Societies 2014, 4, 127–147; doi:10.3390/soc4020127 OPEN ACCESS societies ISSN 2075-4698 www.mdpi.com/journal/societies Article You Are How You Eat? Femininity, Normalization, and Veganism as an Ethical Practice of Freedom Megan A. Dean Department of Philosophy, Georgetown University, 215 New North Hall, 37th and O Streets, NW, Washington, DC 20057, USA; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +1-202-815-0891 Received: 5 March 2014; in revised form: 27 March 2014 / Accepted: 2 April 2014 / Published: 10 April 2014 Abstract: In this paper I argue that the practice of veganism is, or can be, a Foucauldian ethical practice of freedom. I begin by sketching out the problematization of alimentary practices within a normalizing patriarchal framework, which some feminists argue is dominant within contemporary North American society. Within this problematization, eating—for many women—is a way to manage the body’s appearance and bring it into conformity with feminine norms, and also an ongoing opportunity to exercise the will over unruly bodily desires. I then consider the narratives of women who claim that veganism helped them to relinquish disordered eating habits, temper the emotional and psychological turmoil that surrounded their alimentary practices, and mitigate antagonism toward their own bodies. In short, the practice of veganism appears to have reproblematized eating for these women. Thus, I suggest, veganism can be an ethical practice of freedom: it can loosen the tight grip of patriarchal normalization as constituted in and through disordered eating habits, and constitute subjects that are ―a little less governed‖ by this form of power.