The People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) just released a video on Twitter and people are confused, to say the least. The short clip features men dancing, with fruits and vegetables glue to their genital area. The organization wrote, “’Traditional’ masculinity is DEAD. The secret to male sexual stamina is veggies.”
Prior this video, PETA released an article citing the American Psychological Association’s “Guidelines for Psychological Practice With Boys and Men” which addresses the harmful aspects of traditional masculinity. PETA wrote, “Of course, the ‘dominance and aggression’ characteristic of this type of masculinity isn’t only destructive for boys and men—it’s also deadly for other species.” Adding that “Along with misogyny and going out of one’s way not to appear weak, the APA links traditional masculine ideology with traits like bullying and violence—two major red flags for animal abuse.”
It further linked the act of tormenting, killing, and eating “defenseless individuals” to toxic masculinity, mentioning bullfighters and trophy hunters. Additionally, they stressed that “Men who eat steak, hotdogs, and hamburgers, thinking that it makes them ‘real men,’ are eating themselves to an early grave,” citing the health problems linked to eating meat—including erectile dysfunction.
If their goal is to get attention, the clip does the job. However, if their intent is to get more people to go vegan, they might try another tactic because people aren’t buying it. In fact, it has earned a lot of backlash.
Personally, I think the clip is unnecessary and done in poor taste too. Also, their statement of rejecting toxic masculinity and then telling men that veggies increase sexual stamina is hella confusing. The video also implied that men with genitals as long or big as the veggies they used will achieve some sort of pleasure. So in hindsight, the video actually promotes toxic masculinity because it equates sexual stamina and genital size to masculinity.
We’d like to hear your thoughts on this clip and PETA’s take on the link between toxic masculinity and veganism too, so make sure to leave a comment below.
Photo courtesy of Unsplash
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