Aug 27 2008
Be a Man – Eat Meat
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why we, in this culture, tend to see a man who doesn’t eat meat as being… feminine. Michael got a comment this weekend that spurred my thoughts, but it wasn’t an unusual comment or even one that I – at some point in my life – would not have made.
I generally see the act of hunting as one that a man does – historically that’s been the case for a variety of reasons I feel no need to cite here. But since nowadays all hunting entails is shooting a gun – a skill that a woman can certainly learn – there’s no reason for anyone to see it as a masculine activity. I know women who fish and shoot. And women, traditionally, have had the role of cleaning and prepping meat for future use. So really, there’s not a whole lot of masculinity left in hunting today. Not in my perspective, anyway. Tools like guns have evened the playing field.
But we’re not even talking about hunting or fishing for the vast majority of the meat people eat. If we were, I’ve a feeling Michael would respectfully decline participation, but he’s certainly fished and shot a gun before. Society sees the very act of eating meat as a masculine practice. Somehow, munching a burger from McDonald’s represents a masculine act. But muching a soy burger doesn’t.
And I don’t understand this. A burger from McDonald’s is about as far from a slaughterhouse as you can get. Otherwise, people would have to face the fact that they are killing and eating a lovable, hug-able cow.
The only train of thought that leads someone to think that it’s feminine to abstain from eating that meat is this: that women are sensitive and thus motivated to protect animals where men are not. Which is, I think, probably true to a large extent. Many young, sensitive women become vegetarian because they can’t stand the thought of an animal dying. It’s not very thoughtful abstinence from meat, but it is probably among the most common.
What the general public often fails to see is that there can be significant ecological and health benefits aside from the ethics issue. And the ethics issue expands beyond just wanting to abstain from killing cuddly animals into wanting to abstain from unnecessary suffering. These are complex, sincere ideological foundations that have nothing to do with feminine or masculine traits. Rather, they stem from human thought. In fact, some of the most respected philosophical thinkers in this world chose to become vegetarian.
The vast majority of Americans choose to eat meat – men and women. While more women are likely to become vegetarian, I doubt that most people consider that when they deride men who choose to abstain from meat. I think it has to do with our image of masculinity, which for much of us is locked into the past. A man who eats meat, watches sports, drinks beer, belches and farts. But most of my female friends like beer, prefer hamburger over a salad and enjoy watching sports. Not to even touch on belching and farting. The fact of the matter is that while there are most assuredly differences between men and women, they have less to do with how we think of men and women socially and more to do with the way we process our thoughts, view ourselves and talk to each other. And most of us encompass a bit of each gender, whether we care to admit it or not.
I fish!
I actually think it’s the perception that men need more fatty proteins than women do. So like, women are expected to diet and therefore eat lean meats/fish/vegetables and men are supposed to be bulky and not worried about weight (ha) and eat fatty meats and potatoes. Clearly that is not true at all, but I do think that’s a big part of it.
When I was a vegetarian (for 8 years straight and then another 2 later), it has nothing to do with cute animals and everything to do with how meat tasted to me and how it made my body feel physically. I still find that I eat mostly vegetarian or fish (no other meat) when it is just me I’m cooking for. Again, that’s just what I prefer from a taste point of view.
I’ve been eating vegan again for a little over a week now and I’ve realized a couple of things:
1. I can pretty much eat whatever I want that isn’t obviously junk and not gain weight.
2. I really, really hate talking to people about it.
People either react in some stupid ignorant way that assumes I’m doing this out of a love for cute fluffy cows, or they go out of their way to accommodate me, to an extent that’s just embarrassing. I guess veganism shocks like vegetarianism used to.
So I downplay the ethical component, but the truth is that it’s there for me. Try as I might, I can’t actually reconcile my personal moral compass with consuming animal products, and I bet there are a lot of other people who can’t and who just don’t want to think about it.
Excellent post.
Funnily enough, I saw this today: Mandles, candles for men. The most telling is fear, but it would be more accurate if it was “fear of fear.”
I think Jess is on to the why. Traditionally, manly men needed lots of fuel to do all those manly picking up of things and putting them down and meat provides some pretty dense calories. We’ve mechanized and automated most of that work. Bulldozers, like rifles, are gender neutral machines. But that mechanization only occurred fairly recently, like in the last 100 years or so. So our food choices get associated with our deeply held beliefs about gender roles. I think any tradition is slow to change, but those related to gender roles are probably the slowest. Bottom line; we’re homophobic carnivores.
Okay, I obviously made an oversight not touching on the ‘men need calorically dense protein’ school of thought. I didn’t touch on it because nobody in modern-day America should be worrying about whether or not they’re getting enough protein. I guess I take it for granted that most people know that, or know how easy it is to get vegetable proteins that aren’t heavily processed soy patties.
The fact of the matter is that Michael isn’t starving for protein when he eats vegan, so the argument of that image or theory falters. It’s less tangible than being about nutrition.
We weren’t arguing with your point, but I think almost all of the men + meat = manly thing does stem from the perception that men need (and prefer) a more a calorie dense, carb and protein dense and produce lean diet.
I meant to mention that it is a preference perception. Think about Dad: he really didn’t like vegetables much, I would say that he DID prefer meat+potatoes. I am sure some of that initially stemmed from growing up when he did in a large family (canned produce = cheap). But then I think about it, and he never really liked the stuff he tried that was less bland and less meat+potatoes.
I will say that one of the things that makes my life easier cooking at home is that N LOVES vegetables and if I make a meal that is mostly vegetarian, that’s not a problem. In fact, one of the first times I hung out with him at lunch at work, we had dim sum with a bunch of coworkers. Of the ten people, only two people aside from me ate the tofu and the chinese broccoli: N and one of our mutual friends. One of the guys only ate the pork buns. Are steamed pork buns the only manly food at dim sum?
I don’t know if he liked it, but dad ate primarily vegetarian Indian food a couple times. I still haven’t been able to find a killer lentil soup like the one I had at his friend’s house… or fried paneer that was as tasty. *sigh*
Maybe steamed pork buns are the only food good for picky eaters at dim-sum? Like me, a few years ago that’s all I would have eaten.
I dunno if it makes you more of a man,but dead animal sure tastes good