Our Toxic Relationship with Meat

Andreas Joshua Carver

I went meat-free almost fourteen years ago. A shocking decision to most of my friends and family since my diet was made up of chicken and rice. It wasn’t a swift move though. Being raised in the south, identifying as vegetarian meant you were weaker, “girlier”, not man enough and at the vulnerable age of fourteen, I wasn’t ready for such a commitment. I was already toying with my sexual identity. Coming out as queer and then having to come out as vegetarian, it all seemed too complicated. Plus, like I said, I LOVED meat. My palate wasn’t sophisticated at that time. I had yet to understand that meat was a cheap way to enjoy flavor.

Growing up between North Carolina and Florida meant that meat was your one major food group. To this day, after practicing a plant based diet for fourteen years, my grandmother still ask, “hun, do you want some of this chicken?” And after declining and reminding her of my vow to veganism she says, “it’s not meat. It’s chicken.” Maybe it’s mostly my fault that she forgets, for I don’t preach about my food choices. It is as part of my identity as being a green eyed male or the growth of a new mole. Except, it isn’t as passive as a biological assignment, for people are defensive about their food choices - and understandably so, food is personal. But as I grew up in an American masculine culture, I’ve had to negotiate my identity to try and avoid the trite commentary of our conditioning. “Don’t be such a girl; eat some meat! Aren’t you worried about your protein intake? Maybe you wouldn’t be so skinny if you ate a steak. ” And as infuriating as such comments are, I can’t be upset because they too are a product of their environment.

The meat industry has been exploiting toxic masculinity since the birth of advertising. With headlines like, “This is not just a piece of meat, this is something a man wants to come home to.” Or Burger King’s astonishingly creative cover of Helen Reddy’s I am Woman where men sing, “I am man. Hear me roar in numbers too big to ignore and I am way too hungry to settle for chick food.” The commercial depicts men rioting in the streets, ripping off their underwear, and punching each other in the stomachs only to exude top masculine behaviors. If you Google Meat and Men, numerous studies show that we relate beef or pork to masculinity and vegetables to femininity. Have we been conditioned to believe meat is the only way of life? According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) the average American consumes approximately 195 pounds of meat annually so I’d say so.

Although men tend to be the biggest critiques of my political and personal choices around food, they are not alone. Women too “just can’t stop eating meat.” But the worst is when my queer brothers and sisters roll their eyes at my vegan identity - calling veganism a rich person’s diet. I am broke. Trust me, eating meat is a rich person’s diet. Being solicited by my peers just symbolizes the depths of masculinities puncture on our western world. In the era of MeToo, global warming, and the Trump administration, we must go outside of our comfort zones and research the decisions we make in our everyday lives. We can no longer afford these archaic institutional values that meat equals better because man equals better. It no longer stands true (it never did). Meat production is killing our environment and our bodies, yet we stand behind it because we are protein obsessed and we are protein obsessed because we are male dominated.

According to The Guardian, a study conducted at the University of Oxford, UK shows that while meat and dairy provide just 18% of calories and 37% of protein, it uses the vast majority – 83% – of farmland and produces 60% of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions. After last week’s U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, people have maddened their social media “conscious” post about the environment and our role in climate change. It is reminiscent of Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Accord, but what are we doing everyday to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? And if The Guardian, Scientific America, The New York Times, and plenty of other publications are writing about meat production and its toxicity in our everyday lives, why is it we are still looking at one dietary lifestyle?

Marta Zaraska’s Meathooked says that during the 2013 election cycle, the animal products industry contributed $17.5 million to federal candidates. And we all know there is no such thing as a free lunch. Science magazine says that eating meat increases your chances of colorectal cancer, cardiovascular disease, and more. It too is related to high levels of obesity. The American Psychological Association states that childhood obesity is a serious public health issue with over 20% of America’s youth overweight. Yet advertisers are still allowed to target kids with meat and dairy ads under the age of eight, whom do not understand the potent persuasion behind the messages they are being fed (we were being fed). Then we must look at what the said 4,000 ads we are exposed to each day and understand their toll on our mental health. We are never pretty enough, rich enough, or skinny/fit enough yet we are suppose to eat massive amounts of meat and dairy which do not help us attain any of those ideologies.

I am 5’8 125 pounds and nothing short of what some call skinny. Advertisements have never been on my side. I am queer, vegan, mixed and nowhere near the “standard body type.” My decision to no longer consume meat or dairy only reinforced the social implications that laid upon my body and my identity. In our current political climate we must look beyond the surface of our everyday choices. Toxic masculinity is in our white house, in our friend groups, and sitting kindly on a shelf in our homes. We must get to know the companies and products we support. Knowledge is at our fingertips and with apps like buycott, we don’t have to think too hard. I, too, have to look at the companies I give my money to (even being vegan - veganism does not equal greater than). If we do not educate ourselves on the meat industry and its toxic ties, then we are providing monetary gains to a group that we wish not to support.