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Contesting Anthropocentric
Masculinities
Through Veganism
Lived Experiences of Vegan Men

Kadri Aavik
 Contesting Anthropocentric Masculinities
Through Veganism

“Challenging the carnivorous stereotype inherent in conceptions of Western mas-

culinity, Kadri Aavik’s work deconstructs the real and often complex reasons why
men become vegan and how their veganism constitutes an intersectional and anti-­
speciesist resistance to gender norms that are confining and obsolete. Aavik’s study
examines how men challenge narratives that marginalize and feminize male veg-
ans, and, more significantly, examines how vegan men reconstitute their veganism
as intersectional validation of the lives of both human women and non-human
animals.”
—Laura Wright, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies,
Western Carolina University, USA

“While there are quite a few self-help and advocacy books on men and veganism,
Contesting Anthropocentric Masculinities Through Veganism is, to my knowledge,
the first full-length social science analysis that is devoted to making sense of the
diverse lived experiences of vegan men. Bringing together a wide range of theoreti-
cal tools – including ecofeminism, new materialism and posthumanism – and
detailed interview material, the book examines these questions clearly, expertly and
critically, yet also positively, in moving towards the possibilities for post-anthropo-
centric masculinities and food practices. The book is necessary reading for all con-
cerned with gender, food, and the politics of the planet, as well as students of
contemporary social change.”
—Jeff Hearn, Professor, Hanken School of Economics, Finland,
and author of Men of the World

“In documenting the narratives of men becoming and living as vegan, this book
encourages men to consider the impact of dominant forms of masculinity on ethi-
cal and sustainable food consumption. Drawing upon ecofeminist and critical mas-
culinities’ perspectives, this important book makes a unique contribution to the
necessary transformation of anthropocentrism and carnism towards an ethic of
care for non-human others and the Earth.”
—Bob Pease, Honorary Professor, School of Humanities and Social Sciences,
Deakin University, Australia and author of Facing Patriarchy
 Kadri Aavik

Contesting
Anthropocentric
Masculinities Through
Veganism
Lived Experiences of Vegan Men
Kadri Aavik
School of Governance, Law and Society
Tallinn University
Tallinn, Estonia

Kone Foundation
Conducting research for and writing this book was supported by the Kone
Foundation, as part of the project “Climate Sustainability in the Kitchen: Everyday
Food Cultures in Transition”, carried out at the University of Helsinki, 2018-2022.

ISBN 978-3-031-19506-8    ISBN 978-3-031-19507-5 (eBook)

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For Silven
 Acknowledgements

I would not have been able to write this book without the personal and
academic support, inspiration, and encouragement from several people.
When I became vegan in 2005, I could never have imagined that research-
ing and writing about veganism would one day become a legitimate and
prolific line of academic inquiry, let alone one that I would be able to
undertake. Conducting research in critical animal and vegan studies has
been a lonely experience in Estonia, where I am based, due to the margin-
alisation of these fields in academic settings. I am very appreciative of the
various fruitful and supportive collaborations with colleagues in different
parts of the world which inspired me to write this book.
This book is an outcome of my work as a postdoctoral researcher in the
project “Climate Sustainability in the Kitchen: Everyday Food Cultures in
Transition”, carried out at the University of Helsinki from 2018 to 2022.
I am immensely grateful to Kuura Irni, who included me in this project. I
would like to thank the Kone Foundation for funding the project and my
participation in it. Being involved in the “Climate Sustainability in the
Kitchen” project has been an enormously enriching experience, both aca-
demically and personally. It was a pleasure and a privilege to work in our
small, but a very supportive and inspiring research team. In particular, I
am grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from Kuura
Irni and Milla-Maria Joki who continue to impress me with their academic
rigour, creativity, and choice of fascinating research topics. I want to thank
our research assistant Riitta Komulainen for her work of proofreading my
interview transcripts.

vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am forever grateful to my research participants—the 61 vegan men

from Estonia and Finland who agreed to be interviewed for this study and
whose rich and detailed narratives about their experiences of becoming
and living as vegans enabled me to gain valuable insight into links between
men’s veganism and masculinities. Talking to you was a privilege and a joy.
In the process, I learned a lot about veganism and gender, includ-
ing my own.
I am immensely grateful to Jeff Hearn, Kuura Irni, and Luke Stange for
reading parts of the book manuscript and giving valuable feedback. I am
also very thankful to the reviewer for their kind and constructive com-
ments which helped me to develop my arguments. I also thank the review-
ers who provided helpful feedback to my initial book proposal.
I am indebted to the Estonian animal rights and vegan activist com-
munities, in particular, the key activists in Loomus and Estonian Vegan
Society, organisations that I have been affiliated with for years. Being part
of this community of brilliant and dedicated activists has been a source of
immense inspiration and support to me over the years. It has sustained my
academic work and has nourished me as an activist and as a person.
Writing this book has been incredibly challenging while taking care of
a toddler and working at the university—both full-time commitments and
beyond. I am deeply indebted to and dedicate this book to my family
whose love, care, and support (in various forms) over the years has made
it possible for me to write this book—especially my sister, Tiina; my mom,
Ingrid; my dad, Urmas; my partner, Luke; and my son, Silven. Finally, a
special thanks to my cousin Karin, the first one to become vegan in our
family and a great inspiration to me on my path to veganism.
 Contents

1 Introduction:
 Men, Masculinities, and the Consumption of
Nonhuman Animals in the Anthropocene  1

2 Going
 Vegan: Understanding Men’s Vegan Transition
Narratives 33

3 Vegan Men Making Sense of Veganism: Multiple Meanings 69

4 Beyond
 the Discursive: Emotions, Affects, and
Embodiment in Men’s Veganism 87

5 Doing
 Veganism and Masculinity in Everyday
Interactions: Men’s Strategies and Dilemmas
in Communicating Veganism117

6 Navigating
 Close Relationships: Vegan Men Relating to
Friends, Family, and Intimate Partners147

7 Veganism
 and Social Justice: Vegan Men’s Gender and
Intersectional Politics and Practices183

ix
x Contents

8 Conclusions:
 Towards Post-anthropocentric Masculinities
Through Men’s Veganism207

Appendix: Overview of the Research Participants241

Index247
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction: Men, Masculinities,

and the Consumption of Nonhuman Animals
in the Anthropocene

In the past few decades in particular, veganism has increasingly entered

into the popular imagination in many Western societies and become the
subject of academic discussions. This growing cultural significance has
expanded and diversified debates around veganism. This book is an explo-
ration into one of the thus far less studied aspects of veganism: its links to
men and masculinities. In Western societies, such as in the U.S. and UK,
men make up a clear numerical minority among vegans (Oliver, 2021). In
Western cultural narratives, veganism and masculinity are still largely con-
sidered incompatible. Yet, an increasing number of men are taking up
veganism and aligning it with their ways of doing masculinity.
This book engages with questions of what it means to practise veganism
as a man, how veganism relates to masculinities, and the potential of men’s
veganism to disrupt anthropocentric and inegalitarian masculinities. While
not offering definitive answers, I aim to open up a conversation about how
to approach veganism, men, and masculinities empirically and theoreti-
cally. Based on 61 in-depth interviews with vegan men in Northern
Europe, the central argument of this book is that vegan men offer an
alternative to anthropocentric ideals of masculinity and that some of their
key values and everyday practices support more egalitarian gender rela-
tions. An important means through which to introduce veganism and its
radical promise to reshape human-animal relations is to create and expand
vegan imaginaries (White, 2022, p. 21) about vegan practices and

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1

Switzerland AG 2023
K. Aavik, Contesting Anthropocentric Masculinities Through
Veganism, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-19507-5_1
2 K. AAVIK

potentialities of veganism, to contest those put forward by the animal-

industrial complex in deeply speciesist societies. This book is an attempt to
offer such imaginaries about vegan men and masculinities, introducing
new ways to understand men’s veganism and its promise to contest unsus-
tainable masculinities.
Patterns of food consumption and human-animal relations are gen-
dered. Cultural ideals of masculinity shape men’s food practices and the
ways men relate to nonhuman animals in significant ways.1 In turn, these
relationships mould men’s constructions of masculinity, indicating socially
acceptable and desirable modes of doing masculinity. Examining links
between men, masculinities, and veganism addresses several urgent and
interconnected global issues such as exploitative human-animal relations,
climate change, gender and other social inequalities, as well as unsustain-
able cultural ideals of hegemonic masculinity. This book explores on the
one hand the possibilities of men’s veganism to foster more ethical and
sustainable ways of relating to other animals and on the other hand posi-
tive change to cultural ideals of masculinity that veganism, as practised by
men, may bring and ways in which these are interconnected. In tackling
these issues, this book deals with the potential of humanity’s transition to
more sustainable and ethical ways of eating and relating to other animals,
as a major process of social change. I hope to add to existing knowledge
on the meanings and performances of veganism by men, with a particular
focus on how masculinity figures in men’s experiences of becoming and
living as vegan and the implications of men’s veganism for hegemonic
masculinity and for the spread of veganism. I also consider how men’s
veganism relates to gender equality and other social justice issues.
This book engages with and seeks to contribute to understanding
men’s veganism from interdisciplinary perspectives. I primarily draw on
theoretical and empirical work in the fields of critical animal studies (CAS)

1
While more cumbersome, I use “nonhuman animals” and “other animals” interchange-
ably throughout this book, to refer to “animals”, to account for the fact that humans are also
animals. The homogenising word “animal” does not do justice to the myriad of vastly differ-
ent species with unique characteristics and their diverse ways of inhabiting the world. This
terminological decision follows the political commitments of critical animal studies (CAS) for
animal liberation, including through language and discourse. I have not however changed
the word “animal” in terms like “critical animal studies”, “animal-industrial complex”, and
other more established terms.
 1 INTRODUCTION: MEN, MASCULINITIES, AND THE CONSUMPTION… 3

(Taylor & Twine, 2014; Nocella et al., 2014), vegan studies2 (Wright,
2015, 2021; Giraud, 2021), vegan sociology (Cherry, 2021), gender and
feminist studies, including ecofeminism (Adams, 1990; Adams & Gruen,
2014; Donovan, 1990, 2006; Gaard, 2002; Polish, 2016; Harper, 2010),
and critical studies on men and masculinities (CSMM) (Hearn, 2013;
Hearn & Howson, 2019), including feminist new materialist and posthu-
manist approaches to men and masculinities (Mellström & Pease, 2023;
Garlick, 2019).
The areas of scholarship at the intersection of which the book is most
strongly situated are CAS, vegan studies, and CSMM. Research in CSMM
takes a critical perspective on social constructions of men and masculinities
within gendered power relations and problematises men’s hegemony
(Hearn, 2004, p. 50). While CAS has important convergences with post-
humanist and new materialist approaches aiming to decentre the human,
the former focuses specifically on human-animal relations and explicitly
denounces human exploitation and killing of other animals. It is an
engaged scholar-activism that cares about the material fate of nonhuman
animals, beyond theorising about them (see Taylor & Twine, 2014;
Nocella et al., 2014). Vegan studies and vegan sociology are closely aligned
with CAS, but focused on studying veganism and vegans, as I do in this
book. Scholarship in these fields seeks to contribute to social change. This
book shares the political and epistemological commitments of these areas
of research.

