, boozy couples, vegetarian couples and - surprise surprise - vegan couples. I believe the phrase used to be 'birds of a feather flock together'.
The excitement about vegansexuals seems to have started with one particular soundbite taken from a this article, in which vegan Nichola Kriek commented that "when you are vegan or vegetarian, you are very aware that when people eat a meaty diet, they are kind of a graveyard for animals." As a veggie, I can see what she was trying to say in a slightly more alarmist way than is strictly necessary -- she's simply making the point that if you've made such a decision, it helps if those close to you can respect it, and the best way they can do this is by sharing it.
So do you agree? If you avoid meat, dairy products or any other foods, will you only date people with the same diet?
I've been vegan for 8 months, and I've been with my omnivorous boyfriend for 2 and a half years.
It does upset me sometimes that he doesn't share my values, because we share so much else in common, but it does not make me love him any less to be certain.
I suppose it must be different for people on the dating scene. I can understand have a preference for fellow vegans. Is anyone really shocked when a Jewish person marries another Jew? Or when liberals marry liberals?
Birds of a feather do indeed flock together, but opposites can attract just as much.
Posted by: Courtney | August 1, 2007 5:31 AM