Yes, meat consumption is gendered, as is its impact on the environment

“ It is also necessary to change mentality so that eating a steak cooked on the barbecue is no longer a symbol of virility. “, Said Sandrine Rousseau on 27 August 2022 in Grenoble as part of the summer days of Europe Ecology the Greens.

The controversy suffered by Sandrine Rousseau on the consumption of gender meat

It was enough for the far right to agitate, and for the media to take advantage of it to escalate a controversy, arguing that Sandrine Rousseau and the Greens would like to ban the practice of barbecuing, or even the consumption of meat. .

However, Sandrine Rousseau was just pointing the finger at the gender dynamics that influence the food consumption of French women and men, and beyond. A reality studied for decades by the social sciences, to which editors seem to conspire eager to gain experience at the slightest divisive note. And to trigger and maintain yet another wave of violent cyberbullying against the French economist and politician.

“The barbecue, a symbol of virility? »: The false controversy

This is particularly illustrated by BFM-TV, who opposed Samuel Fittoussi and Nora Bouazzouni. The first presents himself as a columnist and author, creator of the satirical blog La Gazette de l’Etudiant, and therefore without any specific expertise on the subject of sexism through food. The second turns out to be a journalist of film series, but also a culinary one who dissects through the prism of the social, and she wrote Faiminism – When sexism comes to the table (2017), as well as Steaksism – End the myth of vegetables and meat (2021), two essays published by Nouriturfu editions. Suffice it to say that she is truly an expert on the subject.

We will then move beyond the eternal opposition between the hard sciences and the social sciences that Samuel Fitoussi seeks to establish (“ All scientific studies – not social sciences but scientific… “). He vaguely cites names as so many arguments of authority, never citing figures, but only stating his views of him as absolute truths. We will also try to shut the ears of the host of BFM TV who, in front of her guests who try to cite the sources, interrupts them to say: “ We started from the barbecue and here I am at the BNF. Which speaks volumes about the level of debate expected on this channel …

Nora Bouazzouni, expert on sexism in food and its consequences

Instead, we will remember the patience of the expert Nora Bouazzouni who calmly reminds us that food tastes are not innate. Men consume almost twice as much meat as women, it is a social, economic, political and even environmental fact. The male meat diet generates 41% more greenhouse gas emissions than the female diet.

And this carnist preference is partly due to a social construction, particularly fueled (no pun intended) by media representations, including pubs. Just think of the caricatured slogan “Mmmmh Charal” of the brand that has paid for itself as the inspiring muse of the 15th of France rugby player Sébastien Chabal, against yogurt shops whose merits are almost always praised by women.

The caricatured polarization of this debate finally moving away from the initial background of ecology leads Nora Bouazzouni to tweet in a thread:

“I don’t care if you like chipos. But if a red bean steak makes you feel less of a man, you have a big problem.

[…] We talk about meat and a virile symbol, we hear “men are assholes, the barbecue sucks, let’s get rid of it”.

You are obsessed with your little person. Your ego is so fragile, your identity so precarious, that it lets itself be destabilized by the chickpea pancakes. “

Do you prefer your steak or the planet?

Sandrine Rousseau sums up the substance of the debate differently:

And the most distressing thing is certainly 73% of the 66,500 votes that vote for steak rather than for the planet, although it could be said that it is certainly mostly trolls. In fact, meat eating isn’t as anecdotal a topic as it might seem to conservative omnivores whose moral panic speaks volumes. In fact, carnism represents one of the best levers against climate change, as it pollutes the breeding of animals for consumption, and that of cereals also for feeding them.

To learn more about the subject in order to form an informed opinion, in addition to the books by Nora Bouazzouni, you can for example take this ADEME test, intended to give you an idea of ​​your personal carbon footprint, and sharing What makes meat represent ? But also listen to the following podcasts: the episode “Food and gender stereotypes” by Présages, the double episode “Feeding your man” from Les Couilles sur la table, “L’imentation est-elle genderrée” from Food Thérapie, or also “Eat like a man or a woman” from 95 degrees. Because sexism is devastating, even on the plate, as well as the planet.

Front page photo credit: BFM TV screenshot.