Eating Nonhuman Animals as a Driver of Global

Ethical, Social, and Ecological Crises
The most typical relationship we have with other animals is through con-
suming them, largely as food. Eating nonhuman animals has become a
pressing challenge on multiple fronts: it is an increasingly dire ecological,

2
While considerable overlap exists between CAS and vegan studies, the latter has been
conceptualised as a separate field of study with some distinct features, focusing mainly on
studying veganism as an identity and practice and cultural meaning assigned to veganism
(Wright, 2015, p. 2). For an overview of both areas of study and their relationships, see
Giraud, 2021, pp. 21–23.
4 K. AAVIK

ethical, social, and public health problem in the Anthropocene3 where

humans are causing large-scale and irreparable damage to the planet’s eco-
systems (Steffen et al., 2015; IPCC, 2021; Ripple et al., 2020). Farmed
animals now make up around 60% of all mammals on Earth (Bar-On et al.,
2018). Roughly 75 billion land animals are killed for food annually
(Chemnitz & Becheva, 2021).
Already for many decades, animal advocacy activists, CAS, and other
scholars have exposed and called for an end to the routine violence and
exploitation of nonhuman animals in the animal-industrial complex4 (for
the term, see Noske, 1989; Twine, 2012; see also Taylor & Twine, 2014).
Aside from a serious ethical crisis in human-animal relations where
humans cause immense suffering to billions of other animals, eating non-
human animals is increasingly talked about in the context of climate, the
environment, and human health—concerns that in our speciesist societies
seem more compelling than nonhuman animal well-being. Farming non-
human animals for human consumption is one of the key drivers of climate
change (Steinfeld et al., 2006; GRAIN and The Institute for Agriculture
and Trade Policy, 2018), having doubled over the past twenty years
(Chemnitz & Becheva, 2021). Paradoxically, this occurs at a time when
countries are failing to meet climate targets set in the Paris climate agree-
ment (United Nations, 2021). Animal agriculture is responsible for
between 14.5% (Steinfeld et al., 2006, p. xxi) and 51% (Goodland &
Anhang, 2009) of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
and uses 77% of all agricultural land (Ritchie & Roser, 2019). The scale of
animal farming is predicted to double globally by 2050 (Koneswaran &
Nierenberg, 2008). Thus, human use of other animals is a serious threat
to the livelihoods of all living beings. Raising nonhuman animals for
human food is also an increasing public health concern, as

3
The Anthropocene refers to vast human-induced changes to the Earth’s biosphere
(Crutzen & Stoermer, 2000). Not all humans are, however, equally responsible for causing
climate change; it has been brought on first and foremost by nations and people in the
Global North, largely driven by masculinised values and practices of privileged men (Hultman
& Pulé, 2018, p. 8; Twine, 2021). Some authors have therefore placed “Anthropo” in quo-
tation marks (Twine, 2021). Also, the term Capitalocene has been used, to denote the cen-
trality of capitalism in domination over nature (see, e.g., Moore, 2016).
4
The animal-industrial complex is “a partly opaque and multiple set of networks and rela-
tionships between the corporate (agricultural) sector, governments, and public and private
science. With economic, cultural, social and affective dimensions it encompasses an extensive
range of practices, technologies, images, identities and markets” (Twine, 2012, p. 23).
 1 INTRODUCTION: MEN, MASCULINITIES, AND THE CONSUMPTION… 5

antibiotic-resistant bacteria (Landers et al., 2012; World Health

Organisation, 2017) and the spread of zoonotic diseases (Brown, 2004;
Chemnitz & Becheva, 2021)—associated largely with large-scale animal
farming and other forms of human violence towards nonhuman animals—
are becoming increasingly serious concerns for humanity, as attested by
the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, animal-based diets
have been linked to several common preventable lifestyle diseases (Bouvard
et al., 2015; Micha et al., 2017). Beyond these environmental and health
consequences, the disproportionately adverse effects of animal farming for
vulnerable individuals, groups, and communities (Eisnitz, 2006; Sebastian,
2018; Jenkins, 2018; Mirabelli et al., 2006), particularly in the Global
South (Parks & Roberts, 2006; Roy, 2018)—those who are the least
responsible for causing climate change—remains less known and talked
about. These insights indicate that consuming other animals is not only a
question of animal ethics, climate, or environment, but a broader intersec-
tional issue of ecological justice that includes social justice.
Despite the by now ample scientific evidence on the extensive harmful
impacts of industrial animal farming on multiple fronts, the transition
towards plant-based diets and veganism is slow and the consumption of
other animals remains a social and cultural norm. Meat reduction has
become more popular in the Global North, yet vegans make up only a
small percentage of the population.5 Globally, meat consumption is pro-
jected to increase by 14% by 2030 (OECD/FAO, 2021, p. 164). Links
between consuming nonhuman animals and climate change are becoming
public knowledge, as this issue is increasingly discussed in the mainstream
media (Kristiansen et al., 2021). In many wealthy Western countries in
particular, a broad range of plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy are
widely available and affordable to many privileged middle-class people. In
high-income countries, plant-based diets have been found to be less
expensive than animal-based ones (Springmann et al., 2021). Given the
abundance of public information on the causes and consequences of con-
suming nonhuman animals, privileged people in the Global North in par-
ticular—such as white middle-class men living in urban areas—can be
expected to make more sustainable and ethical food choices. This position
aligns with arguments in some ecofeminist work, for instance, Diane
Curtin’s (1991) call for “contextual moral vegetarianism” (p. 60) for well-­
off people in wealthy countries, as a manifestation of ecofeminist ethics of

5
As of 2020, vegans constituted 1.9% of the European population (Veganz, 2020).
6 K. AAVIK

care. Yet, there are significant social and cultural barriers to this major
process of social change. I suggest that these obstacles (but also opportu-
nities) are crucially related to men’s practices and masculinities. Examining
privileged men’s veganism provides insight into barriers and opportunities
for the spread of veganism and “food system de-animalisation” (Morris
et al., 2019). While this book focuses on the perspectives and lived experi-
ences of individual vegans, institutional support of veganism is crucial for
its spread, a point I will touch upon in several chapters and will come back
to at the end of the book.

The Potential of Plant-Based Diets

Various solutions have been proposed to tackle the numerous negative
effects of consuming other animals. These are sometimes argued to be
preferable ways forward, rather than a transition to plant-based diets or
veganism. Each of these, however, involves significant shortcomings.
Compared to plant-based diets, local food and “humane” animal farming
are less environmentally sustainable and continue using other animals as
resources (Stănescu, 2010, 2016), organic farming6 requires a significant
increase in land use (Kirchmann, 2019), making it an unsustainable solu-
tion in the context of global population growth, if pursued within current
animal-based food systems, and there is yet little evidence of the potential
advantages of cultured meat in terms of GHG emissions (Chriki &
Hocquette, 2020). The latter, while potentially bringing about a number
of positive outcomes for animal welfare and human health, does not
resolve many ethical dilemmas related to meat consumption (see, e.g.,
Alvaro et al., 2019). Some of the proposed solutions can be considered
technofixes—masculinised attempts, typically by wealthy white men, to
offer superficial remedies to complex problems within the capitalist frame-
work, without reimagining current fundamentally exploitative human-­
animal relations and other inequalities that (continue to) cause these
problems (Hultman & Pulé, 2018, pp. 45–51). Given that ending human
use of nonhuman animals remains a radical idea in current societies relying

6
In fully plant-based agriculture, organic farming is not incompatible with veganism.
Veganic agriculture could instead constitute a viable alternative to current unsustainable
industrial farming. It could help maintain and restore health to soils and reduce exploitation
of human and nonhuman animals, thus supporting intersectional vegan goals (White, 2018,
p. 9) (see Seymore & Utter, 2021; White, 2018).
 1 INTRODUCTION: MEN, MASCULINITIES, AND THE CONSUMPTION… 7

upon extensive use of other animals to satisfy human needs and tastes, it is
not surprising that proposals such as those outlined in this paragraph are
put forward and pursued.
Established evidence of the multiple harmful effects of eating nonhu-
man animals has prompted several prominent international health, sus-
tainability, and animal advocacy organisations to call for a reduction in or
even elimination of animal-based foods from human diets (e.g., Willett
et al., 2019; Whitmee et al., 2015; Wiseman, 2008). Compared to other
diets, the plant-based diet has the smallest ecological footprint (Chai et al.,
2019). Elimination of animal agriculture is considered one of the most
effective strategies for mitigating climate change (Eisen & Brown, 2022).
Plant-based diets have been deemed by the world’s leading nutrition
organisations as appropriate for humans (British Dietetic Association,
2017; Melina et al., 2016). Thus, humanity’s transition to plant-based
eating constitutes a promising path to more ethical human-animal rela-
tions, planetary, and human health.
Notably, however, the recommendations of these prominent organisa-
tions typically call for a reduction in the consumption of animal products
and tend to do so primarily for human health and climate considerations.
Concern for the lives and well-being of other animals is typically not listed
as a major reason why we should stop eating them. By refraining from
advocating for or even mentioning veganism, most leading health and
environmental (as well as many animal welfare) organisations fail to pro-
mote any fundamental transformation in human-animal relations. As I dis-
cuss in the next section, veganism extends beyond a focus on food and
plant-based diets in important ways.

