ABSTRACT
In my article, “Abnormal Appetites: Foucault, Atwood, and the Normalization of an Animal-Based Diet,” I analyzed the manner in which female ethical veganism is described as a slippery slope into anorexia, (hetero)sexual dysfunction, and insanity in a number of fictional works by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. In that essay I related Atwood’s pathologizing descriptions of female veganism to the history of psychiatrists medicalizing vegetarianism, veganism, and the love and defense of animals more generally. I argued that Atwood’s novels were a popular reflection and reinforcement of the history of psychiatry pathologizing people who violate carnist alimentary norms. In this chapter, I return to the topic of literary representations of female veganism as madness, this time focusing on Korean author Han Kang’s novel, The Vegetarian (2007). I argue that The Vegetarian, like Atwood’s fiction, can be seen to reinforce pre-existing and persistent associations between veganism, femininity, sexual dysfunction, and insanity in the social imaginary—messages that are gratifying to many readers in a carnist world. Rather than combatting these cultural associations through an insistence on the normalcy and rationality of veganism, however, in this chapter I read Han’s novel through mad studies to advocate for a mad-vegan-queer-crip feminist refusal of animal-based diets.
