“Real men eat meat, and going vegan makes you a weak soy boy.” Meat and masculinity, debunked.

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 those 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 the 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 behaviour thousands of years later. In actuality this attitude is more closely linked to how these products are marketed and advertised.

For instance, companies heavily sexualise the marketing of animal products, with campaigns from companies such as Carl Juniors, Burger King, Subway and many more using imagery of heavily sexualised 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”.

“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 threatened.”

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 threatened. There is no better example of this than when Fox News host Jesse Watters ate a steak live on television in front of a social psychologist who had come on the show to discuss the perceived link between eating meat and masculinity.

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 or puppies in a more appealing light. For example, a study 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, the science tells us that the inverse is true, with a study from the British Journal of Cancer showing that the vegans had 13% higher testosterone levels than meat eaters. They 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, you’re better off being vegan.

When it comes to oestrogen, soy contains phytoestrogen, which is a plant hormone and despite its name, consuming it does not affect the body’s oestrogen levels. 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 oestrogen levels in men. But guess what contains actual oestrogen, and quite a lot of it? Cow’s milk and other dairy products. Consuming these products will affect the body’s oestrogen levels.

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 US 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.

Besides, what could possibly be manly about paying someone else to kill some of the most gentle animals on the 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, hence why they feel like they need to eat meat to be manly. If you are comfortable with your masculinity, then why do you need to prove anything to anyone? Eating meat to prove your masculinity in turn 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 to kill an unsuspecting and defenceless animal?

Ultimately, there is nothing manly about killing animals and there is nothing manly about lacking empathy. Nobody should die for someone else’s fragile masculinity.