Gender differences in family and peer reaction to the adoption of a vegetarian diet

Abstract

Although ethical vegetarianism has been the subject of considerable theoretical attention and debate among feminists, the subject has received little empirical attention. This research note summarizes an interview study with ethical vegetarians of college age, and describes gendered responses to the adoption of a vegetarian diet. While friends and family were neutral or favourable to men’s vegetarianism, women vegetarians encountered significant hostility from male family members, in particular. The study is by no means conclusive, but the evidence may suggest that this hostility is rooted in a double standard, wherein men are seen as capable of governing their bodies, while women are not. Despite opposition from male intimates, women participating in the study persisted in their diets, suggesting a high degree of moral autonomy. This tension between individual agency and constraining social and economic structure is at the centre of the ongoing feminist debate on vegetarianism, and the findings presented here invite further discussion and more targeted research.