Beyond Plant-Based Diets: Intersectional Veganism

as a Pathway Towards Ecological Justice

Before discussing how veganism can contribute to a paradigm shift in

human-animal relations and help further social justice goals, it is useful to
discuss what veganism is. Defining veganism is not a straightforward mat-
ter, as there are debates and disagreements in academic and activist set-
tings on how to conceptualise veganism7 (see Chap. 3). Some authors
have used “veganisms” in the plural, to account for the multiple ways of

7
For a discussion on definitions of veganism, see, for example, Linzey & Linzey, 2018,
pp. 1–4; Giraud, 2021, pp. 3–4; Dutkiewicz & Dickstein, 2021; North et al., 2021.
8 K. AAVIK

conceptualising and practising it (see Giraud, 2021, p. 152). These con-

tested meanings of veganism are not fixed, but constantly renegotiated.
One of the most well-known definitions of veganism and the one that I
take as a starting point in this book is provided by the Vegan Society (in
the UK), according to which veganism is “a philosophy and way of living
which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of
exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other
purpose” (Vegan Society, n.d.). This understanding of veganism focuses
on radically challenging exploitative human-animal relationships as the
core of veganism. Following a plant-based diet is just one, albeit a key,
manifestation of veganism. Thus, I understand veganism as more than a
food practice—as a political and ethical intervention that fundamentally
contests current unethical human-animal relations. I also consider vegan-
ism as a social justice issue enmeshed with various hierarchies in human
societies (see also Giraud, 2021). This way of conceptualising veganism
aligns with how it tends to be defined by CAS, vegan studies, and vegan
ecofeminist scholars, including those writing from critical race perspec-
tives (see, e.g., Polish, 2016; Harper, 2010; Giraud, 2021; Polish, 2016;
Ko & Ko, 2017; Wrenn, 2019; Hodge et al., 2022; Wright, 2015).
Veganism and vegan advocacy are closely linked to the animal advocacy
movement8 with significant overlaps between the two. While the animal
advocacy and vegan movements include organisations campaigning for
veganism, the majority of vegans are not part of organised collective
action, but act more as separate individuals (see also Cherry, 2006). Thus,
veganism is not typically recognised as activism, but as a lifestyle move-
ment, or ethical lifestylism (Giraud, 2021, p. 45). However, when
approaching the notion of activism in a less conventional sense, encom-
passing various activities not traditionally considered part of activism, veg-
anism could be considered a form of everyday activism (Mansbridge,
2013). In this kind of activism, vegans challenge the social norm of con-
sumption of other animals in microsettings, for example, in everyday con-
versations, including in online interactions, and role modelling in various
routine situations. Animal advocacy and veganism (including activism) are
gendered phenomena and shaped by the activities of men and ideals of

8
The animal advocacy movement is “a collective effort to advance the interests of nonhu-
man species on the grounds that these animals are inherently worthy of equal consideration,
not as human resources, but as persons in their own right” (Wrenn, 2019, p. 35).
 1 INTRODUCTION: MEN, MASCULINITIES, AND THE CONSUMPTION… 9

masculinity (see also Aavik, forthcoming), as I will discuss in the subse-

quent sections.
Accurate statistical information about the proportion of vegans in
the population is scarce; such data is not necessarily easy to collect, for
various reasons (see Martinelli & Berkmanienė, 2018). In countries with
the highest percentages of vegans in the population, such as Israel and the
US, around 5% of people claim to be vegan (Martinelli & Berkmanienė,
2018, p. 507). No highly reliable statistics are available about Estonia and
Finland—the Northern European countries in which the vegan men inter-
viewed for this book are based, but existing sources suggest that they
make up around 0.5–1% of the population in both countries (see TNS
EMOR, 2018 for Estonia; K Group, 2019 for Finland). There are some
commonalities in the demographic profiles of vegans in different Western
countries: men constitute only about one-third of vegans; vegans tend to
be concentrated in urban areas, have higher educational levels compared
to the general population, and tend to hold leftist political views; and
there is a higher proportion of secular/atheist people among vegans than
in the general population (Martinelli & Berkmanienė, 2018, p. 507).
Becoming vegan involves more than a change in diet. It is likely to
bring about a rather profound change in one’s sense of self and relation-
ships with others, as I discuss in this book. I approach identities and iden-
tity change through sociological perspectives, understanding identities as
not essential, stable, or located “inside” people, but emerging in social
interaction. As Greenebaum (2012) puts it, “[i]f identity is a public decla-
ration of the self that is constructed through interaction with others, iden-
tities are then situational, relational, and part of a constant process of
negotiation” (p. 142). To manage their identities, people actively and con-
tinuously perform identity work in everyday social situations. Identity
work refers to “a range of activities individuals engage in to create, pres-
ent, and sustain personal identities” (Snow & Anderson, 1987, p. 1348).
While acknowledging the limitations of this approach, in this book, I study
vegan men’s identities through their discursive constructions of identity,
known as identity talk (Snow & Anderson, 1987; Ybema et al., 2009).
Thus, the focus is not on who the men are but on how they express them-
selves and construct their identities through language, which includes talk
about their material and embodied practices.
Despite its potential to positively contribute to reducing nonhuman
animal suffering and mitigating the effects of climate change, veganism on
10 K. AAVIK

its own cannot solve environmental and various social crises (see Giraud,
2021, p. 109). As several authors have underlined, veganism does not
directly address or can even perpetuate various forms of human exploita-
tion (see Brueck, 2019), particularly in the mode of “plant-based capital-
ism” (Giraud, 2021, p. 129) or “plant-based consumerism” (White, 2022,
p. 27). For instance, veganism that does not address workers’ rights in the
production of plant-based foods has been found not only to ignore but
also reproduce racial inequalities and white privilege (Harper, 2010;
Polish, 2016; Ko & Ko, 2017). Veganism on its own does not necessarily
challenge patterns of hegemonic masculinity (Greenebaum & Dexter,
2018; Hart, 2018), although some elements of the vegan praxis might
contribute to this inadvertently, as I will discuss in this book (see also
Aavik, 2021). In efforts to increase sales of their plant-based products in
the climate crisis, many companies specialised in selling animal products
engage in what has been termed as veganwashing (Alloun, 2020). This
entails advertising their products as healthy, natural, and sustainable, rely-
ing on popular associations that people have between plants and such val-
ues and imagery (Giraud, 2021, p. 140). Thus, while highlighting many
positive aspects of veganism, maintaining a critical view of (men’s) vegan-
ism is also warranted.
With these considerations in mind, this book situates veganism and
human-animal relations more broadly within the paradigm of ecological
justice (Baxter, 2004; Schlosberg, 2014; Nussbaum, 2006) that challenges
anthropocentrism and regards all species as entitled to habitat and use of
the Earth’s resources (Baxter, 2004). Ecological justice includes social jus-
tice as a key element; that is, it also addresses social inequalities. Veganism
cannot be a viable and effective strategy to combat exploitative human-­
animal relations and climate change if it neglects issues of social justice, as
various exclusions of large parts of the vegan movement attest, notably its
white privilege (Harper, 2010; Polish, 2016; Ko & Ko, 2017) and repro-
duction of gender stereotypes and inequalities (Wrenn, 2016, 2019).
Ecological justice as conceptualised here aligns with the idea of total lib-
eration—an approach recognising the interlinked nature of inequalities
and oppressions affecting humans and nonhumans and calling for the lib-
eration of all beings from oppressive structures (see Pellow, 2014; Colling
et al., 2014). Veganism and creating vegan imaginaries (White, 2022,
p. 21) are fundamental components of advancing ecological justice. I
argue in this book that vegan masculinities offer the potential to support
ecological justice.
 1 INTRODUCTION: MEN, MASCULINITIES, AND THE CONSUMPTION… 11

Before addressing the question of how veganism relates to men and

masculinities, I first explain how I approach gender and masculinities in
this book.

Men, Masculinities, and Intersectionality

I understand gender and gender relations as socially constructed, that is,
they are assigned meaning in human societies and social interactions,9 and
are therefore flexible and open to change. In the same framework, the
categories of “men” and “masculinities” are also socially produced and
thus open to contestation as well. Drawing on insights from critical studies
on men and masculinities (see Hearn, 2004), I use “masculinities” in the
plural, to refer to hierarchically organised multiple masculinities in the
gender system, with hegemonic masculinity (Connell, 1987; Connell &
Messerschmidt, 2005) located at the top of the hierarchy, as a cultural
ideal. This does not however mean that hegemonic masculinity—or other
masculinities—has fixed content. Masculinities are processual and “actively
produced, using the resources and strategies available in a given social set-
ting” (Connell, 2003, p. 16). The ongoing accomplishment of masculin-
ity in everyday interaction is captured by the idea of “doing gender” (West
& Zimmerman, 1987), and in the context of masculinities—“doing mas-
culinity”. Just as masculinities are not natural or fixed, the category “man”
is not to be taken for granted either. Jeff Hearn (2014) has called for criti-
cally examining men as “a taken-for-granted social gender category in all
sorts of everyday contexts” (p. 14), emphasising how men are produced
by the gender system and reproduce it through their individual and collec-
tive practices. Beyond the construction of reality through discursive
means, given that veganism is an embodied practice, I find it important to
consider the material and embodied dimensions of masculinities and men’s
veganism, inspired by feminist new materialist and posthumanist perspec-
tives on men and masculinities (see Garlick, 2019; Mellström & Pease,
2023). Within these approaches, masculinities have been thought of
as “technologies of embodiment oriented toward the control of nature”
(Garlick, 2019, p. 397). As Pease and Mellström (2023) note, “[t]he
implication of new materialist theoretical approaches for masculinity is to
encourage more attention to affect, embodiment and respect for

9
The social construction of gender includes material practices through which the category
of gender and gender inequalities are reproduced.
12 K. AAVIK

ecological systems” (p. 10). This includes consideration of how men relate
to nonhuman animals, as an important relationality. I argue in this book
that through the material-discursive practice of veganism, vegan men chal-
lenge men’s domination over nature.
Although this book focuses on men, masculinities are always con-
structed and performed in relation to women and other genders. Certainly,
veganism as practised by men is not entirely unique from how it is pursued
by people not identifying as men. While focusing on vegan men, I seek to
avoid essentialising the category “man” and emphasise the ways in which
masculinity is accomplished in social interaction.
This book views vegan men as gendered beings whose food practices
are enmeshed in intersectional power relations. While foregrounding the
category of gender and specifically masculinity, I take an intersectional
perspective (Crenshaw, 1989). This study focuses on vegan men who are
intersectionally privileged10 (Aavik, 2015, 2020), in terms of at least gen-
der, age, race, class, educational background and/or professional status,
and geographical location. While there exists an uneasy relationship
between veganism and the category of masculinity, to say that this makes
it equally difficult for all men to become vegan is an overgeneralisation
that dismisses important distinctions between men, which could facilitate
or hinder their vegan transition. Particularly for white Western middle-­
class men living in urban areas—that this book focuses on—race, class, and
other privileges are conducive to adopting veganism, as I will demon-
strate. Further, given that men positioned as such are the drivers of climate
change globally, including due to their patterns of meat consumption, as
highlighted above, it is this group of men who should therefore first and
foremost have a moral obligation to challenge animal exploitation, given
also that their privileged social position affords them easier material access
to veganism.
Using the notion of intersectionality to study the identities and prac-
tices of privileged men is not straightforward and unproblematic. There
are conceptual and ethical debates about the use of intersectionality, for
example regarding how intersectionality should be defined, which catego-
ries it should focus on, and what exactly intersects. A major question

