Stereotypes Of Vegetarianism

One important challenge faced by vegetarians is the normality of meat consumption in American society, which leads to a lack of acceptance in regards to vegetarianism. Tara Parker-Pope, published by the internationally accredited New York Times, April 16,2012, contends that “According to a 2010 report in Vegetarian Times. Three percent of American adults, 7.3 million people, follow a vegetarian diet and 23 million say they rarely eat meat.” From these statistics, its clear that the remaining 97% of Americans consume meat, resulting in a gigantic industry of meat production. As a result, millions of animals are exploited in order to satisfy the American appetite, immensely contributing to the animal cruelty issue in America. According to

According to Taylor Clark, a renowned journalist, majority of Americans assume that vegetarians are "loopy, self-satisfied health fanatics, hellbent on draining all the joy out of life" (347). The American public makes these assumptions because vegetarians are ridiculed and marginalized through the media, instead of being praised for their stance against animal cruelty. In fact, the negative stereotypes of vegetarians portrayed by the media, are extremely harmful to this group and has began to catch the attention of many animal rights activists and journalists. According to a professional journalist and member of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), Tiffany Lowana, published by The Scavenger, 10 June 2011, “The media’s relentless derogatory narrative of vegetarianism whites out the impassioned reason most vegetarians become vegetarian; for nonhuman animals’ rights; to absolutely throttle speciesism.” Thus, the media belittles the stance against animal cruelty which is held by vegetarians and this can cause many people to give up on a vegetarian diet in order to fit in. Lowana furthers her argument by arguing that " It is true however, that certain news programs or media channels represent the vegetarian American, honestly and void of bias and name-calling. Although, the fact is that majority of media outlets show vegetarians in a negative light, and mock their efforts to prevent animal cruelty.” Ultimately, the media negatively judges vegetarians, leading to the American public making negative assumptions about the group, marginalizing vegetarians and effacing their stance against animal