Real men eat meat
and going vegan makes you a weak soy boy.
We have this idea that to be a real man
you have to eat animal flesh
and that by going vegan
you are suddenly emasculating yourself.
So, is this actually true?
Firstly, we need to work out
where this idea comes from.
In some ways it can be traced back to our nomadic roots,
where the roles of communities consisted of men hunting
and women gathering.
And although this is widely considered as being the case,
it must be stated that there is also evidence
of these roles being less gender-divided
within some hunter-gatherer communities.
But even if we take the stance that men hunted,
the act of killing an animal
isn’t what is important.
It’s the act of provision.
The fact that men hunted is secondary
to the fact that hunting ensured
that communities could survive.
And so, in essence
if the correlation is that eating meat is manly
because men used to be hunters,
then really the correlation should be
that providing for your community
and looking after those around you
is what makes you a man.
And so really, it’s too simplistic
to point to our nomadic days
to justify our behavior thousands of years later.
In actuality this attitude is more closely linked
to how these products are marketed and advertised.
For instance, companies heavily sexualize
the marketing of animal products
with campaigns from companies such as Carl Jr.’s,
Burger King, Subway and many more
using imagery of heavily sexualized women
to sell their products to a male audience,
the connotation being
that eating meat will not only get you women
but that meat and women exist for the pleasure of men.
Alternatively, meat companies will depict meat
as being eaten by men
with advert taglines such as
“FEED THE MAN”
being used to describe meat products.
Or in this advert
where the burger can only be eaten by a man
with the tagline “MAN UP”.
All of this has led to
some pretty startling social science.
For instance, a study from the University of Hawaii
found that men routinely incorporate
more red meat into their diet as reassurance
when they feel their masculinity is being threatened.
There is no better example of this
than when Fox News host Jessie Watters
ate a steak live on television
in front of a social psychologist
who would come onto the show
to discuss the perceived link
between eating meat and masculinity.
“Pretty good, it’s a little rare, medium rare.”
“Yeah!” (“Is this…”)
“That’s some nice dead animal,
dead cow hanging on your fork.”
On top of this, studies have shown
that only drug addicts face the same degree of stigma
as vegans,
with men who have gone vegan for ethical reasons
being viewed as the most socially threatening.
But why?
Because ethical vegan men
dispel the myth
that masculinity is tied into eating meat
or lacking empathy for animals.
And yet despite all of this,
we ironically also paradoxically
view men with dogs of puppies in a more appealing light.
For example,
there was a study done that revealed
that men holding puppies
were seen as 24% sexier
than men with no dog at all.
They were also seen as
over 14% more trustworthy,
7% more intelligent
and over 13% more attractive.
And furthermore,
advocates for eating meat will often point to testosterone,
making claims that vegans have lower levels.
However, studies have actually shown
that the inverse is true
with a study from the British Journal of Cancer
showing that vegans had 13% higher testosterone levels than meat-eaters.
Vegans also had lower IGF-1 levels,
which reduces the risk of certain cancers such as prostate.
So, if people believe that it is testosterone
that defines being a man,
then you’re better off being vegan anyway.
When it comes to estrogen,
soy contains phytoestrogen
which is a plant hormone.
And despite its name
consuming it does nothing to negatively impact
the body’s estrogen levels.
In fact, in a review of nine clinical studies
published in the Journal of Fertility and Sterility
it was stated that there is no evidence
that phytoestrogen affects circulating estrogen levels in men.
But guess what contains actual estrogen!
- Cow’s milk and other dairy products.
And on top of that,
a plant-based diet can reverse erectile dysfunction
which is commonly caused by a diet
high in saturated fat and cholesterol
- i. e. meat.
Plus, as documentaries such as “The Game Changers” show
you don’t need meat to be muscular
or to be an athlete,
with Kendrick Farris who is 100% vegan
setting a U.S. Olympic weightlifting record.
Even Arnold Schwarzenegger
who once said in a film “You hit like a vegetarian.”
has stated that the correlation between meat and masculinity
is just marketing.
“But you got to understand, that’s marketing.
That’s not based on reality.”
And besides,
what could possibly be manly about paying someone else
to kill some of the most gentle animals on this planet?
What could possibly be manly
about lowering pigs into gas chambers?
What could possibly be manly
about slitting the throats of lambs?
The irony is
that those who say they eat meat
because it makes them manly
are the ones who are most conscious about their masculinity,
“I just wand to eat what I want to eat.”,
hence why they feel the need to eat meat to be manly.
If you are comfortable with your masculinity,
then why do you need to prove anything to anyone else?
Eating meat to prove your masculinity
in turn just shows your fragility.
Only a threatened and fragile person
would harm someone else
to try and prove themselves to be something
that ironically the very action of harming someone else disproves.
And for those who hunt:
What’s manly about using high-powered rifles and scopes,
hiding in camouflage,
just to kill an unsuspecting and defenseless animal?
Ultimately, there is nothing manly about killing animals.
And there is nothing manly about lacking empathy.
It’s time to do better.
Nobody should have to die
for someone else’s fragile masculinity.
(soft music)