10
Intersectional privilege refers to “opportunities and advantages that are systematically
available to individuals or groups in particular social contexts and situations due to their
privileged position on the axes of gender, age, ethnicity, race and other relevant social catego-
ries simultaneously” (Aavik, 2020, p. 222).
 1 INTRODUCTION: MEN, MASCULINITIES, AND THE CONSUMPTION… 13

concerns whether intersectionality should stay true to its original focus in

Black feminist thought and be concerned with anti-racist commitments or
could the focus be on any relevant intersections. Some scholars have pro-
vided critical perspectives on the now ubiquitous and often superficial
application of the concept beyond gender and feminist studies to the point
where it departs significantly from its original meaning and political inten-
tion and thereby becomes depoliticised (see, e.g., Collins, 2015, 2019;
Bilge, 2013; Collins & Bilge, 2020; on these discussions in the context of
veganism, see Giraud, 2021, pp. 106–127).
From these debates, an important question arises regarding the focus of
this book—whether and how is it justified and helpful to use intersection-
ality to study privileged white men? To do this question justice would
require a much more in-depth discussion, but as a way to start thinking
about this problem and not as a definitive position, I would suggest that
there are some good reasons to use intersectionality in this context, as well
as risks. However, I suggest that if done in a careful and sensitive manner,
intersectionality could be a helpful lens through which to understand the
experiences of privileged vegan men while supporting intersectional femi-
nist commitments. Here, I find it insightful to draw on scholars who
emphasise that what matters most is the purpose we use intersectionality
for (Collins & Bilge, 2020), arguing that central to any application of this
notion should be a commitment to social justice and an intent to chal-
lenge social inequalities (Collins & Bilge, 2020, Bilge, 2013). Thus, inter-
sectionality is understood as a form of critical inquiry as well as praxis
(Collins & Bilge, 2020). I believe that critically examining the practices of
privileged men, attending to the ways in which their advantageous social
position facilitates their veganism, adheres to these commitments. Thus,
using insights from CSMM and other critical bodies of scholarship,
throughout this book, I consider how my research participants’ practices
and definitions of veganism are shaped by their social position and take a
critical stance towards their privilege.
To honour the origins of intersectionality in Black feminist thought and
retain its commitment to racial justice, the category of race should not be
dismissed, even if it appears irrelevant at first sight. The whiteness and
white privilege of the interviewed men shape their vegan practices and
identities in significant ways, despite tending to remain invisible in narra-
tives of white privileged men (Aavik, 2020). Indeed, this very fact of
silencing is indicative of the taken-for-grantedness of privilege.
Marginalisation and privilege are interlinked, as different sides of the same
14 K. AAVIK

coin of structural inequality. Thus, understanding the privileged and

unmarked (Brekhus, 1998) sheds light on marginalised identities and con-
ditions that create these structural disparities.
Further, in engaging with intersectionality, I draw inspiration from new
materialist and posthumanist perspectives on masculinities. According to
Pease and Mellström (2023), intersectionality should be extended “beyond
the discursive position of human subjects to encompass their material exis-
tence in human and other-than-human relations” (p. 10). Veganism as an
embodied practice enables us to rethink current unethical human-animal
relations and ways of co-existing. In these discussions, careful attention
must be paid to the question of which humans we mean when speaking of
human-animal relations, as intra-human differences often become
obscured in examining human-animal relations, typically assuming a privi-
leged human subject not named as such. It is important to consider that it
is always particularly situated humans who relate to other animals. The
specific position of the humans in question in intra-human power hierar-
chies significantly shapes these relations, as several vegan and feminist
scholars from critical race perspectives have noted (see, e.g., Harper, 2010;
Ko & Ko, 2017).

Men’s Veganism
and Post-Anthropocentric Masculinities

Studying veganism in relation to men and masculinities is fruitful for vari-

ous reasons. Gender plays a significant role in shaping patterns of food
consumption, human-animal relations, and climate sustainability (e.g.,
Modlinska et al., 2020; Inness, 2001; Counihan & Kaplan, 2003).
Hegemonic masculinities in Western societies have damaging effects on
the planet, on other beings, and on many men themselves (Hultman &
Pulé, 2018, pp. 40–51; Alaimo, 2009, p. 26). Men’s everyday practices
tend to inflict more harm on the environment compared to other genders.
Men (especially white, Western, middle-class) remain the key drivers of
climate change; for instance, they are overrepresented among the owners
and managers of extractive industries (Hultman & Pulé, 2018). The over-
all ecological footprint of men, particularly privileged men in the Global
North, is on average much higher than women’s (Räty & Carlsson-­
Kanyama, 2010; Rippin et al., 2021), including their footprint from food,
as men consume more meat than women, globally (Rippin et al., 2021;
 1 INTRODUCTION: MEN, MASCULINITIES, AND THE CONSUMPTION… 15

Nakagawa & Hart, 2019; Prättala et al., 2007).11 Strong links between
eating nonhuman animals and Western ideals of masculinity have been
observed: eating meat is culturally coded as a masculine practice and
remains a powerful norm for many men through which to do masculinity
(Ruby & Heine, 2011; Thomas, 2016; Szabo, 2019; Ruby, 2012). Thus,
cultural constructions of masculinity shape men’s food practices and, in
particular, their relationship to eating other animals.
Previous research directly engaging with the experiences of vegans is
still relatively scarce (e.g., Griffin Stephens, 2017; Giraud, 2021; Kalte,
2021; Greenebaum, 2012; Aavik, 2021; Aavik & Velgan, 2021); most of
it focuses on Anglo-American contexts and has not systematically consid-
ered the dimension of gender. Some of this research has focused on men
and masculinities. Studies exploring links between men, masculinities, and
veg*nism12 (e.g., Hart, 2018; Potts & Parry, 2010; Rothgerber, 2013;
Sumpter, 2015; Greenebaum & Dexter, 2018; Mycek, 2018; DeLessio-­
Parson, 2017; Aavik, 2021; Aavik & Velgan, 2021; Adewale & Harper,
2021) suggest that veganism offers potential for men to do masculinity
differently. Yet this does not mean that vegan men—just by being vegan—
necessarily challenge gendered (and other) power relations; they may
sometimes even reinforce conventional masculinity norms (Greenebaum
& Dexter, 2018; Hart, 2018; Wright, 2015, p. 126).13 For example, some
vegan men’s ultramasculine gender performances have given rise to the
term “heganism” (Wright, 2015, p. 126).14 Other research has identified
negative cultural representations of vegan men, captured in the figure of
the “soy boy” (Gambert & Linne, 2018; see also Giraud, 2021, p. 52). In
both of these cultural depictions—the hypermasculine hegan and the soy
boy constructed as effeminate—men’s bodies are central, attesting to the

11
Statistical information on this for other genders is unavailable.
12
The term includes vegetarians and vegans.
13
In addition to these studies conducted in Western contexts, it is worth noting that some
non-Western religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, practised by millions of
men, promote compassion and nonviolence towards all living beings and, by extension, veg-
etarian or fully plant-based eating. The practitioners of these religions challenge perceived
essentialist links between men, masculinities, and meat consumption. At the same time, gen-
der relations and ideals of masculinity in societies where these religions are predominantly
practised (such as in South East Asia) do not suggest that men’s avoidance of or lesser con-
sumption of nonhuman animals leads to the emergence of alternative masculinities and
greater gender equality in society.
14
Exemplified for instance by the film Game Changers (2018) and the book Meat Is for
Pussies: A How-To Guide for Dudes Who Want to Get Fit, Kick Ass, and Take Names (2014).
16 K. AAVIK

embodied nature of the vegan praxis. In this book, drawing on this previ-
ous scholarship, I seek to bring new insights into knowledge on connec-
tions between veganism, constructions of masculinity, and social equality,
examining the potential of vegan men to do masculinity differently, in
more progressive ways.
Through its focus on men’s veganism, this book deals with changing
masculinities at a time when humanity is facing multiple social and eco-
logical crises. The premise is that ideals of hegemonic masculinity have
become unsustainable and do not meet the needs of a rapidly changing
world. Drawing on and in dialogue with recent research on various “new”
masculinities that challenge hegemonic masculinity (Connell, 1987;
Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005), notably, caring masculinities (Elliott,
2016; Hanlon, 2012), inclusive masculinity (Anderson, 2010), ecological
masculinities (Hultman & Pulé, 2018; Pulé & Hultman, 2021), and egali-
tarian masculinities (Lamont, 2014; Pajumets, 2012), as well as posthu-
manist and new materialist approaches to men and masculinities (Garlick,
2019; Mellström & Pease, 2023), I suggest that men’s more sustainable
relationship to the environment and nonhuman others is likely becoming
an increasingly important element in ideals of hegemonic masculinity in
the context of climate change and men’s domination of nature and other
beings. Indeed, some recent research provides evidence of men’s declining
attachment to meat consumption, along with men’s critical attitudes
towards cultural associations of meat with masculinity (De Backer et al.,
2020). The theorising of several of these alternative masculinities is rooted
in posthumanist and ecofeminist thought, particularly vegetarian or vegan
ecofeminism (e.g., Adams, 1990; Adams & Gruen, 2014; Donovan,
2006; Gaard, 2002; Twine, 2021). I argue in this book that veganism, as
practised by men, offers potential for the emergence of alternative, espe-
cially more sustainable, caring, and egalitarian, masculinities, such as eco-
logical masculinities (Hultman & Pulé, 2018). Also, posthumanist
perspectives on men and masculinities could help to move towards such a
transformation, by disturbing the stability of the category of man
(Mellström & Pease, 2023). Within these frameworks, I propose the
notion of vegan masculinity, discussed in more detail in the concluding
chapter. While considering the transformative potential of men’s veganism
for the emergence of such alternative masculinities, this book at the same
time assumes a critical perspective on men’s veganism. While it is impor-
tant to foreground the voices of vegans themselves in making sense of the
 1 INTRODUCTION: MEN, MASCULINITIES, AND THE CONSUMPTION… 17

phenomenon of veganism, I am aware of the dangers of amplifying already

privileged perspectives and I avoid generalising the findings to all vegans.
As previous work has pointed out, differently situated vegans, for example,
vegans of colour in different social and geographical contexts, can experi-
ence veganism differently (e.g., Harper, 2010; Ko & Ko, 2017). This
underscores the importance of using sensitive intersectional approaches in
studying veganism and vegans.

