Men equate steak with masculinity

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PHILADELPHIA, May 17 (UPI) -- Men connect eating meat -- especially muscle meat like steak -- with masculinity, but vegetables were not considered masculine, U.S. scientists found.

Study authors Paul Rozin of the University of Pennsylvania, Julia M. Hormes of Louisiana State University, Myles S. Faith of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Brian Wansink at Cornell University said several studies showed meat generated more masculine words when discussed.

In addition, the researchers found people viewed male meat eaters as being more masculine than non-meat eaters.

Most of the research analyzed took place in the United States and Britain, but the study authors also analyzed 23 languages that use gendered pronouns and across most languages, meat was related to the male gender.

"To the strong, traditional, macho, bicep-flexing, All-American male, red meat is a strong, traditional, macho, bicep-flexing, all-American food," the study authors wrote in the study. "Soy is not. To eat it, they would have to give up a food they saw as strong and powerful like themselves for a food they saw as weak and wimpy."

The findings are scheduled to be published in the Journal of Consumer Research in October.