Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows

Posted on 5 February 2010

‘Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism’ is a new book by Melanie Joy, a social psychologist, professor, and personal coach. The book is about the psychology of meat eating, which stems from an ideology that she calls ‘carnism’.

It attempts to answer some interesting riddles in human behaviour such as:

• Why we love some animals and eat others (selective empathy);
• Why meat eaters tend to find the flesh of only a small handful of different animal species appetising;
• How can otherwise humane people participate in inhumane practices;
• What are the social and psychological mechanisms that societies use to prevent people from reflecting on their meat food choices;
• How eating animals negatively impacts on our psychological wellbeing as well as on animals, our health, and the environment.

The book hopes to help meat eaters be more aware of the invisible guiding mechanisms that shapes their feelings and behaviours towards eating meat. The system is so entrenched that we see the world through the eyes of the system, and we see certain animals not as living beings, but as food from a very early age. And we are discouraged from examining this perspective through our lives.

She explains how we learn to trust authorities that are operating within a ‘carnistic’ framework, such as our social institutions and the professionals that represent them. These entities promote the 3 Ns of Justification – that eating meat is Normal, Natural, and Necessary. The 3 Ns are also 3 myths.

It also attempts to aid vegetarians and vegans in understanding the system that they’re working against to transform, so they can advocate and communicate with meat eaters more effectively.

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