Research Design: Materials, Context, and Methods

This book is based on 61 in-depth qualitative interviews that I con-
ducted in 2018 and 2019 with vegans who identify as men, based in
Finland (30) and Estonia (31) (for an overview of the research partici-
pants, see Appendix, pp. 241–245).15 Most research participants were
recruited via the two largest vegan-themed Facebook groups in the two
language communities: Eesti Veganid (Estonian) and Vegaani (Finnish)
and some through personal contacts. The Estonian sample included a
few men I was acquainted with, due to my involvement in the Estonian
vegan community. The interviewed men were between 18 and 56 years
of age, with an average age of 34. The time they had been vegan ranged
from a few months for some to nearly two decades for others. The
research participants constituted a privileged group: they were white,
predominantly ethnic Estonian or Finnish, typically middle class, almost
all were living in urban areas, most had completed tertiary education,
and working as professionals. Those few who had working class and/or
rural backgrounds had typically obtained higher education in cities and
had remained living there. Most men did not identify as activists, in ani-
mal advocacy or otherwise. The sample included a few Estonian research
participants who lived in Finland and vice versa. A couple of interviewed
Finnish and Estonian men resided temporarily or for a longer time in
some other European countries, such as Switzerland and the UK. Also,
a few men were not of Estonian or Finnish ethnic origin but had been
living in these countries for years. Overall, this demographic profile of
15
Informed consent was obtained from all research participants. The research was carried
out at the University of Helsinki, in the framework of the project Climate Sustainability in
the Kitchen: Everyday Food Cultures in Transition (funded by the Kone Foundation).
According to the University of Helsinki research ethics policy (at the time of collecting the
empirical data), sociological qualitative research involving interviews with adults capable of
giving informed consent did not require approval by a research ethics committee.
18 K. AAVIK

the sample represents well the broader population of vegan men in

Estonia and Finland as well as in most Western countries.
When recruiting research participants, I sought to avoid essentialising
gender and relied on self-identification of gender, calling out for those
who identified as men (and as vegans). While those who identified with
the category “man” were asked to participate, the research participants
were however given opportunities during the interviews to question this
category and their relationship to it if they wished. While all the inter-
viewed men self-identified as vegans, the particular (and diverse) ways they
understood and practised veganism were explored in the interviews.
Recruiting research participants and establishing rapport with them
before and during the interviews was facilitated by my own long-time
veganism (since 2005) and participation in animal advocacy and vegan
activism, which I disclosed already in the call for research participants. My
own experience as a vegan enabled me to understand and relate to various
aspects of their veganism, reflected in my questions and comments in the
interviews. Also, in the course of the interviews, I sometimes shared my
own experiences as a vegan in response to the men’s accounts. Certainly,
this was conducive to the research participants opening up about their
vegan experience. Thus, in many ways, the emerging narratives were col-
laboratively produced (Gubrium & Holstein, 2009).
The average length of the interviews was 83 minutes. The topics
explored included the men’s experiences of transitioning to veganism,
what veganism means to them, their relationships with non-vegans, their
views on gender and masculinity in relation to veganism, and their health
and well-being. All interviews were recorded and transcribed. The inter-
views were analysed first using the key principles of thematic analysis
(Braun & Clarke, 2006), to identify the main themes and subthemes in
the data. The subsequent analysis made use of narrative approaches
(Gubrium & Holstein, 2009; Lawler, 2002), focusing on the stories men
told about becoming and living as vegans, as the interviews contained rich
and detailed information on the men’s vegan experience, often presented
in storied form.16 Through these narratives, the men made sense of their
veganism as well as produced their identities (on narrative identity, see
Ricoeur, 1991; McAdams et al., 2006; McAdams, 2011). Via recounting

16
Narratives are typically understood as “accounts which contain transformation (change
over time), some kind of ‘action’ and characters, all of which are brought together within an
overall ‘plot’” (Lawler, 2002, p. 242).
 1 INTRODUCTION: MEN, MASCULINITIES, AND THE CONSUMPTION… 19

their vegan transition and experience, the men signified “who they are for
themselves and for others” (McAdams et al., 2006, p. 4; see also Lawler,
2002). The analysis also includes interview material that does not follow a
typical narrative format but is nevertheless significant for making sense of
the research participants’ veganism.17 I have chosen, whenever possible, to
use interview extracts that contain stories, as these typically convey both
events and evaluation of these events, including emotions.
Interviews with the Finnish men were conducted in English and inter-
views with Estonian men in Estonian (except two interviews, which were
conducted in English, with men who did not speak Estonian). I have
translated the Estonian language interview excerpts used in the book into
English. In the quotes I use from the interviews, I refer to the research
participants using pseudonyms.
Research on vegan men and masculinities has primarily been conducted
in and about Anglo-American countries, with little scholarship on men’s
veganism in other parts of the world, such as Northern Europe. Despite the
overall small proportion of vegans among the Finnish and Estonian popula-
tions, veganism in both countries has become increasingly culturally visible.
Veganism has had a longer presence in Finland. Partly due to this, it is more
accepted as an identity and practice in Finland in contrast to Estonia, where
its reception, particularly by the medical and nutrition establishment,
remains more unfavourable (Aavik, 2018, 2019).18 Yet, veganism, and
also plant-based diets, are gradually becoming rapidly more accessible and
visible in Estonia, as evidenced by increasing media coverage, the availabil-
ity of a more diverse range of plant-based products (including in rural
shops), and the presence of vegan eateries. In terms of gender, the Finnish
society exhibits more egalitarian gender norms and relations than Estonia,
where anti-egalitarian masculinities are more predominant (Pajumets,

17
This broader approach to narratives also considers the so-called small stories which con-
tain “a gamut of under-represented and ‘a-typical’ narrative activities, such as tellings of
ongoing events, future or hypothetical events, shared (known) events, but also allusions to
tellings, deferrals of tellings, and refusals to tell” (Georgakopoulou, 2006, p. 130).
18
The reasons behind this institutional resistance to veganism include strong traditions of
meat and dairy production and consumption in Estonia, the entanglement of business inter-
ests (of meat and dairy companies) with the production of scientific knowledge on nutrition,
and reliance on outdated knowledge on plant-based nutrition in the training of medical doc-
tors and nutrition specialists (for more on this, see Aavik, 2018 and 2019).
20 K. AAVIK

2012), partly as a legacy of the Soviet past.19 In the European Institute for
Gender Equality (EIGE)‘s Gender Equality Index, Finland scores above the
EU average, occupying the fifth place, while Estonia remains below the EU
average, at 17th place (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2021). As
a commonality, in both countries, consuming animal products remains an
important element of doing masculinity for most men. Additionally, specific
to the geographical context, men may confront the narrative of the diffi-
culty of veganism in cold Nordic climates and the perceived necessity to
sustain oneself by consuming animal products.
While I do not conduct a systematic comparative analysis of men’s veg-
anism in Estonia and Finland in this book, I do contrast the Finnish and
Estonian men’s experiences where relevant. The purpose of including in
the sample research participants from these two countries was to gain a
more diverse picture of men’s veganism in Northern Europe and to under-
stand how men’s veganism is shaped by specific cultural and social con-
texts. While these cases exhibit several commonalities, they also feature
important geographical, historical, political, institutional, and other differ-
ences that shape men’s veganism in specific ways. The different gender
regimes and institutional and cultural reception of veganism in Finland
and Estonia are of particular importance for this study.

Outline of the Book

In offering detailed insight into the lived experiences of vegan men, each
of the chapters in this book focuses on a specific theme. The chosen themes
were among the key topics covered in the interviews. They are significant
in understanding and providing insight into men’s veganism and vegan
masculinity from gender and intersectional perspectives. As such, the
selected themes address debates or gaps in existing literature, including
how vegan men negotiate veganism in social interactions, the relationship
between vegan men, masculinities, emotions, and embodiment, as well as
links between men’s veganism and pursuits of social equality.
Chapter 2 examines the men’s process of becoming vegan and the sig-
nificance of this transition in their lives. I identify some key elements of
their vegan transition, including factors that facilitated this. The chapter
complicates typical representations of vegan transition experiences by

19
Estonia was part of the Soviet Union until 1991 when the country regained its
independence.
 1 INTRODUCTION: MEN, MASCULINITIES, AND THE CONSUMPTION… 21

demonstrating the importance of other elements beyond discursive rea-

soning and moral development. Rather, I argue that becoming vegan
should be seen as a material-discursive process. I consider how privilege
shapes men’s transition to veganism.
Given the somewhat contradictory existing definitions of veganism,
Chap. 3 takes a look at how vegan men understand veganism and, more
broadly, what veganism means for them in the context of their lives. Partly
stemming from the men’s somewhat varied paths to veganism, their con-
ceptualisations of veganism differed to some extent. I discuss these mean-
ings using ecofeminist approaches to care, typically not associated with
men’s lives and practices. I argue that for men in particular, veganism, as
an embodied and relational practice, offers the potential to engage in and
strengthen their sense and relationships of care.
Chapter 4 focuses on veganism as an embodied practice and considers
the significance of emotions and affects in the context of men’s veganism.
Historically, privileged Western white men in particular have seen them-
selves and have been depicted in cultural representations as disembodied
and unemotional. Using ecofeminist, new materialist, and posthumanist
approaches to men, masculinities, embodiments, and emotions, the chap-
ter troubles this still prevalent understanding by demonstrating how emo-
tionality and rationality are entangled in men’s vegan experience.
Chapters 5 and 6 share a similar conceptual framework, approaching
(men’s) veganism as a deeply social and relational phenomenon. Using the
notion of “doing veganism”, in Chap. 5, I present strategies and dilemmas
that vegan men face in communicating veganism to non-vegans. The
chapter builds on and aligns with the findings of previous research under-
lining difficulties that vegans often face in various social situations. In
these interactions, men attempted to appear non-confrontational, includ-
ing avoiding talking about veganism. They tended to rely on masculinised
facts and emphasised environmental aspects of veganism, over care and
empathy towards other animals, deeming these arguments to be more
effective. Thus, doing veganism is intertwined with doing gender. I dis-
cuss the implications of this communication strategy for the spread of
veganism and for ideals of masculinity. While Chap. 5 draws on the men’s
experiences with a wide range of social interactions mostly in the public
sphere (such as with colleagues in workplaces), Chap. 6 focuses on how
the men negotiate close relationships as vegans. Gender and, in particular,
masculinity shape these interactions, as relationships with non-vegan male
friends and relatives were the most difficult to manage.
22 K. AAVIK

In Chap. 7, I discuss vegan men’s gender and intersectional politics and

practices, that is, how vegan men understand and practise masculinity and
how veganism in their view links with gender and other social inequalities.
I identified two major and opposing positions on how veganism relates, or
rather, should relate, to the ideal of hegemonic masculinity: first, attempt-
ing to frame veganism as compatible with this cultural ideal and, second,
considering men’s veganism as a challenge to hegemonic masculinity.
While for some men veganism was part of a larger social justice agenda,
others did not explicitly make these links or outrightly dismissed them.
Despite these seemingly opposite discursive positions, however, I argue
that it is not easy to draw a distinct boundary and divide the men strictly
into two groups.
In the conclusions (Chap. 8), I discuss the main findings of the chapters
and their implications and introduce the notion of vegan masculinity. I
consider how vegan masculinity relates to other masculinities in the gen-
der system and examine it in the context of changing ideals of masculinity
in the Anthropocene. I argue that despite some limitations, vegan mascu-
linity could be a useful concept through which to make sense of men’s
veganism and discuss the potential of men’s veganism and vegan mascu-
linities to contest anthropocentric and inegalitarian masculinities. I end
the chapter by identifying limitations of this study and providing ideas for
future research on men, masculinities, and veganism.

