Victoria University study finds Aussie men eat red meat for masculinity, sexual prowess

More Aussie men won’t give up eating red meat as it makes them feel stronger, sexier, and more powerful — even though it’s slowly killing them.

Ms Jackson Restaurant and Bar’s manager Francesco D'alterio and head chef Conor Baird enjoying the ritual of having a steak with a mate. Picture: Tony Gough

Men are programmed to crave red meat because of traditional masculine beliefs related to strength, power and sexual prowess.

A study by Victoria University researchers also found that while meat played a key role in the evolution of the human species, today’s consumption was often driven by rituals such as catch-ups around a barbecue or having a beer and a steak with a mate.

The meat-masculinity link study found there might be an ingrained belief for many men that red meat made them more virile.

The authors say challenging and modifying men’s attitudes to violence and beliefs about meat and sexual virility, while fostering gender equality, may be important strategies to reduce men’s meat intake and ultimately improve their health.

Rituals such as catch-ups around a barbecue or having a beer and a steak with a mate often drive meat consumption in men.

Senior author Peter Gill from the university’s Institute for Health and Sport said the team surveyed 557 Australian and English men about their meat-eating habits.

It found overall that younger men, and men with higher incomes, tended to eat more meat.

“We tested whether being a traditional man was linked to eating more meat? And the answer is yes,” Dr Gill said.

“There is part of masculinity that draws men to eating more red meat.”

The psychology lecturer said that the men in the survey who were buying into masculine stereotypes, such as sex, was super important to a man, and violence was OK at times, ate more meat.

Less traditional men were more willing to reduce their meat consumption.

Ms Jackson Restaurant & Bar manager, Francesco D’alterio, tucks into a steak. Picture: Tony Gough

“We don’t know exactly why, but it is likely men are making connections such as to be virile, to be sexually potent, you need to eat meat,” Dr Gill said.

He said a previous study found UK men ate 35.53 per cent more red and processed meat than females, with males in the 19-30 age group eating more than double the amount of the red and processed meats as women.

Australian men eat around 50 per cent more red and processed meat than women.

Ms Jackson Restaurant and Bar’s manager Francesco D'alterio told the Herald Sun that he enjoyed consuming red meat - mostly cooked rare - as it offered a ranging “flavour bomb”.

“It surprises me how different the flavour can be simply from the different area of provenance, or even just a different cut from the same animal,” he said.

Asked his thought on the recent findings, Mr D'alterio said: “... It could have something to do with man’s primal instinct of hunting and providing for his own family. Also a ritual of showing other men who could hunt and eat the biggest animal to show power over other males. Nowadays, I think it is something that keeps our virility and gathers family and friends together to eat”.

Men are at greater risk of early death from eating too much meat.

The research, led by PhD student Lauren Camilleri, was published in the journal Ecology of Food and Nutrition.

It reported as the biggest meat consumers worldwide, men were at greater risk of early death from eating too much but they were less willing to cut back or choose meat-free meals.

They wrote that one distinguishing factor explaining men’s greater consumption and unwillingness to reduce their intake was conformity to masculine norms.

“Many believed that it was ‘unmanly’ for men to abstain from eating meat,” the authors said.

Dr Gill said cultural change would be needed to encourage men to reduce their intake of meat.

He said a goal of Ms Camilleri’s PhD work was to find ways to help men reduce their meat intake.

“They don’t have to stop. But reducing meat consumption and in particular processed meats would be beneficial,” Dr Gill said.

Originally published as Victoria University study finds Aussie men eat red meat for masculinity, sexual prowess