“Vegetarian food leaves a deep impression on our nature. If the whole world adopts vegetarianism, it can change the destiny of humankind.” – Albert Einstein
The image above is of a male figure cutting into a slab of meat. The way in which the man is standing is almost as if he has conquered something. The first thing that came to mind is this painting of George Washington; a strong and powerful man who has just conquered his enemy in battle. That’s the same connotation that meat evokes in the conversation relating to men. It is seen as the “manly” choice (Eisenberg). Choosing any other option will emasculate the male ego, which we can’t have that happen, can we?
We can clearly see two knives, one the man is using to cut the meat and the other is protruding from the top. Typically, when cutting into a slab of meat, one uses a knife to cut and a fork to hold it in place. This image shows two knives, the second not being used for anything which can lead the viewer to think more into the barbaric practice of the meat industry.
Burgers and wings are two foods that most people associate with men. They’re often paired with a beer and a sports game. Don’t get me wrong, I also like to enjoy a beer with my sports but it is something we’ve been conditioned to associate with masculinity. They’re messy to eat, often stain clothes, and no one bats an eye when the juices or sauces are all over a mans face. The male image has been constructed to portray only the things that will show their strength, virility, and brawn.
Salads, smoothies, or really just vegetables are more associated with femininity. Society has set certain rules and regulations for the female body image. Lighter calorie food options are “more feminine” options because of the smaller amounts of protein. The female image is supposed to be dainty, fragile, small. Lighter, smaller portioned food options are associated with this.
I have been a vegetarian for most of my life. I ate meat until about the age of three. It was around then that red meat started making me sick if I ate it, I decided pork in any form was gross, and would occasionally eat chicken. When I was about halfway through middle school I learned about how bad the meat industry really is and how poorly chickens are treated. As far as seafood goes, I won’t go anywhere near it. The fishing industry is just as bad and I don’t want to contribute to that.
When I was in the nightmare world of dating, I had guys either cancel a date or try to “convert” me because of my vegetarian lifestyle. It was also common for someone to wave money in my face, offering to pay me to eat a steak. “Don’t you just want to bite into a nice, juicy burger?” or “How could you be a vegetarian? You’re missing out on all the best food. ” are just two statements I’ve heard countless times in my life. Men, at least in my experience, don’t want to take the time to learn about another way of life because it would in some way impact them directly.
Most of my reasons for being a vegetarian are because I simply don’t like it, but a larger portion of it is due to moral reasoning. In her essay, Contextual Moral Vegetarianism, Deane Curtin discusses the ways in which vegetarianism directly concerns ecofeminists. Curtin describes vegetarianism as “a moral obligation that results from rights that nonhuman animals have in virtue of being sentient beings”. From a feminist perspective, why stop at vegetarianism? Why not continue to refrain from all foods that involve the abuse of animals and become vegan? “the consumption of eggs and milk have in common that they exploit the reproductive capacities of the female” (Curtin).
Ecofeminist, Greta Gaard discussed the relationship between humans and animals in her article, Ecofeminism on the Wing: Perspectives on Human-Animal Relations. Her article compares the similar natures between having an animal as a pet and having an animal in the food industry. She explains that “speciesism is defined as the oppression of one species by another” and alludes that feminists should concern themselves with this issue as they are both forms of oppression that need to be addressed (Gaard 2).
Both Curtin and Gaard express their thoughts about the morality of vegetarianism. Should we, as women, decide to live a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle? There are some women that choose to take on this challenge as a way to protest the patriarchal constructs of society and not contribute to the abuse of animals in the food industry.
Choosing to live this lifestyle “marks a daily, bodily commitment to resist ideological pressures to conform to patriarchal standards, and to establishing contexts in which caring for can be nonabusive” (Curtin).
Hi Lizzy!
I enjoyed your post. Personally I thought that the best way to emphasize the points on speciesism in the Gretta Gaard reading was the Kill clock page that was available in the materials provided here. The staggering numbers in conjunction with the context offered on this site is incredible. watching the numbers get higher and higher with each passing moment was difficult to watch and conceptualize the number of animals that have died. For me this site with all of the facts laid out was the best visual representation of Gaard’s work I could get. Seeing how many animals are dying and the conditions they live in is the visualization and conceptualization of Gaards article and is the proof that bolsters Gaard’s argument .
Hey Lizzy!
I think you’re absolutely right in your observation that in our society, meat is almost synonymous with the “strong and powerful man who has just conquered his enemy in battle. That’s the same connotation that meat evokes in the conversation relating to men. It is seen as the “manly” choice.”
It’s unfortunate that all of the “positive” connotations of meat, such as empowerment, domination, and conquering, are then skewed when in the context of women. Then, women become the meat; their sole purpose is for men’s consumption, whether that be their image in a swimsuit magazine or their body.
