Should ‘real men’ be vegetarians?
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By Jon Young
Earlier this year I decided to become a vegetarian. It’s not a typical choice for a 35-year-old male – particularly a former ‘lad’ like me. But after learning about the journey our meat makes on the way to the dinner table, it was the only sensible choice. I expected a level of debate, but I didn’t expect some of the gender stereotypes that came my way. Apparently, meat-eating is an essential part of being a man. Eating a rare steak, burning sausages on the barbecue and having a fondness for pork scratchings are all part of the criteria. Meat keeps you strong. If you don’t eat it you won’t be able to hold a drill, to till the field, or keep the door open for those poor weak women.
It’s been an eye-opener noticing how central eating meat is to male identity. I have begun to understand how frustrating it must be for women when their gender gets in the way of their achievements. But fighting through the haze of stereotypes and misinformation, of course, is the irrefutabl...
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