A short guidebook to understanding and discussing privilege among vegans and vegan organizations in the wake of #metoo, including how to establish accountability while honoring dignity and ways to communicate effectively.
In The Vegan Matrix, psychologist, longtime vegan advocate, and organizational head Dr. Melanie Joy explores a serious problem in the vegan movement—unexamined privilege—and looks at the struggle to communicate effectively about this problem in a way that helps offset it. Using simple, straightforward language and a compassionate tone, Joy explains what privilege is, why it’s so important for vegans to become aware of it, and how to talk about it in a way that deepens understanding and helps transform it. In so doing, Joy unpacks some of the many privileges that must be acknowledged and addressed, and shows how more inclusivity and diversity within vegan organizations will benefit the movement as a whole. The Vegan Matrix is a call to awareness and action, empowering vegans to reach a broader audience and to help create a more compassionate and just world.
“Building on her seminal work with carnism and powerarchy, in The Vegan Matrix Melanie Joy offers another vital treatise that provides crucial guidance for vegan advocates, especially those of us who are privileged. If we truly hope to end oppression, we need to better understand systemic inequity, abuses of power, and embedded traumas experienced by those who are disenfranchised. This cogent book encourages humility, learning, and the radical empathy necessary for healing and for helping to build a powerful vegan movement.”—Gene Baur, Cofounder and President of Farm Sanctuary and bestselling author of Farm Sanctuary and Living the Farm Sanctuary Life
