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We live in a world where real men eat meat. Studies show that across continents and cultures, men eat substantially more meat than women. Men are ten times more likely to kill animals for sport, and in cultures that hunt for subsistence, men do almost all of the killing and most of the eating. Research has consistently shown that men are half as likely as women to go vegan or vegetarian — this should be no surprise to anyone, given how frequently men deride vegetarianism as effeminate and associated with homosexuality. Though the homophobia is disappointing, the mental image of a man consuming sausage to prove his heterosexuality is an amusing one.
Male meat consumption is, in part, driven by insecurity. Bias evaluations show that male vegans — significantly more so than female vegans — are viewed as socially threatening. Psychological research suggests that a primary reason men eat meat is that it makes them “feel like real men.” One recent study demonstrated that when men have low self-esteem surrounding their manhood, they are likely to increase their red meat consumption to compensate. Frozen steak for a bruised eye, cooked steak for a bruised ego. How manly.
Some men have taken this to extremes. The controversial psychologist Jordan Peterson, known for insisting that our culture’s “masculine spirit is under assault,” has gone so far as to adopt an all-beef diet. Yes, you read that right: The only thing Dr. Peterson eats is beef. It’s as if he is trying to compensate for our collective emasculation all on his own.
He does this to himself ostensibly for health reasons. Peterson insists that any deviation from beef devastates his body. For example, he claims that when he cheated on the diet with a sip of apple cider, he did not sleep at all for 25 days. If true, this would mean he inadvertently beat the world record for sleeplessness by two weeks. Despite explicit warnings from experts, others have followed suit, and the carnivore diet is suddenly quite stylish among so-called men’s rights activists.
In both behavior and opinion, meat is the elixir of the real man. It is at once a sign of manliness and a source of it. Abstaining from meat is despised as feminine, and eating nothing but meat…