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 CHAPTER 2

Going Vegan: Understanding Men’s Vegan

Transition Narratives

Introduction
In vegan communities as well as in broader cultural representations of
veganism, three themes or sets of motives—animal ethics, environmental
concerns, and personal health considerations—strongly dominate and are
often used as a shorthand to explain the decision to become vegan.
Previous research on vegans has also underlined these reasons (Fox &
Ward, 2008). In addition, a feeling of disgust about consuming nonhu-
man animals and a preference for the taste of plant-based foods feature
among the top reasons behind veganism (Humane Research Council,
2014, p. 6).
There is surprisingly little qualitative research exploring vegan transi-
tion experiences in more detail, including how vegans make sense of this
process (for exceptions, see Stephens Griffin, 2017; Giacoman et al.,
2021). Stephens Griffin (2017, p. 38), examining turning points in the
biographies of vegans based in the UK—particular life events and experi-
ences that are recognised in hindsight as significant in leading one to
become vegan—identified family relationships, religious upbringing, and
participation in a straight-edge subculture as such major shifts. Giacoman
et al. (2021), studying young people’s experiences of going vegan in

This chapter draws on my previous work on men’s veganism (see Aavik, 2021)

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 33

Switzerland AG 2023
K. Aavik, Contesting Anthropocentric Masculinities Through
Veganism, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-19507-5_2
34 K. AAVIK

Chile, identified five stages to this process: personal questioning, attempt-

ing to become vegetarian, adopting vegetarianism, becoming vegan, and
getting involved in activism. Going through these steps can be a profound
experience, involving a change in identity, as the authors of the study
suggest.
Previous research has not paid much attention to gender in studying
vegan transition experiences and little is known about (privileged) men’s
paths to veganism in particular. This chapter explores men’s vegan transi-
tion narratives. I identify factors that facilitate becoming vegan for (privi-
leged) men. As I demonstrate below, unlike in many popular representations,
where one makes a rational decision—typically for animal ethics, environ-
mental, and/or health reasons—to become vegan, the men’s narratives
suggest that this process is more complex, shaped by various intertwined
elements, including ideals and practices of masculinity. Understanding priv-
ileged men’s experiences of becoming vegan could be helpful in planning
and carrying out vegan outreach to similarly situated men specifically.

Key Features of Men’s Vegan Transition

For most research participants, becoming vegan did not occur abruptly
but was a longer and gradual process. It typically began with vegetarian-
ism, while only a few men quit the consumption of nonhuman animals
more quickly. In this section, I present some key themes in the men’s
vegan transition narratives that help to understand how and why they
became vegan.

“A triangle of reasons”: From One to Several Motivations

Behind Veganism
The three kinds of reasons behind veganism mentioned above—having to
do with concern over nonhuman animal lives, the environment/climate,
and one’s own health—were by far the most typical in my research partici-
pants’ transition narratives. In part, these themes act as powerful narrative
resources that the vegan men could draw on in making sense of their
vegan transition and identities and rendering these intelligible to others. It
was common for one or sometimes two of these concerns to be the initial
driver behind becoming vegan, but after practising veganism for a while,
more than one or all of these gradually became important reasons for the
men to live as vegan:
 2 GOING VEGAN: UNDERSTANDING MEN’S VEGAN TRANSITION NARRATIVES 35

Panu, 22, FIN: The ethical aspect turned me gradually to veganism. I just
couldn’t consume animal products anymore because I became aware of the hor-
rors and the suffering. So, first, it was all about ethics and then I became more
aware of the ecological consequences of animal consumption.

The theme of progressively expanding one’s awareness of different dimen-

sions of veganism was prominent in the narratives, upon becoming increas-
ingly immersed in information about veganism:

Lauri, 28, FIN: You could like draw this triangle of reasons which is like cli-
mate, animals and health. […] So, if you start from one end of the triangle,
you will always sort of like be gradually shifting to be more aware of the other
ends of the triangle. So, if you start from animal rights, you will always have
some sort of understanding about the climate and health and if you start from
climate, you will gradually start to think about animals and health.

While concern over one’s own health as a driver behind veganism is often
deemed in vegan and animal advocacy circles as a selfish reason that aligns
with neoliberal pursuits of individual well-being, removed from concerns
of animal suffering, and therefore “inauthentic” (Greenebaum, 2012), the
narratives suggest that initially adopting a plant-based diet for health rea-
sons could act as an entry point to developing a sense of care towards the
lives of nonhuman animals and a vegan ethos. Indeed, for many men,
concern for their own health subsequently assumed a secondary place,
overshadowed by a commitment to animal justice:

Timo, 38, FIN: First, it was only for my own health, but it really changed I
think already after being a vegetarian for half a year. It had drastically
changed to rather moral or ethical reasons … really feeling with the animals.

In describing his gradual development as a vegan, Timo highlights relat-

ing to other animals through emotions, an important element in the men’s
vegan transition, explored in more detail in Chap. 4. As these narratives
indicate, meanings of and motivations behind veganism can and do change
for vegans (see also Chap. 3) and therefore, in some sense, the vegan tran-
sition is never complete, as one can always expand their awareness of dif-
ferent dimensions of veganism.
36 K. AAVIK

“Snowball effect”: Becoming Immersed in Information

on Nonhuman Animal Exploitation and Veganism
An important theme in the men’s vegan transition narratives was their
gradual immersion in information on the ethical, environmental, and/or
health effects of human consumption of nonhuman animals. Typically, this
occurred through coming across and watching documentary films online,
but also books and video clips were mentioned. The films that the men
commonly cited are some of the most well-known critical documentaries
on farming and eating other animals, such as Earthlings (Monson, 2005),
Dominion (Delforce, 2018), Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret
(Anderson & Kuhn, 2014), and What the Health (Anderson & Kuhn,
2017). The first two are focused on animal ethics, the third on links
between intensive animal farming and environmental damage, and the
fourth on the health effects of animal and plant-based diets. The men’s
narratives indicate the importance of such (typically freely available online)
media, and these documentaries in particular, for the vegan transition.
Academic research on films promoting veganism and plant-based diets
underscores their cultural significance in shaping popular perceptions of
veganism (see Christopher et al., 2018)1 and the ways they facilitate the
vegan transition and popular interest in plant-based diets (see Middleton,
2015; Hartwell et al., 2022).
Engaging with this material was described as a process of discovering a
“hidden truth”. Coming across this material in the first place, however,
was commonly characterised as a rather random occurrence. Having
watched the first video clip, the men subsequently deliberately searched
for related information. Engagement with this further media led them to
become immersed in this material. This process was described by several as
“one thing leading to another”, or a snowball effect, described almost as
unstoppable and out of their control. In the course of engaging with this
material, knowledge about animal farming and veganism was gradually
accumulated:

Ilmari, 27, FIN: I watched like videos or documentaries. […] I started learn-
ing more and more about what happens in the dairy and egg industry. And

1
Christopher, Bartowski, and Haverda (2018) note how such films put forward somewhat
different and conflicting conceptualisations of veganism, such as a diet and a way to improve
one’s health versus what the authors term as holistic veganism, encompassing animal advo-
cacy, health, and environmental aspects.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
eyes with her own liquid eyes, and seemed ready to fall into his
arms, when I got up behind him and lighted a giant fire cracker and
put it under his chair and just as the fuse was sputtering, I said, “Pa,
ma wants you at the hotel,” and the fireworks went off, the woman
threw a fit and Pa raised up out of the smoke and looked at me and
said, “Now, where in hell did you come from just at this time?” and
the head waiter took the woman into a private room to bring her out
of her fit, the waiters opened the windows to let the smoke out, and
the crowd stampeded, and the police came in to pull the place and
find the anarchist who threw the bomb, and Pa took me by the hand
and we walked up the sidewalk to a corner, and when we got out of
sight of the crowd Pa said, “Hennery, your ma ain’t here, is she?” in
a pitiful tone, and I said no she wasn’t along with me this trip, and Pa
said, “Hennery, you make me weary,” and we walked along to the
hotel, Pa asking me so many questions about home that it was a like
a catekism.
 The Fireworks Went Off—the Woman Threw a Fit, and Pa
Raised Out of the Smoke.

When we got to the hotel and went to Pa’s room and I told him what I
had been doing since he abandoned me, he said he was proud of
me, and now he had plenty of work and adventure for me to keep
him in.
He said he had tried several airships, by having someone else go up
in them, and that he was afraid to go up in one himself, and he
seemed glad that I had been ballooning around home, and he said
he could use me to good advantage.
I asked him about the woman he was talking to about marriage, and
he said that was all guff, that she had a husband who had invented a
new airship, and he was trying to get title to it for use in America, for
war purposes, and that the only way to get on the right side of these
French women was to talk about marriage and money, because for
money any of them would leave their husbands on fifteen minutes’
notice. He said he had arranged for a trial of the airship the next day,
from a place out in the country, and that I could go up with the
inventor of the ship and see how it worked and report, so we went to
bed and I slept better than I had since I shipped on the cattle ship.
In the morning while we were taking baths and preparing for
breakfast, I found that Pa had been flying pretty high on government
money, and he had all kinds of gold and paper money and bonds,
and he made people think he owned most of America.
Pa asked me how the people at home looked upon his absence, and
if they advanced any theories as to the cause of his being abroad,
and I told him that everybody from the President down to Rockefeller
knew about what he was out looking after, and that when I left Bob
Evans at Fortress Monroe he told me to tell Pa to send a mess of
airships to him so he would meet them when he got to San
Francisco, as he wanted to paralyze the Japs if they got busy around
the fleet, which pleased Pa, and he said, “Just tell the people to wait,
and I will produce airships that can fight battles in the clouds, but it
will take time.”
Then we went out in the country about a dozen miles, and met the
inventor and his wife, and the inventor filled a big balloon that looked
like a weiner sausage with gas that he made over a fire out in a field,
and the inventor and I got on a bamboo frame under the balloon, and
he turned on the gasoline that runs the wheel for steering, and they
cut her loose and we went up about fifty feet and sailed around the
country a half mile either way and watched Pa and the wife of the
inventor as they sat under a tree and talked politics.
We came back after a while and Pa was proud of me for having so
much nerve, and I told him the government at home was
complaining because Pa didn’t go up in the airships, cause they said
he couldn’t buy airships intelligently unless he tried them out, and
that if he didn’t look out they would send some expert out to take his
place and spend the money, and as we were landed on the ground I
dared Pa to get on the frame and go up with us for a little spin, and
he was afraid the woman would think he was a coward if he didn’t,
so he got up and straddled the ridge pole of the bamboo frame, and
said he would take a whirl at it if it killed him. The balloon thing
couldn’t quite lift all of us, so I got off and give her a lift, and up she
went with the inventor steering, and Pa hanging on for dear life and
saying, “Now I lay me down to sleep.”

