“Vegetarian homos” and “meat bikinis”

10th March 2009

“Vegetarian homos” and “meat bikinis”

posted in Feminist Topics, Food Culture, Gender and Sexuality, Vegetarianism |

While doing some research for the graduate article I’m writing on the genderization of meat, I stumbled across two truly bizarre cases straight out of the Stone Age.

The first is that of Ryan Pacifico, a Long Island man and former trader with Calyon in the Americas, who recently filed suit against his former boss, Robert Catalanello, and company for unspecified damages. What’s Pacifico’s beef? Pacifico has no beef, and therein is the problem. According to the New York Post:

Ryan Pacifico says he was mercilessly mocked, labeled “a homo” and canned for not eating meat.

“You don’t even eat steak, dude. At what point in time did you realize you were gay?” the suit quotes beef-loving boss Robert Catalanello as saying. Catalanello did everything he could to make Pacifico uncomfortable – including only ordering hamburgers and pepperoni and sausage pizzas for the weekly team lunches.

The boss chose a steakhouse as a site for a team building dinner, and another broker suggested they go someplace else because Pacifico was a vegetarian. “He was like, ‘What’s wrong with you? We’re going anyway,’ ” Pacifico recalled. When a coworker asked what Pacifico would eat, Catalanello said, “Who the f- – - cares? It’s his fault for being a vegetarian homo.”

And, of course, what better marker of manhood than eating a slab of blood red meat than to eat said carcass off a human platter of beautiful women. In what InGameNow, a networking/chat site for sports fans, dubs the “Ultimate Super Bowl Tail Gate Food,” raw bacon is slathered over the nipples and genitalia of couple of “uber hot girls” to form a “meat bikini.” (Pics to follow after the jump because they are most definitely NSFW.)

But again, as Carol Adams reminds us, the messages here are nothing new: Real men (i.e. red-blooded hetero men) eat meat, and women, objectified as objects of meat, are also intended as objects for male consumption.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 at 12:29 am and is filed under Feminist Topics, Food Culture, Gender and Sexuality, Vegetarianism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On March 10th, 2009, gamer said:

There is good reason those models look so unhappy.

And it’s hardly the first time meat has been used as a bikini. I remember America’s Next Top Model did it at least once. Really gross.

posted on March 10th, 2009 at 2:40 am

2 On March 10th, 2009, Ayzie said:

Oh, gross!

posted on March 10th, 2009 at 10:29 am

3 On March 10th, 2009, Alyssa (The 39 year-old) said:

Yup. Gross. But not surprising. When will people stop buying into stereotypes ABOUT THEMSELVES?!?!?!
I hope Mr. Pacifico wins his lawsuit and gets A LOT of money!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (And, as “punishment,” his former boss should be forced to go vegan for a year.)

posted on March 10th, 2009 at 11:33 am

4 On March 10th, 2009, Fangirl said:

I feel like the greatest irony about the “meat bikini” is that I seriously doubt either of those models would eat bacon. They both look emaciated and unhappy – what’s “uber hot” about that?

posted on March 10th, 2009 at 11:43 am

5 On March 10th, 2009, Sharn said:

My boyfriend is vegetarian, and he gets all kinds of rude “teasing” and occasional outright hostility about it, even from members of his own family.

While we’re on the subject, here’s something I have noticed: When we go to restaurants, he gets something vegetarian and I usually don’t. When the food shows up, the server almost always sets the vegetarian meal in front of me and the meaty one in front of him. This isn’t a new relationship or something I’ve only started to notice recently, either– we’ve been together more than 5 years, and this happens almost every time we go out to eat. Sometimes the server asks, “Who’s got the shrimp fajitas?” (while it’s on its way to his side of the table anyway), but a lot of the time they just set things down in front of us without a word.

For the record, I’ve noticed this in all types of restaurants, with servers of every age, sex, ethnicity, whatever. The message I take away from it is that, even though most people aren’t total assholes about it like Robert Catalanello (and in fact a lot of people probably aren’t even consciously aware that they HAVE this attitude), many people think a vegetarian diet is a girly diet, because no self-respecting macho manly man would EVER eat crap like pasta primavera or (God forbid) tofu.

Also… the thought of eating BODY-TEMPERATURE RAW BACON just gave me dry heaves. Hurk.

posted on March 10th, 2009 at 1:06 pm

6 On March 10th, 2009, Rachel2 said:

That is gross, and I think that Fangirl hit the nail on the head.

posted on March 10th, 2009 at 1:26 pm

7 On March 10th, 2009, iflurry said:

Yes, nothing looks better on a woman than e. coli and salmonella. Add some moldy bread on them and I’d just go wild.

posted on March 10th, 2009 at 2:09 pm

8 On March 10th, 2009, Jenny1144 said:

Completely disgusting, on SO many levels. But the idea of criticizing the bodies of the women involved makes me uncomfortable too–not as uncomfortable as the idea of men eating bacon off their genitalia, but still. I’m fine with criticizing the popular mindset that you have to be thin to be hot, that curves aren’t attractive, that eating a normal diet that includes fat and calories will turn you into an ugly whale, etc, but criticizing the bodies of specific women and calling them unattractive seems to be undermining our own message. If we’re saying that attraction is subjective, that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes, that the health risks associated with your weight (whether much higher or lower than average) don’t make you any less deserving of respect, than how can we justify saying, “Any woman can be attractive–as long as she isn’t too thin”?

