Vegan Sexual

Anonymous asked: But why straightedge? Why not just sober? Do you feel some sort of connection to the hardcore or vegan straightedge community?

I think straightedge appeals to me by nature of its unwavering, lifelong commitment.

I didn’t grow up in a hardcore scene if thats what you’re asking. I was exposed to the idea by other vegan straightedge folks who have been that way for many years. When we talked about my thoughts and politics they urged me to research it and I agreed it was right for me. The community is profoundly small where I currently live
but I am moving to a city next year with a much larger presence.

I have a feeling I know who this is cause I’ve seen it on my dash lately. I’m not going to sell out if that’s your concern. I thought a long time about making this commitment and my motivations for doing so. Straightedge is saving my life in ways I can hardly articulate. I am surrounded by many people and friends who use and abuse and straightedge is literally saving me from addiction and suicide.

Anonymous asked: Could you explain more why your commitment to sober living is political? Are you saying that drugs are inherently exploitative? How? Also do you take prescription pills? Are you against those?

Sure.

I think I’m mostly focusing on alcohol because as a legal industry, it profits off the exploitation of addiction. Tobacco does as well. And each of these exploit animals in testing for human consumption. Vegan straightedge is a refusal to support or participate at any juncture.

There’s a lot to be said for the ways pharmaceutical companies also exploit the addictive capacities of people and exploit animals in testing. The pathologization of everyday experiences or neuro-atypicality or ineffective methods of pain management all fall under the exploitation of big pharma for profit.

I take some asthma medications but that’s becoming more rare since I don’t have insurance anymore and it can be prohibitively expensive. My health has dramatically improved since I started exercising again, stopped dating a smoker (for other reasons), and cut back on soy. I rarely, if ever, take OTC pain meds because I find them ineffective. Maybe it’s my body chemistry but I’ve experienced little pain relief  from them and I just cope in other ways, like eating cookies or resting or stretching. I also have a condition where my knees dislocate frequently and experience a lot of nerve and joint pain related to that.

I don’t begrudge people for taking the meds they need to live and live well. I just choose not to participate for the reasons I outlined in my post which are both personal and political.

Even my personal reasons make it obvious that there’s a political element to refusing intoxicants in a world where the trauma I suffered makes it more likely I would use, abuse, and die by the hands of, those substances.

On Claiming Edge

I wrote this right after I made the decision to claim straightedge, updated it a bit to reflect how my thinking has developed on it. Here’s my basic though process re: the anon who asked me about my personal decisions to do so.

(trigger warning: discussion of rape, specific details and experience)

After much thought, I claimed edge 6 months ago. Making the commitment to veganism two and a half years ago was not a decision I made lightly, and it’s one I am capable of defending and rests well on my conscience. Now that I can clearly articulate the reasons why I am committing to lifelong radical sobriety, I feel comfortable talking about it publicly. These are my reasons for identifying as vegan straightedge, and hopefully those in my life who want to know more about why I made this decision will find answers here:

It’s therapeutic

            In the aftermath of brutal sexual trauma 8 months ago, I decided I would do whatever it took to prioritize and respect the limits of my mental health. For me, that included firmly articulating boundaries that I had neglected to do before. In serving as a rape crisis advocate for the past 4 years including countless hours dedicated to community service and activism, at the time of my assault I was depleted and stressed and near mental breakdown.

I was raped in an environment where both my attacker and me had taken drugs and drank alcohol. I had mostly sobered up by the time we went back to his apartment, so I was acutely aware of his refusal to listen to me, the physical violence and pain I experienced, and slowly realizing I was being raped with absolutely no way to stop it. I was aware of the ways he had manipulated me into thinking he was harmless because of my intoxicated state. He was using his coke high as an excuse to be rough and fast and reckless and completely edit out my nonconsent.

In no way do I think that my decision to use drugs or alcohol was responsible for my assault, nor do I think that of any other victim or survivor. I do think alcohol and drugs facilitated an environment where my attacker did not have any risk of being held accountable, and felt empowered to both use his body to violate me and refuse to listen and attribute it to his intoxicated state rather than his own personal responsibility and decision-making. 

With what shreds of energy for self-care I had left in the months that followed, I made swift and difficult decisions to preserve my sanity and life. Now that I am no longer in crisis-mode, I have been evaluating which decisions I need to make to preserve my well being long term. Dedicating myself to lifelong sobriety prevents any future instance where I might turn to substances to deal with this horrible trauma is a key decision I made on my path to survival (survivors are many more times likely to abuse drugs and alcohol and suffer from addiction due to lasting effects of trauma).

It’s personal

            I have had many experiences with drugs and alcohol in my past. I’ve been transformed by using them and they’ve had a part in shaping who I am today. I thankfully never struggled much with addiction (just the beginnings with nicotine, but one I was luckily able to defeat on my own) but have seen it affect people close to me and others whom I admire and respect. I know from experience one shot won’t get me drunk and one pill won’t ruin my life, but that’s not the point. I want to completely disassociate from the practice, the effects, the people, the industries, etc. I feel personally strong, clear-headed, capable, and more confident in my body and health. So far in these 6 months, it’s been a physically and mentally rewarding experience.

It’s political

            Since becoming vegan I have been attuned to the ways in which I live that exploit others and try to minimize those to the greatest extent possible. I’ve always described my political commitments like signing a piece of paper: if my name is going on it, I better damn well agree with every last word. There’s nothing more meaningful to me than my commitments; my ethical choices and calculations are the foundation for my self-concept and direct the ways I live every part of my life.

