A vegan Gentleman’s Club is something right out of The Onion — but you can’t make the comments of Casa Diablo owner Johnny Diablo up (unlike his name):

Mr. Diablo isn?t concerned with the “feminazis,” as he calls them. As a vegan himself, he says he hasn?t worn or eaten animal products in 24 years and is worried about cruelty to animals. “My sole purpose in this universe is to save every possible creature from pain and suffering,” he said.

And I know objectification of women and commodification of a movement are important issues — and I’ve spent a great deal of space here writing about them — but I can’t help but laugh at some of these well-intentioned lines and quotes from New York Times writer Kara Jesella:

Casa Diablo is just the latest example of selling veganism with a “Girls Gone Wild” aesthetic [...]

Isa Chandra Moskowitz, a cookbook author, is among those who believe such images twist the vegan message. “As a feminist, I?m not keen on the idea of using women’s bodies to sell veganism, and I’m not into the idea of using veganism to sell women’s bodies,” she said.[...]

The issue of sexism in vegan circles is “extremely polarizing,” said Bob Torres, an author of “Vegan Freak” [...]

Vegans who use sexuality to promote the cause say it is a good way to convert carnivores — in particular, men [...]

The article actually does a very good job at getting across the diversity of the vegan community — and the difficulties of tying together progressive agendas and of resisting easy compromises to advance a cause.

But, you gotta admit, it’s a pretty silly way to spark the conversation.