True, there’s not too much of a danger of society absorbing a message of thin=ugly. And I’m certainly not trying to criticize Fangirl personally–I can’t even be sure that’s what her comment was trying to say! But criticizing the very thin in the process of defending people of other sizes is a tendency I’ve been trying to quash in myself, so I thought I’d throw it out there for discussion.

posted on March 10th, 2009 at 2:17 pm

9 On March 10th, 2009, Shannon said:

I loaded the page and before I scrolled down, I could only see the first woman. I thought they were strawberries and my first thought was that it was another PETA ad, LOL!

I hope the first guy wins his lawsuit. I wonder how the boss will defend himself. How do you attempt to justify firing someone for what they eat?

posted on March 10th, 2009 at 2:19 pm

10 On March 10th, 2009, Bree said:

I eat meat, but there is no excuse for harassing and discriminating against someone because they don’t. I hope that man wins his lawsuit too.

As for the second part, that is gross. If men think naked women with raw bacon slathered on their boobs and nether regions is hot, they need a reality check. Not to mention the models look like they’d rather be anywhere but there.

posted on March 10th, 2009 at 3:26 pm

11 On March 10th, 2009, CassandraSays said:

Ew. Raw bacon? Those models sure do look miserable, in what way is this sexy?

posted on March 10th, 2009 at 8:03 pm

12 On March 10th, 2009, elizabeth said:

groosss. it totaly reminds me of the ANTM episode where they had to wear meat in a meat locker. also way gross, i think i remember gagging while watching it. yuck. stupid society…

posted on March 10th, 2009 at 9:08 pm

13 On March 11th, 2009, Lola said:

oh that is just so gross..i feel really sorry for the models. plus, i dont undestand what is supposed to be so sexy about…raw bacon…just..ew.

also:
“I seriously doubt either of those models would eat bacon. They both look emaciated and unhappy – what’s “uber hot” about that?”
you shouldn’t make sweeping generalizations like that, until i gained the freshman 15 (which i am now losing – not because of a diet but because i found a good grocery store that had food im not allergic too so i dont have to subsist on 7/11 burritos and water) and during that entire time i enjoyed eating meat and all other kinds of food and was perfectly healthy, it was just my natural weight. criticizing the idea that only thin = hot is fine but making insulting comments about the bodies and eating habits of models you don’t even know undermines the idea that people are beautiful at every shape and size.

posted on March 11th, 2009 at 7:40 pm

14 On March 11th, 2009, Lola said:

sorry, missing a section of my comment should read as until i gained the freshman 15 i was that size, and during that entire time…etc.

15 On March 11th, 2009, Fangirl said:

Jenny1144, I think I must not have gotten my message across correctly. I don’t think either of those women are unattractive and I didn’t mean to imply that. What I meant was that they looked unhealthily skinny and really unhappy. Their weight aside, my real concern was how unhappy they look in those photos – I don’t equate discomfort with sexiness, you know? They don’t seem to be enjoying what they’re doing, and I think pleasure is the most important part of sex/sexiness.

posted on March 11th, 2009 at 7:56 pm

16 On March 11th, 2009, Aleksiina said:

I can totally relate to what Sharn is saying. My boyfriend and I are vegetarians and when the servers come to our table with two veggie dishes they look confused sometimes. Doesn’t happen too often since most restaurants in the city where I live (Montreal) are vegetarian friendly, but it still happens occasionally. And I really hope Mr. Pacifico wins his lawsuit because I couldn’t think of a most pointless reason to fire someone. I was actually shocked to hear it had happened in the first place. What does food have to do ANYTHING work related? Ludicrous! My boyfriend is a very manly, rugged, rugby playing jock who works in the videogame industry. And he loves tofu and carrot juice. I mean, enough with the stereotypes already!

posted on March 11th, 2009 at 9:43 pm

17 On March 11th, 2009, Aleksiina said:

Oh yeah. And just thinking about the texture of raw bacon on my bare skin makes me want to hurl, so no wonder those two girls look like they’re about to be sick too…

posted on March 11th, 2009 at 9:44 pm

18 On March 16th, 2009, Bronwyn said:

I have always hated the rabid “Ewww you eat ____” attitude that you get with some people, both meat eaters and vegetarian/vegans alike. What you eat is what you eat; making a big deal about it is ridiculous, whatever you’re eating.

I have friends who practically IDOLIZE meat (steak, bacon.. the two big ones) and I have to say that even as someone who enjoys all kinds of food (meats included), it bothers me. If something says “Vegetarian” on it, they shy away like a vampire from garlic. And my own father.. famously hates all vegetables except potatoes- or at least he does NOW. At some point the person’s food preferences take on a mind of their own and it just becomes blown out of proportion and I hate to say it- unhealthy.

posted on March 16th, 2009 at 2:05 am

19 On April 30th, 2009, Jackie said: