Psychology Today | 26.10.2026 14:55
I stopped eating meat 40 years ago. It was an ethical decision based on what I was learning about animal cruelty, and I’d internalised the band The Smiths’ message “Meat Is Murder”. I also stopped wearing leather or using cosmetics that were tested on animals. I was a wilful 15-year-old, forming my identity, formulating my beliefs and exercising my autonomy in the few contexts in which it was possible to do so. I grew up in a “meat and two veg” household where wilful teens had no right getting involved in meal planning, and so my dinners were reduced to “two veg”.
