In defence of labelling humans

Love them or hate them, labels aren’t going away. In fact, there seem to be more now than ever before. And no, that doesn’t stop people arguing about them!

The biggest problem I see with labels is that a lot of people don’t understand their function, or they use a label without checking they know what it means, but overall I’m in favour of labels because they allow us to share a lot of information very quickly.

Like I could say, “I read tarot, dance naked under the moon, cast spells and talk to spirits,” or I could say “I’m a witch.” If I want to fill out more beliefs without expending any extra energy, I can say what kind of witch, and BOOM the other person has a pretty decent grasp on my religious and moral point of view. Handy, right?

And when I say “I’m pansexual,” people hear “I’m attracted to people, not parts.”

But sometimes people can go around tarnishing a label so much other people who fit the technical definition of that label might hesitate to use it, and we’re seeing a lot of that in the vegan community right now. Heaps of vegans now say they are “plant-based” because they don’t want to get people’s hackles up, even though plant-based is a way of eating rather than a lifestyle. When you’re eating out with people who might not know you well saying you are plant-based is by far the safer option because what you’re saying is “I don’t eat animal products for personal health reasons” rather than “I don’t eat animal products for ethical and or environmental reasons.”

Avoiding animal products for ethical reasons isn’t even that bad on the surface, right? It’s probably good to love animals. But when you say you’re vegan there’s a risk people will hear “I’m judging you,” and they get defensive real quick.

This is a basic misunderstanding. A person’s labels are about them, not about you. Unless they start trying to convert you or turn you straight or whatever, you don’t need to invest yourself in someone else’s labels.

Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but I don’t think a label is a set of rules either. For example, people will say to me “oh but you can’t wear that because you’re vegan.” Nah mate, I’m vegan because I don’t want to wear that. I have zero inclination to take another person’s skin and wear it over the top of my own, so I identify as vegan.

Now, everyone here knows I’m not a level 10 vegan. I’ve never emailed a company and asked them if natural flavour 209 is animal-derived or anything, and when my doctor prescribes medicine I take it knowing it’s been tested on animals and probably has animal parts in it. We don’t live in a cruelty-free world and I’m not on crack, so… *shrug*

By the standard of the majority, I’m a lot more vegan than average Joanne so that’s the label I use. I care about the earth and my health and the animals and I’ve made changes to my life to reflect that. Boom. Vegan.

The other day I was at a kid event and I ate this delicious biscuit that didn’t have a packet. The organiser had requested everything be nut and dairy-free, but I know some people consider eggs to be dairy and some don’t, so I asked the contributor if eggs were in there, leading up to asking for the recipe. Milk and butter are easy to sub out but I’m not great at picking which of the ten different egg substitutes will work in a given recipe, so this question would tell me if I had a hope of making a vegan version at home because DAMN I need to eat these things every day. Delicious.

Anyway, she didn’t know, but I was talking to a friend afterwards and my friend said, “that’s why I don’t identify as vegan.” And I’m like “oh yeah cool,” because we were knee-deep in parenting but later I was like, hang on! I could identify as a hippopotamus and I still wouldn’t want to eat eggs. Not because I can’t, not because hippos have a secret hippo code of not eating eggs, but because I don’t want to put that into my body and I don’t want to fund that industry.

I can eat eggs until the proverbial cows come home. Being vegan doesn’t stop me, being true to myself stops me. Despite the stigma and the fact people get very confused at the difference between vegan and celiac (it’s a huge difference, FYI) I love being vegan. My life is immeasurably better. Love it. This label I have adopted is not a chokehold, it’s an adjective.

All my labels have been hard-won and help me understand myself and my relationship with the rest of the world. They facilitate quick, easy communication. They provide you with a rough map of where I stand, and if you trust me with your labels they’re a gift that helps me know you better, too.

Miriam Cumming is a pansexual, gender-nonconforming, vegan, Wiccan witch who parents hardcore, writes novels, and embraces you for who you are. She would really like a coffee now.