Do Meat-Eaters Have More Sex?

A recent post of mine has made me curious…and curiouser. It’s Gerard Depardieu (or at least, his character), and his theories about sex, booze and eating meat, in the film Green Card.

To recap: Depardieu, meat-eater, steals the girl (Andie MacDowell) from his vegetarian boyfriend. Depardieu’s character insinuates that said boyfriend–as evidenced by his eating habits, among other things–is lacking in passion. Is not so big on carpe diem.

This is something I’ve already heard murmured here and there before. Something to the effect of meat increasing testosterone levels, etc. And I’m curious to know: Do you think it’s true?

To be more precise: Do you, dear visitor to this teeny blog, think that there’s somehow a connection between sexual appetite and eating meat? I’m not talking about passion and lust for life, here. That runs on both sides of the equation, methinks. I’m talking about sex. Libido.

If you’re a doctor, nutritionist, long-time practicing vegetarian/vegan or have read something that can shed light on the subject, I’d love to hear from you. If you simply have a strong opinion about the subject, I’d love to hear from you as well. Thanks for voting and/or leaving a comment!

Do You Really Think We’re Boring?

B and I don’t really drink or smoke. Now, we plan on not eating meat either. It’s a good thing we don’t really socialize much–partly because we’re working on stuff (he plays guitar, I dawdle on Facebook), partly because it’s too cold to venture out (there’s a foot-long patch of frost on the roof!) and partly because no one really invites us anyway (the herd of cows up our street are really stuffy). Anyways, while stocking up for our veggie quest, B remembers a scene from Gérard Depardieu’s film, GreenCard*, in which Depardieu’s character makes fun of vegetarian people and calls Andie MacDowell’s boyfriend, with every bit of insinuation possible, “that vegetarian.“ 

A light bulb explodes in B’s head. He turns to me: “We’ll be one of those!”

“One of what?” I say.

“One of those pale, thin, boring people no one wants to invite to parties because they don’t know what to do with them.”

He’s half-joking, of course. We don’t think plant-eaters are boring, although it’s true that all the vegetarians we’ve met so far are pale and thin. But there’s a nugget in what he said: It’s highly unlikely we’ll go through this without any ribbing from certain people and friends.

Heniweys. Browsing online, I chanced upon an essay in Slate Magazine entitled “Meatless Like Me.” It was written by Taylor Clark,  whose first book, Starbucked: A Double Tall Tale of Caffeine, Commerce, and Culture,was pubbed by Little, Brown and Company in 2007. In the article, Clark echoes my hubby’s sentiments, exactly:

“I’ve been vegetarian for a decade, and when it comes up, I still get a look of confused horror that says, ‘But you seemed so … normal.’ The U.S. boasts more than 10 million herbivores today, yet most Americans assume that every last one is a loopy, self-satisfied health fanatic, hellbent on draining all the joy out of life.”

He goes on to rebut other myths and stereotypes about vegetarians and vegetarianism. Contrary to what most people think, he says, most vegetarians:

…DO know meat taste good.

…are not salad freaks. Every vegetarian is used to slim pickings when dining out, so we’re not asking for much—just for something you, if you were in our shoes, would like to eat. 

…appreciate when our omnivore friends prepare something for us at parties, but don’t expect or want them to bend over backwards.

He goes on to say: And when you eat meat in front of us, we’re not silently judging you.

Clark is hilarious, and I had a kick out of–and pretty much agree with–what he says. If you’re curious to read on, here’s the link.

 

*In Green Card, the “meat-eater” does get the girl. Says YumHummus in a thread post about vegetarians in film: “Depardieu’s appeal, in contrast to the pale, skinny aesthete with whom MacDowell had been wasting her time, apparently comes from his insistence on preparing her a beefy dinner over her objections. Depardieu disparages his rival as ‘that vegetarian’ and teaches MacDowell a lesson of carpe diem expressed through the holy trinity of sex, wine, and meat, as if the three were somehow connected.”