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Carnism is the belief system, idealogy and psychology of meat eating that eating certain meat (flesh consumption, especially by humans towards animals such as cows, chickens and pigs) is acceptable.
Carnism is also a subset of speciesism and relates to it, and questions why certain meat is "acceptable", while others such as cats and dogs, may be considered "taboo".
Those who follow carnism are called "carnists". Carnists may produce, consume, and promote meat eating.
Carnism (eating meat is right, fine and acceptable) is essentially the opposite of veganism (eating meat is wrong and/or unnecessary), the moral commitment to abstain from all meat and animal products including dairy.
Human promotion
Carnism may be subconsciously promoted to humans and re-enforced through:
- herd mentality
- meat advertisements and commercials
- peer pressure (having friends who eat meat)
- family traditions (having parents and family eat meat), such as barbecues, hunting and fishing
- watching entertainment, such as movies, TV shows and video games (especially entertainment produced in the 21st century and prior) where characters are seen eating meat, etc.
- the food pyramid, which recommends meat as a "food group". Some vegetarians and vegans view the food pyramid as outdated and archaic.
- food imagery of meat (for example, instead of a cartoon pizza being depicted with merely cheese, cartoonists may depict it with red circles, symbolizing pepperoni)
Controversy
Unlike carnivores, which require meat in their diet for survival, carnists choose to eat meat based on their beliefs. In many parts in the world where enough non-meat food is available and there are plenty of alternatives (such as North America), eating meat is no longer done out of survival and is instead, commonly eaten out of choice to satisfy taste buds.
Vegetarian/vegan pespective
Some vegetarian or vegan arguments against carnism can be found at freefromharm.org.
Origin
The concept of carnism was coined by American social psychologist Melanie Joy in 2001 and later developed in her 2003 dissertation. Joy discusses carnism in her 2010 book Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows.
Carnism, according to Joy, is the dominant, yet invisible paradigm in modern culture supporting the choice to consume meat. Carnism is an invisible system of beliefs in both the social, psychological, and physical sense.