Whether consciously or not, we continue to kill and eat animals, in part, as a way to enhance our own image and as a symbolic assertion of dominance. A substantial body of research indicates that killing and eating animals symbolize, for many, our capacity to dominate other organisms. This literature connects the desire for dominance and status to conventional notions of masculinity (prowess, control, strength, and power).
SOPHIE ATTWOOD: For years, animal rights campaigners have argued that eating meat is cruel. They present stark images from inside slaughterhouses, show mutilated animals, and cite statistics highlighting the billions of animal deaths each year that underpin our diets. Their position is that consuming meat is an unethical abomination…
Yet, despite increasing coverage of these downsides, global meat consumption continues to rise… Beyond a straightforward discussion of risks and benefits, however, there seems to be something deeper at play when it comes to the meat reduction debate. Anyone who has attempted a conversation about reducing meat intake will know this well. Unlike decisions to cut down on fat, sugar, or salt, choices that usually draw supportive responses from onlookers, the suggestion of removing meat often provokes hostility.
So, what is it about meat? To begin with, meat carries a complex array of symbolic meanings. It can represent cruelty, callousness, and excess, yet equally, can also conjure ideas of wealth, success, virility, nourishment, and long-standing cultural traditions. Perhaps most relevant to understanding the often heated reactions to meat reduction is the implicit link between meat and our own sense of dominance.
A substantial body of research indicates that killing and eating animals symbolize, for many, our capacity to dominate other organisms. This literature connects the desire for dominance and status to conventional notions of masculinity — traits such as prowess, control, strength, and power.
Whether consciously or not, we continue to kill and eat animals, in part, as a way to enhance our own image and as a symbolic assertion of dominance. Although the act itself has largely been outsourced to vast, automated slaughterhouses run by corporations like Cargill, Conagra, and JBS, these associations endure.
Studies have found higher meat consumption among those who hold stronger authoritarian values, endorse social dominance orientation, maintain fixed beliefs about the superiority of certain groups, and subscribe to more rigid traditional gender roles. There is even evidence linking greater meat intake to individuals with more Machiavellian traits. Meat, it seems, serves as a potent symbol in our personal quests for power. SOURCE…
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