Glossary
What is vegansexual?
Vegansexual describes someone who is only sexually and romantically attracted to other vegans or plant-based people. The term was coined in 2007 by New Zealand researcher Annie Potts, after vegan participants in a study on ethical consumption volunteered that they only had relationships with others who avoided animal products.
Where the term comes from
It came out of a 2006 nationwide New Zealand study on ethical consumption, which was not looking for it. Several participants, mostly women, said unprompted that they only had sexual and long-term relationships with other people who avoided animal products. Annie Potts, Professor of Human-Animal Studies at the University of Canterbury, named what they were describing. By August 2007 it was global news.
What it means in practice
It means being non-vegan is a dealbreaker, in the same way that wanting children or not wanting them is a dealbreaker for a lot of people. It is not a rule someone has imposed on themselves. It is a description of who they are drawn to.
The practical difficulty is arithmetic. Vegans are a small minority, so a vegansexual person on a mainstream dating app is filtering an already small pool by hand, one conversation at a time.
That is why we built Grazer: to make finding a vegan partner straightforward.
Is it the same as being vegan?
No.
Veganism is a philosophy and way of living that seeks to exclude animal exploitation as far as is possible and practicable. It is an ethical framework and an outlook on life. The diet follows from the ethics, not the other way round.
Vegansexual describes who you date. It sits alongside your sexuality rather than replacing it: you can be a vegansexual lesbian, a vegansexual straight man, or vegansexual and uninterested in labels beyond that one.
The two are independent. Some vegans are happy to date meat eaters or vegetarians. Being vegan does not make you vegansexual, and being vegansexual is not a stricter grade of veganism.