I’ve had a book on my TBR for a while that seems to be a feminist restructuring of this women=meat and meat=weak and for males-only assumption (or patriarchal assertion), and I think you’d be interested, too! It’s the novel Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder, and its most paired-down summary follows a mother who literally starts to turn into a werewolf.
The cover itself strikes me as an ecofeminist image. It features distinctly feminine hands, with nails painted a bloody red, holding a huge portion of raw steaks. It’s not difficult to pick up on the underlying message that women are expected to present as pretty and feminine, all for the enticement of the male gaze. In the same way that the juicy steak would appeal to men as Zoe Eisenberg emphasizes in her article “Meat Heads,” that “for many men, meat is an inarguable symbol of masculinity.”
Nightbitch interweaves this theme of motherhood and the animalistic instincts that are inherent in parenting a child. To me, this feels like a retaking of power in regard to the perpetuated connection between women and animals. In this book, no longer will that connection be derogatory or a point of oppression. Instead, it’s empowering, an animalistic and instinctual drive that encapsulates that wildness that Kingsolver described in the article we previously read from her.
If you’re interested, you can check out this New Yorker article that dives even deeper into the themes and symbols in Nightbitch!
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/a-novel-that-imagines-motherhood-as-an-animal-state
All the best,
Jas
Hi Lizzy!
I liked learning about your lifestyle choices and the fact that you are a vegetarian. After college I was vegan for close to a year and really benefited from that lifestyle.
Sadly I think that the pandemic changed a lot of people’s relationships to food in a negative way. During the early months of the pandemic until I moved back home in September of 2021, I gained about 20 pounds, and was eating really unhealthy for 2 reasons. The first which I just mentioned and the other was because I was in an abusive relationship where he didn’t care how big I was getting because I was still me at the end of the day. When I moved home, I shed the 20 pounds, and am happier than ever! But I know that I wasn’t alone in my eating struggles during the pandemic and I think that a lot of people lost sight of what’s important, and what matters most to them through food. Abuse can often lead to more craving for comfort, and that comfort is most easily accessible through food! I think it would be interesting to look at the rise or fall of food consumption during the pandemic and see what people were buying more of.
I’m sorry that you have had these negative experiences throughout your life.
When I was vegan, I had people say to me, “so like…what do you even eat”? Mostly men. And I think you’re right, that men think that they NEED meat or they will be less of a ‘man’, or won’t be able to tell anyone or be judged.
Re-reading the section of Curtin’s article (3rd paragraph) where she talks about women being more pressured than men because of our culture to be a certain way, reminded me about this baby crazed culture that we are living in for women. Women are so passively and sometimes aggressively pressured to have children, that if they don’t, are seen as selfish, distant, unlikeable, and so on. I think that, that’s a feminist issue that needs to be talked about because too often women are harsh on other women for their desire to be childlessness.
Hey Lizzy!
Right from the start I was drawn into your blog post this week and I appreciated how you shared your experience of being vegetarian for most of your life. When you stated that men would try to “convert” you out of the vegetarian lifestyle, I thought that was such a horrible thing to do and I wondered how they would’ve acted if someone tried to convince them not to eat meat. I also wondered how many women who were vegetarian, had broken down from societal pressure and ended up eating meat again.
I too noticed how the chef was putting his foot on the chopping board as if he was claiming something. The comparison of the famous Leutze painting of Washington Crossing the Delaware to the chef image was a profound connection.
When you were discussing what different foods are considered the feminine option, it reminded me of my serving job. As a waitress and occasional bartender, I interact with all types of people from different walks of life. More often than not, I will get couples, or two couples going on a group date, and typically the woman will end up ordering a salad, the salmon, or even an appetizer as their entre. When I do serve a vegetarian, typically they are also a woman. After this week’s readings I now think about if they are a vegetarian for a health reason, if they don’t like meat, moral reasons, or because they are vegetarian or vegan because they are a feminist/ecofeminist and trying to resist patriarchal standards and the cruelty done to nonhuman animals as Curtin discusses in Contextual Moral Vegetarianism, or all of the above.
Hi Lizzie – I appreciate the connection you made about Curtin’s views on moral veganism. It made sense to me when I read the article, but you’re right – why claim to have this level of sympathy for animals when still eating animal products? From articles I’ve seen this week, even milking cows or harvesting eggs from chickens can be harmful to the animals. This is a concept I wasn’t aware of before this week.
The issue of gendered food is an interesting one, as well. It seems fairly hypocritical, doesn’t it? The man you spoke of may act like you’re out of your mind if you don’t eat steak or any meat, but what if on one of those dates you had ordered a steak? Some of those men will likely have been appalled that you didn’t order a salad or something a little more ‘dainty’. I think issues such as this have become a little more accepted of late, in the sense that women are less self conscious about eating and enjoying these types of foods. I only hope that men who think this way are coming around, as well, as they realize more of the issues that women deal with, especially as it relates to our relationships with men.
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