Up She Went with the Inventor Steering, and Pa Hanging On

for Dear Life.
I have seen some scared men in my life, but when the machine got
up about as high as a house, so Pa couldn’t get off, and the woman
waved a handkerchief at Pa, he swallowed his Adam’s apple and
said, “Let her go Gallagher,” and Gallagher, the Frenchman, let her
go.
Well, you’d a died to see the thing wobble and see Pa cling on with
his feet and hands. For about a quarter of a mile she went queer, like
a duck that has been wing-tipped, and then she began to descend.
First she passed over a lot of cows that women were milking, and
the cows stampeded one way and the women the other way, and the
women were scared more than the cows, cause when they got out
from under the ship they prayed, but the cows didn’t.
Then the ship struck a field where about forty women were piling
onions on the ground, and it just scattered women and onions all
over the field, and of all the yelling you ever heard that was the
worst.
Pa yelled to them that if he ever got off that hay rack alive he would
pay the damages, and he thought he was swearing at them. Then
the worst thing possible happened. The airship went up over a tree,
and Pa was scared and he grabbed a limb and let go of the bamboo,
and there he was in the top of a thornapple tree. The balloon went
over all right, and the inventor steered it away to where it started
from, and the woman and I watched Pa. The thorns were about two
inches long and more than a hundred of them got into Pa and he
yelled all kinds of murder, and then the women who owned the cows
and onions the ship had wrecked surrounded the tree with hoes and
rakes and pitchforks, and they made such a frantic noise that Pa did
not dare to come down out of the tree. So Pa told us to take the train
back to Paris and send the American Consul and the police and a
hook and ladder company to get him down and protect him.
I told Pa I didn’t want to go off and leave him to be killed by strange
women, and maybe eaten by wolves before morning, but he said,
“Don’t talk back to me, you go and send that patrol wagon and the
hook and ladder truck, and be quick about it or I won’t do a thing to
you when I catch you.”
So we went and put the airship in a barn and went back to town and
turned in a police and fire alarm to rescue Pa. The chief said there
was no use in going out there in the country before morning,
because the women couldn’t get up the thornapple tree and Pa
couldn’t get down. So I went to bed and dreamed about Pa all night,
and had a perfectly lovely time.
 CHAPTER X.
Pa Had the Hardest Time of His Life in Paris—Pa Drinks Some Goat
Milk Which Gives Him Ptomaine Poison in His Inside Works—Pa
Attends the Airship Club in the Country—Pa Draws on American
Government for $10,000.

Pa has had the hardest time of his life in Paris, and if I ever pitied a
man it was Pa.
You see that last fly in the airship pretty near caused him to cash in
his chips and go over the long road to the hereafter, cause he got
blood poison from the thorns that run into him where he landed in the
top limbs of the thorn apple tree, and he sprained his arm and one
hind leg while being taken down with a derrick, and then before we
left the country town for Paris he drank some goat’s milk, which gave
him ptomaine poison in his inside works, and a peasant woman who
sewed up his pants where they were torn on the tree pricked him
with a needle, and he swelled up so he was unable to sit in a car
seat, and his face was scratched by the thorns of the tree, and there
were blotches all over him, so when we got to Paris the health
officers thought he had smallpox and sent him to a pest house, and
they wouldn’t let me in, but vaccinated me and turned me loose, and
I went to the hotel and told about where Pa was and all about it, and
they put our baggage in a sort of oven filled with sulphur and
disinfected it and stole some of it, and they made me sleep in a dog
kennel, and for weeks I had to keep out of sight, until Pa was
discharged from the hospital, and the friends of Pa out at the airship
club in the country got Pa’s airship that he bought for a government
out of the tree and took it to the club and presented a bill for two
hundred dollars, and I only had seven dollars, so they held it for
ransom.
Gee, but I worried about Pa!
Well, one day Pa showed up at the hotel looking like he had been in
a railroad wreck, and he was so thin his clothes had to be pinned up
with safety pins, and he had spent all his money and was bursted.
The man who hired Pa in Washington to go abroad and buy airships
for the government told Pa to use his own money for a month or two
and then draw on the secretary of the treasury for all he needed, so
before Pa went to the hospital he drew on his government for ten
thousand dollars, and when he came back there was a letter for him
from the American consul in Paris telling him to call at the office, so
Pa went there and they arrested him on the charge of skull dugging.
They said he had no right to draw for any money on the government
at Washington. Pa showed his papers with the big seal on, and the
consul laughed in Pa’s face, and Pa was hot under the collar and
wanted to fight, but they showed him that the papers he had were no
good, and that he had been buncoed by some fakir in Washington,
who got five hundred dollars from Pa for securing him a job as
government agent, and all his papers authorized him to do was to
travel at his own expense and to buy all the airships he wanted to
with his own money, and Pa had a fit. All the money he had spent
was a dead loss, and all he had to show for it was a punctured
airship, which he was afraid to ride in.
Pa swore at the government, at the consul and at the man who
buncoed him, and they released him from arrest when he promised
that he would not pose any more as a government agent, and we
went back to the hotel.
“Well, this is a fine scrape you have got me in,” says Pa, as we went
to our room. “What in thunder did I have to do about it?” says I, just
like that. “I wasn’t with you when you framed up this job and let a
man in Washington skin you out of your money by giving you a soft
snap which has exploded in your hands. Gee, Pa, what you need is
a maid or a valet or something that will hold on to your wad.” Pa said
he didn’t need anybody to act as a guardian to him, cause he had all
the money he needed in his letter of credit to the American Express
Company in Paris, and he knew how to spend his money freely, but
he did hate to be buncoed and made the laughing stock of two
continents.
So Pa and I went down to the express office, and Pa gave the man
in charge a paper, and the grand hailing sign of distress, and he
handed out bags of gold and bales of bills, and Pa hid a lot in his
leather belt and put some in his pockets, and said: “Come on, Henry,
and we will see this town and buy it if we like it.”
Well, we went out after dark and took in the concert halls and things,
and Pa drank wine and I drank nothing but ginger ale, and women
who waited on us sat in Pa’s lap and patted his bald head and tried
to feel in his pockets, but Pa held on to their wrists and told them to
keep away, and he took one across his knee and slapped her across
the pajamas with a silver tray, and I thought Pa was real saucy.
A head waiter whispered to me and wanted to know what ailed the
old sport, and I told him Pa was bitten by a wolf in our circus last
year and we feared he was going to have hydrophobia, and always
when these spells come on the only thing to do was to throw him into
a tank of water, and I should be obliged to them if they would take Pa
and duck him in the fountain in the center of the cafe and save his
life.
Pa was making up with the girl he had paddled with the silver tray,
buying champagne for her and drinking some of it himself out of her
slipper, when the head waiter called half a dozen Frenchmen who
were doing police duty and told them to duck Pa in the fountain, and
they grabbed him by the collar and the pants and made him walk
turkey towards the fountain, and he held on to the girl, and the
Frenchmen threw Pa and the girl into the brink with a flock of ducks,
and they went under water, and Pa came up first yelling murder, and
then the girl came up hanging to Pa’s neck, and she gave a French
yell of agony, and Pa gave the grand hailing sign of distress and
yelled to know if there was not an American present that would
protect an American citizen from the hands of a Paris mob. The
crowd gathered around the circular fountain basin, and one drunken
fellow jumped in the water and was going to hold Pa’s head under
water while the girl found his money, when Pa yelled “Hey, Rube,”
the way they do in a circus when there is a fight, and by ginger it
wasn’t a second before half a dozen old circus men that used to
belong to the circus when Pa was manager in the States made a
rush for the fountain, knocked the Frenchmen gally west and pulled
Pa out of the water and let him drain off, and they said, “Hello, old
man, how did you happen to let them drown you?” and Pa saw who
the boys were and he hugged them and invited them to all take
something and then go to his hotel.
When Pa paid the check for the drinks they charged in two ducks
they said Pa killed in the tank by falling on them. But Pa paid it and
was so tickled to meet the old circus boys that he gave the girl he
went in swimming with a twenty franc note, and after staying until
along towards morning we all got into and on top of a hack and went
to the hotel and sat up till daylight talking things over.
We found the Circus boys were on the way to Germany to go with
the Hagenbach outfit to South Africa to capture Wild Animals for
circuses, and when Pa told the boss, who was one of Hagenbach’s
managers, about his airship and what a dandy thing it would be to
sail around where the lions and tigers live in the Jungle, and lasso
them from up in the air, out of danger, he engaged Pa and me to go
along, and I guess we will know all about Africa pretty soon.
The next day we went out to the club where Pa keeps his airship,
with the boss of Hagenbach’s outfit and a cowboy that used to be
with Pa’s circus, to practice lassoing things. They got out the
machine and Pa steered it, and the boss and I were passengers, and
the cowboy was on the railing in front with his lariat rope, and we
sailed along about fifty feet high over the farms, until we saw a big
goat. The cowboy motioned for Pa to steer towards the goat, and
when we got near enough the cowboy threw the rope over the goat’s
horns and tightened it up, and Mr. Goat came right along with us,
bleating and fighting. We led the goat about half a mile over some
fences, and finally came down to the ground to examine our catch,
and we landed all right, and Hagenbach’s boss said it was the
greatest scheme that ever was for catching wild animals, and he
doubled Pa’s salary and said we would pack up the next day and go
to the Hagenbach farm in Germany and take a steamer for South
Africa in a week.
They were talking it over and the cowboy had released the goat,
when that animal made a charge with his head on our party. He
struck Pa below the belt, butted the boss in the trousers until he laid
down and begged for mercy, stabbed the cowboy with his horns and
then made a hop, skip and jump for the gas bag, burst a hole in it,
and when the gas began to escape the goat’s horns got caught in
the gas bag and the goat died from the effects of the gas, and we
were all glad until about fifty peasant women came across the fields
with agricultural implements and were going to kill us all.
Pa said, “Well, what do you know about that,” but the women were
fierce and wanted our blood. The boss could talk French, and he
offered to give them the goat to settle it, but they said it was their
goat any way, and they wanted blood or damages.
Pa said it was easier to give damages than blood, and just as they
were going to cut up the gas bag the boss settled with them for
about twenty dollars, and hired them to haul the airship to the
nearest station, and we shipped it to Berlin and got ready to follow
the next day.
Pa says we will have a high old time in Africa. He says he wants to
ride up to a lion’s den in his airship and dare the fiercest lion to come
out and fight, and that he wouldn’t like any better fun than to ride
over a royal bengal tiger in the jungle and reach down and grab his
tail and make him synawl like a tom cat on a fence in the alley.
He talks about riding down a herd of elephants and picking out the
biggest ones and roping them; and the way Pa is going to scare
rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses and make them bleat like calves
is a wonder.
I think Pa is the bravest man I ever saw, when he tells it, but I
noticed when we had that goat by the horns and he was caught in a
barbed wire fence, so the airship had to slow down until he came
loose, Pa turned as pale as a sheet, and when the goat bucked him
in the stomach Pa’s lips moved as though in praying. Well, anyway,
this trip to Africa to catch wild animals is going to show what kind of
sand there is in all of us.
 CHAPTER XI.
The Boy and His Pa Leave France and Go to Germany, Where They
Buy an Airship—They Get the Airship Safely Landed—Pa and the
Boy With the Airship Start for South Africa—Pa Shows the Men
What Power He Has Over the Animal Kingdom.

