Fur coats are beautiful on the outside, but only when they are worn by their rightful owner…a silver fox or a mink, who is alive and well and living in their natural habitat.

Fur coats are a symbol of status, wealth, prestige, and often given as gifts from one sweetheart to another. Beauty is visual. Fur coats are beautiful and luxurious. That is what Madison Avenue has emphasized to the general public for years. However, luxury items come with a price. Not in dollars but in a currency known as karma.

When a minx is killed and skinned in order to make a fur coat, the purchase of said fur coat is an endorsement into the industry that creates them. Much like donations towards causes are a form of support, so too are our individual choices as consumers. I personally don’t prescribe to thoughts of cause and effect that resemble superstitious beliefs. I do believe that by financially supporting products that were made through needless suffering of innocent animals, we encourage more suffering. It’s a fact of simple math.

There would be no need for minx farms if no one bought minx coats. The demand drives the supply. Economics 101 explains it all.

Personally, I just choose to buy products that are cruelty-free, partly out of conscience and also because I want to encourage a world where sheep are not skinned to make Ugg boots. I’d love to see cosmetic products that were developed without the need to blind a rabbit in the formulation of eye shadow or mascara. These products are not necessarily fringe items found in vegan run co-operative stores.

Rather, they are companies like Arbonne who create high end luxury skincare and cosmetics from vegan ingredients. Other examples are Roozt, who encourage people to support humanitarian causes and use organic materials in their yoga apparel.

Cruelty-free doesn’t mean fringe. It can also mean fashionable and conscious.

In making the choice to buy Arbonne over another brand that does experiment on animals in the product development of lipstick, etc, I’m investing in a beautiful world. If a rabbit doesn’t have to go blind because enough women buy a cruelty free mascara, all the better. These lab animals never had a choice. Most consumers do.

For me, seeing someone walk down the street wearing real fur when faux that looks just as real is available, isn’t contributing to a beautiful planet. I don’t think such a person is bad. I do think that they are choosing to encourage more skinning of innocent animals whose carcasses are just thrown away. A minx or silver fox is not fully consumed. They are used for their fur and that’s it.

Beauty is what beauty does. Maybe Madison Avenue doesn’t send out that message but the saying is precisely on the point. The French have a term which, when translated into English says, “beautiful ugly.” What it means is that a person becomes more beautiful by behavior even if their appearance doesn’t change.

Don’t get me wrong. The visual appeal is instant and instant attraction is often one hundred percent physical. Yet, over time, as one gets to know the inner workings of a person, their physical beauty may fade not because of time but in spite of it. A very beautiful woman or handsome man can be blinding at first but if their behavior is ugly, eventually they too will look atrocious in character and appearance.

A similar thing can be said for the beauty of consumer choices. The act of attaining beauty has karma of its own. If you choose to suffer for your own beauty it’s your choice. If you choose to encourage an innocent creature to suffer for your beauty, it’s still your choice, but karma is a bitch that can literally bite you in the ass.

For every action there is a reaction. It’s physics not metaphysics.

 

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Editorial Assistant: Heather Hendry

Photo: Wikimedia Commons