โ˜ฎ๏ธDiscrimination of Vegans

Vegans are prejudiced worse than people of colour and people who are homosexual.

"omnivores evaluated vegetarians and vegans equivalently or more negatively than several common prejudice target groups (e.g., Blacks) [...] omnivores evaluated vegetarians and vegans [...] motivated by animal rights or environmental concerns (vs. health) especially negatively"

"vegetarians and vegans were evaluated equivalently to immigrants, asexuals, and atheists, and significantly more negatively than Blacks. Vegetarians were evaluated equivalently to homosexuals, whereas vegans were evaluated more negatively than homosexuals" On a scale of 1-7, non-vegans rated their comfort with hiring a vegan (5.97) on par with renting to a person of colour (5.93). In other words, non-vegans statistically discriminate against vegans in the hiring process, and it is equivalently as severe as their discrimination against people of colour. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1368430215618253 (MacInnis et al., 2015) (Study 1)

Vegans face more, or about equal, discrimination at work (33%) compared to people who are homosexual (30.5%).

Vegans discriminated against at work: 33%: Crossland Employment Solicitors (2019) - a survey conducted by an employment law firm https://www.crosslandsolicitors.com/site/hr-hub/nearly-half-of-vegans-feel-discriminated-against-at-work

Homosexuals discriminated against at work: 46%: Williams Institute (2021) https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/lgbt-workplace-discrimination/

24.5%: Pew Research Center (2013) https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/11/04/as-congress-considers-action-again-21-of-lgbt-adults-say-they-faced-workplace-discrimination/

21%: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (2019) https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2020-lgbti-equality-1_en.pdf

Hate crimes are committed against vegans.

"between 2015 and 2022, The Times reported a total of 172 vegan hate crimes in the United Kingdom alone. Influential figures publicly add fuel to the anti-vegan fire, with threats ranging from Piers Morganโ€™s โ€œvegan resistanceโ€ to William Sitwellโ€™s desire to kill vegans โ€œone by one.โ€" https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/202212/what-can-we-learn-from-studying-anti-vegan-groups-online

Vegans report social ostracization.

Vegans, in the following percentages, reported:

  • 9.9%: family member(s) reducing contact

  • 3%: family member(s) completely cutting contact

  • 24.5%: friends reducing contact

  • 7.3%: friends completely cutting contact

  • 66.5%: experiencing daily discrimination

  • 77%: engaging in mechanisms to cope with discrimination

  • 9%: not being hired due to discrimination

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1368430215618253 (MacInnis et al., 2015) (Study 3)

There are clear psychological indicators that the discrimination against vegans is not rational.

"People who are more โ€œpro-beefโ€ (including greater consumers of beef) are even more prejudiced against vegetarians, a finding that holds up cross-culturally (Earle & Hodson, 2017). The fact that the amount of beef one eats predicts the degree of oneโ€™s anti-vegetarian sentiment suggests that some of the anti-vegetarian sentiment is motivated and defensive [...] "Reminders that meat originates from animals reduces anti-veg*n prejudice (by boosting empathy for food animals) and lowers vegan threat perceptions (by increasing meat-based distress); however, it also elevates disgust over eating meat which increases perceptions that veg*ns are threatening (Earle et al., 2019)" https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/without-prejudice/201910/why-vegans-make-some-people-so-uncomfortable-and-angry https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886917304233 (Earle & Hodson, 2017) https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1368430219861848 (Earle & Hodson, 2019)

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