Gender Roles and Vegetarianism

In our textbook the editor devotes a small paragraph on the topic of women in the animal rights movement. The editor states that in the nineteenth century the opposition to animal cruelty was often seen as a week or effeminate behavior. I would love to be able to simply say that this misconception died out as time progressed and women became more prominent in science and equal in society. It is my personal experience, however, that the notion that a reverence for animal rights is a non-masculine thing. Of course, this is a general observation and there are always exceptions to the rule. I know several male vegetarians, but I know an overwhelming number of men who somehow see not eating meat as a weakness of some kind.

Think about the typical "on a date" foods that a man and a women might order. Men, wanting to appear strong and masculine might order a steak or a burger of some kind. Women may order a salad. This may be because women often watch their weight more than men tend to, which leads to an entirely different reflection of society which for the sake of length will be omitted here.

As both a feminist and a vegetarian, I am curious about the origins of meat being seen as a masculine product and the act of not consuming meat being seen as some sort of weakness or even a threat to the dietary lifestyles of those who consume meat. Perhaps this goes back to hunter/gatherer societies when the men hunted the game and the women collected fruits and vegetables for consumption. The bottom line is that the human race is long past that stage in our social evolution and this view of vegetarianism in relation to gender roles persists.

My question for this blog is why do you think some men perceive vegetarianism as something that makes them a weaker human being and have you ever had experiences with those type of people, male or female?