On vegan parenting
I’ve heard many animal activists make the case those truly committed to the cause shouldn’t have children, as there is no guarantee those children will remain vegan. If I recall correctly, this was the view of Ronnie Lee, whom I wrote a biography about in 2017. While the rationale might be somewhat different, other movements have encouraged its vanguard members not to reproduce because of the time commitment parenthood represents.
In term of maximizing one’s individual impact, I can’t really argue with these points. However, when thinking about building an internal culture that can sustain a mass movement, I believe this sort of anti-natalism is harmful. For many people, including me, having children is one of the greatest joys of their lives. If you were to ask them to choose between activism and building a family, they would choose the latter without hesitation.
Politics is a numbers game. You want more people on your side than your opponents have on theirs. This means we must lower the barriers of entry into the animal movement as much as possible, without sacrificing core values. That’s one of the reasons why I prioritize the development of cellular agriculture. I believe cheap, tasty cultivated meat will make it easier for the public to adopt an abolitionist stance toward animal slaughter.
Five years years ago, I wrote an article for Splice Today in which I agonized over the dilemmas of vegan parenthood. If I was too permissive, I worried, my kids would simply absorb the speciesist ideas of the wider culture. If I was too strict, my kids would rebel. To illustrate the latter dynamic, I quoted Princess Leia standing up to Grand Moff Tarkin in the original Star Wars: “The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.”
Since then, I’ve found more peace with this issue. I’m speaking primarily in relation to my son here, as my daughter is autistic and nonverbal, and will likely be under my wife’s and my care for the rest of our lives. That rebellion I was so afraid of is inevitable to a certain extent. I rebelled against my parents. My youngest surely will too. Veganism is just such an obvious and easy target. If it weren’t an eventual focus of his rebellion, I’d be genuinely surprised.
Don’t get me wrong. I plan on holding the vegan line as best as I can for as long as I can. However, there will come a time, likely when he’s a teenager, when I won’t be able to control what our youngest does outside of the house. Certainly, when he’s an adult and living on his own, I will have no control over what he does. I can only hope his vegan rumspringa is short lived and my son will see something worthwhile in the values I’ve tried to teach.
Beyond this, I’ve found taking a big-picture view to be helpful. My goal, as an animal activist, is to reduce nonhuman suffering and death. It’s not to successfully proselytize to my family. Ideally, the development of cellular agriculture will change society in such a way that my loved ones will be swept up in those changes. But my political focus is on society, not individuals.