It is possible to both live well and maintain ethical and political commitments to yourself and others. This means recognizing privilege, service to others, advocating for change, showing real solidarity, listening to and prioritizing the needs of the most marginalized among us, forever learning and self-educating, refusing to exploit any creature, and dismantling the system in strategic ways toward the goal of total liberation. Straightedge is a part of that for me. Veganism is a pivotal part of my ethical foundation.

If you have any questions, send em my way (although I’ll likely not answer anons unless they’re thoughtful).

Anonymous asked: do you think its easier to control large groups or small groups? do you think "divide and conquer" is true?

I think my anons are nonsensical because my blog is nonsensical.

Anonymous asked: what do yu think of yourself?

Best anon yet.

Anonymous asked: I REALLY want to know- Why Straightedge? :) I am already a vegan, and i'm getting very curious about xvx. I don't smoke or do drugs other than the approx. 3 joints i have a year, but i do on occasion drink alcohol. Please enlighten me! :)

I’m straightedge because I wish to opt out as much as possible from exploitive institutions. I also do so for personal reasons (tw):

I was raped at a party and my attacker had been drinking/doing other drugs and I wasn’t particularly drunk at that time but being around it at all is pretty triggering.

I wrote a post about my reasons, perhaps I should publish it.

xxqueerxedgexx asked: Awhile back you said the XVX DTF patches were in the works. Any updates?

Still in progress. Friend in ATX has been super busy as of late, she’s helping me out.

Also I have been meaning to tell you for a while that I LOVE your blog. Let’s chat soon, yes?

New side tumblr y’all

Wherein my friends and I document the companion phenomenon to Manic Pixie Dream Girl

Meet:

Hyper Nerdy Dream Boy

http://hypernerdydreamboy.tumblr.com/

http://hypernerdydreamboy.tumblr.com/

http://hypernerdydreamboy.tumblr.com/

http://hypernerdydreamboy.tumblr.com/

http://hypernerdydreamboy.tumblr.com/

Trans* Awareness: Trans*: The trans asterisk

Anonymous asked: hey how many times do you eat a day?

Whenever I’m hungry?

It’s 3am, must be time to scrutinize and parse every sext you’ve sent me in the past week

Anonymous asked: hey there, please can I get some vegan meal ideas? thanks :) remember I live in the UK, so the stuff you have over there might not be available... thanks x

Here’s Jen’s cheap as hell, gluten and soy free vegan recipes:

Mac and Peas (from Vegan Stoner)

Cook some noodles of your choosing (I like brown rice noodles)

Drain noodles and set aside

In that same empty but hot pot melt two tbsp of vegan margarine, empty a can of sweet peas with the juice, add two heaping handfuls of flour and one and a half of nutritional yeast. Stir together. Then add a few good squirts of stone ground mustard and a liberal drizzle of sriracha or other hot sauce (I like spicy). Stir it all together to make a sauce. Add your noodles back in, stir to coat, enjoy!

Massaged Kale Salad

If this is just for you, just a few stalks would be fine. Rip the leaves off the stems into bite sized pieces. Coat with some kind of oil (good olive oil will do, although I use hemp or flax). Massage until coated and sort of soft. Then add a heaping spoonful of tahini and work that in. Cut up half an avocado and massage it all together. Then do a good liberal shake of nutritional yeast and massage it all together (your hands get gross but it’s so good). Then I add a drizzle of a tangy dressing of my choice (I get a tomato vinegar based one) and on top you can add any number of seasonal vegetables, or if you eat tofu you can press that, marinate in a bit of soy sauce and sriracha, pan fry it till crispy, and layer it on top. You can also sprinkle hemp or flax seeds on top for extra nutrients if you have them available.

Tostadas/nachos

The trick is to make the chips/tostada yourself. Get a bag of vegan corn tortillas (don’t know if you have access to Mission but those are cheap as hell and explicitly talk about their mono and diglycerides on their website so they’re good to go). Heat some canola oil in a pan (enough to cover the bottom, but you don’t need a ton). Fry a whole tortilla or cut into quarters to make chips.

Before though, make quinoa. It’s a protein-rich grain that is super filling and tasty and hard to fuck up. You just put a couple handfuls in, put enough water to just cover by half an inch or so, and bring to a boil. Let boil for one minute, stir, cover, and turn down to simmer until all the water is gone. Give it a quick stir and let it cook a couple more minutes with the cover off, and then fluff with a fork.

Then layer that on top of your tostada/chips. Drain the oil from your chip skillet. Then put in a can of rinsed black beans with a couple spoonfuls of salsa and then add spinach or some other green until it’s all hot and tasty. Layer that over your tostada or chips. Then add diced onions, tomatoes, avocado, or whatever else you have on hand. If you want to make it really filling, fry up some thinly slice potatoes while you’re cooking your quinoa and mix it in with your beans/salsa/spinach.

• I always have beans, quinoa, tortillas, noodles, nutritional yeast, etc. on hand. All of these are super customizable to what you have access to/money for. They are easily soy and gluten free. They do not require specialty ingredients, as most of these can be found at regular grocery stores (although obvs you can get fancier with the oils and such if you want). None of these require special nut milks or faux meats and are cheap as fuck. I live on food stamps and a meager salary and although these are heavy in my rotation, I haven’t gotten bored yet because I’ll change it up just a bit depending on my mood.

Hope this helps!!

Anonymous asked: gosh i like you so much!!

Finally! An anon I want to answer.

Who u/watchu wearin