I was awful glad to get out of France and into Germany, and when
we had got the airship safely landed at the Hagenbach stock farm
and boxed and baled ready to load on a boat for South Africa, and all
hands had drank a few schooners of beer, and felt brave enough to
tackle any wild animal that walks the earth, I listened to the big talk
and the gestures, though I couldn’t understand a word they said,
except when they held up their fingers for more beer.
I felt that we had got among Americans again, because all a German
needs to be an American is to be able to talk a little broken English.
The French are all right in their way, but they are too polite. If a
Frenchman wants to order you out of his place he is so polite about it
that you think he wants you to stay there always and be at home.
If a German wants you to get out he says “Rouse” in a hoarse voice,
and if you don’t rouse he gives you a swift kick in the pants and you
instinctively catch on to the fact that you are due some other place.
The Germans that are with us on the animal hunt in South Africa all
speak English, and while at the Hagenbach farm Pa convinced
everybody that he was the bravest animal man in the world, “cause
he would go up to any cage where the animals had been tamed and
act as free with them as though he did not know fear,” and he went
around in his shirt sleeves the way he used to in the circus, and
would pat a lion on the head, and if the animal growled Pa would
scowl at him and make the lion believe Pa was king of beasts.
Pa has found that putting on a pair of automobile goggles and
getting down on his hands and knees and crawling towards the
animal in captivity frightens the animal into a fit, but I guess when he
tries that stunt on wild animals on the veldt of Africa he will find it
does not work so well.
I expect to have to bring Pa back the way they transport canned
sausage, after a few wild lions and tigers and hippopotamuses have
used him for a cud to chew on.
Before we took the steamer for South Africa I had the first serious
talk with Pa that I have had since I joined him in Paris. I said, “Pa,
don’t you think this idea of chasing wild animals in Africa with an
airship is going to be a sort of a dangerous proposition?” and Pa
began to look brave, and he said, “Hennery, this is an age of
progress, and we have to get out of the rut, and catch up with the
procession and lead it. The old way of capturing wild animals by
enticing them into baited traps and letting them touch a spring and
imprison themselves is about as dangerous as catching mice in a
wire trap with a piece of cheese for bait.
“Of course, we shall take along all of the traps and things usually
used for that purpose, because roping animals from an airship is
only an experiment, and we want to be on the safe side, but if the
airship proves a success I will be considered the pioneer in airship
wild animal capturing, and all animal men will bow down to your Pa,
see, and my fortune will be made. We will get into the animal country
and locate a few lions and tigers, first, and sail over their lairs in the
jungle, and while I hold the steering apparatus our cowboys will sit
on the bamboo rails of the ship and throw the rope over their necks,
and when they find we have got them where the hair is short they will
lie down and bleat like a calf, and when we dismount and go up to
them to tie their legs they will be so tame they will eat out of your
hand.
“I have got it all figured out in my mind and I don’t want you or
anybody else to butt in with any discouraging talk, for I won’t have it.”
“But suppose the airship gets caught in a tree?” I said to Pa. “Well,
then, we will tie up and catch baboons,” said Pa. “Everything goes
with your Pa, Hennery.”
Well, it was like moving a circus to get the stuff loaded for South
Africa, as we had more than fifty cages to put animals in to bring
home, and tents and food enough for an arctic expedition, and over
two hundred men, and several tame lionesses and female tigers to
use for decoys, and some elephants for Judases to rope in the wild
animals, and when we got started it was more than a week before
we struck the coast of Africa, and all there was to do on the trip was
to play poker and practice on the tame animals.
We almost lost a tame lioness. Pa wanted to show the men what
power he had over the animal kingdom and he induced the manager
to turn Carrie Nation, the big lioness, loose on deck, while Pa put on
his auto goggles and scared her. Gee, but I thought I was an orphan
for sure. The boys had trained that lioness to be a retriever, like a
water spaniel, and on every trip some of the boys would jump
overboard when there was no sea on and let Carrie jump over the
rail and rescue them, so when they let her out she thought there was
going to be a chance for her to get her regular salt water bath, and
that it was expected that she would do her stunt at rescuing a human
being.
When she was let out of her cage and the crowd was lined up all
around the rail, and she saw Pa in the middle of the deck, on all
fours, with the black goggles on, she looked around at the crowd of
her friends as much as to say, “What is the joke?” but she sidled up
to Pa and lashed her tail around and began to play with Pa as a
kitten would play with a ball of yarn.
She put her paw on Pa and rolled him over, and when Pa got right
side up and crawled towards her looking fierce, she side stepped
and cuffed him on the jaw and everybody laughed except Pa.
Then Pa thought he would make a grandstand play and drive her
back in her cage, and he started towards her real fast on his hands
and knees, and gave a “honk-honk” like an auto, and we thought she
was scared, but I guess she wasn’t frightened so you would notice it,
for she jumped sideways and got around behind Pa, and I said, “Sick
him, Carrie,” and by gosh she grabbed Pa by the slack of his pants
and made a rush for the railing, and before I could grab her by the
tail she jumped right overboard with Pa in her mouth, and landed
kersplash in the deep blue sea, with Pa yelling to the men to take her
off.

Pa Gave a “Honk, Honk” Like an Auto, But the Lion Wasn’t

Frightened So You Would Notice.

We all rushed to the rail, and I began to cry, but the boys told me not
to be scared, as Carrie would bring Pa to the yawl all right.
The men launched a life boat and the lioness was swimming around
with Pa in her teeth, as though she was a dog with a rag doll in its
mouth.
Pa was swallowing salt water and saying something that sounded
like “Now I lay me,” and Carrie was trying to keep his head out of the
water by lifting hard on his pants, and finally the life boat got near
them and they grabbed Pa by the legs and pulled him in and he laid
down in the bottom of the boat, and the lioness climbed over the side
and began to shake herself, and then she licked the salt water off,
and when the boat came alongside she jumped up on the deck and
rolled over and turned somersaults, and then they pulled Pa on deck
and when he got his sea legs on he said to the manager of the
expedition and the captain of the boat, “Gentlemen, I have rescued
your lion, and I claim salvage, and you can give me credit for
whatever she is worth as a show animal,” and then Carrie went to
her cage, and everybody patted Pa on the back and made him think
he had saved a thousand-dollar lion from drowning.
Pa asked me to accompany him to our stateroom, and when the
door was closed and he saw my tear-stained face, he said, “You
think you are dam smart, don’t you? I heard you say sick him to that
old moth-eaten lion, and now don’t you ever interfere with my plans
again. I got that lion so frightened by my fierce look, and the noise I
made, that she jumped overboard, and I went along to save her.
Now, help me off with my clothes and rub me down, and I will go out
and chase a tiger round the deck, and make it climb up into the
rigging and beg to be taken down. That is the kind of a man your Pa
is,” and Pa began to shuck himself, and I rubbed him down as if he
was a race horse. I can see that when we come to the wild animal
fields Pa is going to astonish the natives.
We landed at a port in South Africa in the night, and before morning
we had all our stuff on a special train and about daylight we pulled
out for a place about three hundred miles from the coast, and the
next day we were in camp with the tents all up and the cages in
place, and had engaged two hundred negroes with no clothes on to
help us.
When they saw the airship spread out ready to be filled with gas
when we got ready to use it, some of them deserted, but we got
others to take their places.
I suppose when we fill that gas bag with chemical gas and it begins
to flop around, there won’t be a negro left in Africa.
We were in wild animal country all right. The first night the lions in
the jungle kept us awake, and Carrie Nation answered every time
the wild lions bellowed, until Pa had to go and maul her with a
bamboo club.
The next morning there were lion tracks all around camp, and Pa
says the trouble is going to be that the lions will hunt us instead of
our having to go after them.
A drove of zebras stampeded by our camp the first morning, a
couple of giraffes were looking us over from a hill top, and a
rhinoceros went through the camp and stole a smoked ham.
Pa is so scared he stays in his tent most of the time and shivers. He
says he has got chills and fever, but I can tell when a man’s heart
comes up in his mouth, and chokes him.
I told him this morning that if he showed the white feather now it was
all off with him, and the Hagenbach’s would leave him in Africa to be
adopted by a tribe. Pa said, “You watch me when we get to catching
animals. I will make any animal that crosses my path think he has
run into a live wire.”
Well, I hope Pa will not be a coward.
 CHAPTER XII.
All Kinds of Climates in South Africa—Pa Hires Men to Capture Wild
Animals—The Boy and His Pa Capture Some Tigers and a Big Lion
—They Have a Narrow Escape from a Rhinoceros.

I don’t know whether I like the climate of South Africa or not, but you
can have any kind of climate you are looking for, from the Alaska
kind to the tropical kind, the same day.
I think it is the climate that makes all the animals so mad. One
minute a lion or a tiger may be lolling with his tongue out, fighting
flies and scratching fleas, and the next minute there are icicles on his
moustache, and he has to crawl into a hole in the ground to keep
from freezing.
These natives beat me. They do not wear any clothes except a doily,
made of bark or grass, over their loins, and from the doily, above and
below, their skin is bare, and they ought to be arrested for disorderly
conduct and exposure, but their skin is thick and warty like a
rhinoceros, and when it freezes it looks like pickled pigs’ feet.
One man we have hired to help capture animals is a native chief with
sixty wives, and he has brought them all to camp with him, and we
have to feed them, and it is rumored the women all have their caps
set for Pa, if the husband dies, and Pa is afraid they will kill their old
man and select Pa to fill the vacancy, that being the unwritten law
that a man’s wives can select a husband.
Gee, if I had to be a stepson to all those sixty senegambians that
look like monkeys in the face and when on dress parade like oxen, I
should die, or they would, if I could find chloroform enough to go
around.
Well, Pa is trying his best to save the life of that husband of the sixty
wives, and every time one of the wives pats Pa on the back or
chucks him under the chin he has a chill, and I know he will do
something desperate if they get after him in flocks.
I suppose I ought not to have done it, but I told one of the wives who
understands a little English that Pa liked to be hugged and
squeezed, and held on the girls’ laps, so when we get through work
at night and sit around the camp fire they take turns holding Pa on
their laps, and he thinks one of the women broke one of his ribs
hugging him, cause they are strong as giants, and have a terrible
squeeze.
I told one of them she could make herself solid with Pa if she could
get him a nice long snake, so she went off into the jungle alone and
came back dragging a snake more than twenty feet long, and put it
in Pa’s tent when he was asleep. When Pa woke up in the morning
and found the snake coiled upon his blanket he threw a fit and went
to the doctor and got some medicine for chills and fever, and we put
the snake into a cage to sell to a menagerie.