Are You a Rapist? (WARNING: Graphic Content)

No, you're not a rapist. That was clickbait. But still, there is a point to be made here. Read the rest of my post to find out what.

I might stir a bit of controversy with this post, considering the edgy title. However, I urge you to stick with me for a little bit. Today we're going to dive into a reason to go Vegan that Vegans are most stereotypically known for: ethics.

To clarify: this post is not an opinion piece on whether killing and eating animals is morally right or wrong. I don't believe in forcing my opinion on other people, and neither do I believe that being Vegan for ethical purposes makes me or anyone else a better person. Rather, today I'm going to go over the lesser-known facts about the animal products industry that prompts vegetarians to go vegan. 

While people become vegetarians for many different reasons, there are a decent amount that make the switch for ethical reasons: they don't believe in harming animals. To them, to be vegetarian is to completely stop animal suffering; "after all, cows like being milked, and chickens don't mind having their eggs taken!"

There's nothing blatantly wrong with this statement. Yes, if done correctly, milking a cow will not hurt it, and chickens normally won't mind having their eggs taken from them. However, people don't realize that the majority dairy cows and chickens raised for eggs live through awful conditions. Here is the average life of a dairy cow (Courtesy of Free From Harm):

• Born 
• Since they aren't male, they are kept to be raised to produce milk
• They are forced to live in extremely confined spaces
• Once they reach the appropriate age, they are forcibly impregnated (raped) in order to become pregnant
• Once they give birth, their calves are immediately taken away from them, and put into the veal industry to be slaughtered
• Once the dairy cow can no longer produce milk, there is a 1 in 3 chance that it will be slaughtered and turned into meat 

Here how an egg "factory" normally operates (Courtesy of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals): 

• Chicks are born in large incubators 
• Baby chicks are put onto conveyor belts, where workers separate the males and the females
• The females are kept to produce eggs
• The males are either thrown into a blender alive, or thrown into a trash bag to suffocate.
• The females are put into tiny cages, often stacked on top of one another (you can imagine why it would suck to be on the bottom of the stack)
• Their beaks are cut off with a hot blade as to prevent the chickens from pecking one another to death 
• Because chickens are engineered to produce more eggs than they would naturally, many of the chickens at a fraction of what their lifespan could be 

Obviously, there are humane ways to produce dairy and eggs (assuming you are willing to sacrifice efficiency). But unfortunately, most large food corporations operate their factories under these conditions. 

You may find it surprising just how many companies put on a facade by claiming they produce dairy and eggs "humanely." This Washington Post article details how Whole Foods- who touts themselves as sourcing from "humane" farms, actually doesn't follow their own "5-step" humanity-guarantee system. Coincidentally, the farms that they film advertisements have humane practices, but every single other farm they operate is likely no better than any other. 

Overall, I think its important to recognize that just because the animal doesn't have to be killed to make the product, does not mean that the product was made humanely. Countless times, people have told me, "but Jesse, cows need to be milked, or they'll have problems!" Yea, that's true. Except, that wouldn't be a problem if the cows weren't raped! If two cows had consensual sex and the mother gave birth, the calf would be the one drinking the milk, not us. Critical thinking is always a valuable skill, especially when it comes to information about the animal products industry.

If you're at all interested in making a change to your diet for ethical reasons, I implore you to watch the video above. It is extremely graphic, but it is an important video to watch.