New Vegan Strips… No Bacon, but Plenty of Silicone
It might be time for a road trip to Portland, Oregon. Clearly there's a lot more going on there than I've ever imagined. Oregon seems to have more vegans per square foot than any other state in the United States. Portland has the most strip clubs per capita in the United States. So I guess it comes as no surprise that Portland now claims to play host to the first vegan strip club in the world. When I first moved out to California almost twenty years ago, California was deemed to be the "land of fruit and nuts." We've got nothing on Oregon!
Does anyone else find this extremely bizarre? According to the owner, the only meat you'll find at this place is on a pole. He also claims to be moved by a desire to expose people to veganism. Is his pun intended? Are his strippers vegans themselves? Is his intent to expose his patrons to vegan strippers or vegan foods?
So what is his tagline going to be? "Where's the beef?" or how about "Try our BLTs: Buns, Legs and Tits." If it's a vegan strip club, can it still be referred to as a meat market?
I'm not going to pass any value judgments as to whether strip clubs are good or evil, the fact is they exist. (I deliberately haven't mentioned the name of the strip club because I'm not promoting it. You can google it if you're really interested.) But I am presenting this information to point out that the mere existence of this gimmick serves to show how mainstream veganism is becoming.
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Mainstream, indeed. Until now it hadn’t occurred to me that people went to strip clubs for the food.
I wonder what it says about me that the idea puts me off immediately, whereas the companies providing vegan BDSM gear seem to be providing a valuable service.
You know, I hadn’t thought about it (the idea of eating at a strip club), but yes, it’s a bit off-putting. Kind of like being invited for dinner to a nudist’s home. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a nudist, but health regulations require employees preparing food wear hair nets (for a reason)!
Hello. I’m from Portland, the great city that is weird enough to have a vegan strip club. I’ve been following your blog via twitter, but have yet to fully explore it. Do you know of Portland’s other vegan wonders? Food Fight is our vegan grocery/convenience store and Sweetpea is the vegan bakery. Vegan cupcakes! Veganopolis is a totally vegan cafeteria style restaurant. Portland is a really great place to be vegan.
Hi Annabellsmonkey,
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking Portland at all. Actually, Jane and I are talking about when we’re going (but not to the strip club). We’ve even talked about maybe moving up there at some point, but first we’d have to visit a few times. (I’m not sure if I can be transplanted from the LA weather.)
Thanks for the mention of the other vegan wonders. We’ve read many things that mention how easy it is to be vegan there.
When you are planning a visit let me know and I’ll share my vegan must visit list with you.
Thanks! We will certainly do that.
I find it grimly hilarious (not to mention hypocritical) that a vocal vegan–who is ostensibly all about not exploiting the flesh of animals for food–appears to have no problem exploiting the flesh of women for profit.
I know you won’t want to hear this, but this tends to cement more firmly my belief that most American vegans care far more about animal welfare than they do about the well-being of their fellow humans. Not all, mind you, but most.
Hi Karine,
I don’t have a problem with your comment that most American vegans care more about animal welfare than human welfare. I don’t, however, agree with you. I think that the more vocal, more militant vegans tend to get more press than the rest of us. You very rarely hear anything about us garden-variety, run of the mill vegans.
so he has swapped the exploitation of animals for the exploitation of women, treating them like meat!
check out feminism and vegetarianisn