About

Megan Kearns is The Opinioness of the World: a feminist vegan blogger, freelance writer and activist.

Megan started blogging to discuss her two passions: gender equality and living cruelty-free. Often employing a critical theory approach, fused with sass and snark, she writes:

• Reviews of films, books, TV and music from the lens of feminism or veganism;
• Vegan recipes and restaurant reviews;
• Essays on women’s empowerment, feminism & pop culture, women in politics, sexism in the media, reproductive justice, LGBTQ rights, animal rights, living vegan, and the intersection of gender & food.

A Bitch Flicks Contributor, Megan reviews films, television series, and media from a feminist perspective. Her work has also been published in or appeared at Arts & Opinion, Fem2pt0, Feministing’s Community Blog, Italianieuropei, Open Letters Monthly and A Safe World for Women. CBS News referenced Megan’s article on the American media’s initial inattention to feature stories and images of Egyptian women protesting in the Arab Spring.

Passionate about reproductive justice and gender equity, Megan has volunteered with NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, the Athena Film Festival, Martha Coakley for Senate and Casa Myrna Vazquez‘ domestic violence hotline.

A graduate of UMass Amherst, Megan earned her B.A. in Anthropology and Sociology (Double Major), with a focus on gender, culture and the intersectionality of race, class and gender.  She also earned a Graduate Certificate in Women and Politics and Public Policy from UMass Boston. She is a 2006 Commonwealth Legislative Seminar alumna and a 2011 Soapbox Feminist Winter Term alumna.

Megan currently lives in Boston in a tiny apartment surrounded by more books than she will probably ever read in her lifetime.

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PATH TO FEMINISM

I’ve been a supporter of strong women for as long as I can remember, ever since I danced to Tina Turner songs and donned my Wonder Woman Underoos at the age of three!  As a young girl, I liked to play with Barbies and My Little Pony as well as G.I. Joes and Matchbox cars.  I read books with feisty female protagonists like Anne of Green Gables, Island of the Blue Dolphins and Little Women.  While I proudly asserted my female identity (even changing my name to “Girl” when I was a toddler), I didn’t want my gender to dictate my interests. I cared about being me.

In college, I studied the intersectional role of gender, race and class in culture.  I read books by famous feminist writers and activists.  I realize the word “feminist” often carries a negative connotation, which is why I myself shied away from the label for many years.  But the more involved I became in political and social issues, the more I envisioned myself as an activist for women’s rights and social justice, and eventually, a feminist.  To me, feminism means equality and freedom from sexism.  Women and men suffer from suffocating gender norms and binaries.

We have a long way to go in achieving gender equality.  We need to empower women and embrace the diverse choices in their lives.  Women should earn the same wage for the same job as men.  Women should have full reproductive control over their bodies, whether that means choosing abortion, birth control or becoming a parent.  We should stop judging people based on their gender and sexual orientation.  People who are LGBTQ shouldn’t be treated any differently than those who are heteronormative.  Women shouldn’t be subjected to sexism in the media or in the home; their voices need to be heard and supported. Women are strong, beautiful and powerful…I hope to celebrate that here.

LIVING VEGAN

I’ve been a vegan for the past 5 years and before that I was a vegetarian for 11 years.  I don’t eat any meat (including chicken or seafood), dairy (including eggs, milk, butter, cheese) or animal byproducts (honey, gelatin).  Living cruelty-free, none of my clothing contains wool or silk and I don’t use beauty products with any animal ingredients or that have been tested on animals.

I wasn’t born vegetarian or vegan…so how did I get here?  When I was a little girl, I asked my mom why we ate animals since we lived in a home full of cats and dogs.  I began to think about the animals’ lives before they were on my plate.  As a teenager, I felt incredibly guilty eating meat.  My own questions eventually led to my voyage of forgoing meat. I read books and watched video footage of factory farming and the cruel treatment of animals.

The more I read, the more changes I wished to make. I learned that my body did not need meat in order to be healthy.   A slow transformation, I eventually chose to become vegan to align my actions with my personal beliefs: that humans should not consume animals for ease, gain or benefit and that animals have a right to live freely, to not suffer and to not be exploited. In addition, consuming less meat is kinder to the environment.

I know not everyone will choose my lifestyle.  What we choose to put in our bodies remains a very personal decision.  For many of us, we each do our part to help the world and reduce suffering in whatever ways we can.

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• So I hope you enjoy my labor of love and join me on my journey.  Whether you call yourself a feminist or not, or a vegan or not, it’s time to kick ass and make this world a more fabulous place.

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a legislative training program, and Soapbox Feminist Winter Term, a week-long feminist workshop hosted by feminist icons and authors (Manifesta, Grassroots) Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards.