tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2610417113472274552.post7187008701408327461..comments2023-10-23T14:17:35.309-05:00Comments on The Half-Assed Game: Why are men so proud of not eating vegetarian food?Mary Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13373388995833775695noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2610417113472274552.post-61366753685905183392007-12-05T18:41:00.000-06:002007-12-05T18:41:00.000-06:00Before you and Cindi get too carried away pounding...Before you and Cindi get too carried away pounding your chests and complaining about what boobs men are, you should remember and consider:<BR/><BR/>(1) Anti-vegetable animus is not by any means a mere reflection of machismo or of male pretension, nor is it an <I>exclusively</I> male phenomenon. Whatever its bases (I could speculate, and I suspect that wealth is one of them, but I'm trying to be brief), it is a widespread cultural phenomenon that spans both sexes. For example, the scene in an episode of <I>Married With Children</I> in which the children -- a boy and a girl -- exclaim, "We're so hungry we could eat vegetables!"<BR/><BR/>(2) When voiced seriously, the objection is not usually to vegetables <I>per se</I>, but to a meal or diet consisting <I>exclusively</I> of vegetables. It is not the inclusion of vegetables but the exclusion of meat to which anti-vegetarians object.<BR/><BR/>So I think you've both missed the mark a bit. While there certainly is a masculine element to anti-vegetarian animus,* there is much more to it as well.<BR/><BR/>* E.g., a saying I heard my grandfather use: "Milk is for puppies. Men eat meat." I might add that Grandad -- a lifelong breeder of Airedale Terriers -- fed meat to his bitches as well as his dogs upon their reaching adulthood. And the meat was always mixed with a vegetable- and grain-based kibble.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2610417113472274552.post-16880714522259207512007-12-04T20:21:00.000-06:002007-12-04T20:21:00.000-06:00Well, I can say one thing that guys who eat a lot ...Well, I can say one thing that guys who eat a lot of meat excel in ... body odor.Williamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05861596158055480390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2610417113472274552.post-48198487796319110782007-12-03T00:02:00.000-06:002007-12-03T00:02:00.000-06:00I think meat-eating has a long association w/ male...I think meat-eating has a long association w/ male privilege. There is a part in the novel The Bread Givers (about a Jewish immigrant family struggling to make it in NY in the 1920s) where a young woman is talking about how hard she has worked all day, how hungry she is, and going to a lunch counter and paying her money and ordering say, a beef stew, and the people working would just give her broth to save the beef for the men who "needed" it. Reading that made me feel conflicted as a vegetarian.<BR/> Lots of people think you couldn't have big muscles or fuel a hard-working body w/o meat, so for some guys, meat-eating lends them the cache of muscularity and hard work.<BR/> Taking up lots of physical space is another masculine signifier that doesn't take any work. Keeping oneself compact (the feminine signifier) is much more difficult.Cindihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09578277122295278338noreply@blogger.com