Meatless masculinity: Examining profiles of male veg*n eating motives and their relation to gendered self-concepts

Meat is a food item that is often associated with masculinity. Considering this gender stereotype, research on vegan and vegetarian (veg*n) eating motives has focused on how distinct motives relate to stereotypes of masculinity and femininity. Quantitative studies examining how masculinity and femininity are integrated into the self-concept of these eaters are lacking to date. Moreover, investigators have largely tested the effects of motives in isolation, neglecting the possibility of different motivational profiles that relate differently to gendered self-concepts. The current study adopted a person-centred approach using cluster analysis to identify motivational profiles of self-identified veg*n males, thereby testing whether these profiles differ on dimensions of positive and negative masculinity and femininity. Self-reported data were collected via an online survey among people self-identifying as male and following a vegan or vegetarian dietary pattern (N = 738; 79.8% vegans). A k-means cluster analysis revealed three motivational profiles (n1= 439, 59.5%, ‘equally-balanced’; n2 = 254, 34.4%, ‘ethical-environmental’; n3= 45, 6.1%, ‘moderately-health’). Unique differences emerged in gendered self-concepts tied to all veg*n eating motive profile memberships: Equally-balanced motivated eaters perceived themselves to possess the most positive stereotypical feminine attributes, while moderately-health motivated eaters described themselves with the least of these attributes. Veg*n eaters did not differ on any of the other dimensions of femininity and masculinity. The present study demonstrates that a cluster analysis supplies important information on what combinations of eating motives veg*n males report and how those relate to differences in gendered self-concepts of veg*n eaters.