The yin-yang stereotype-mixed veg-omni relationships

Second Summer

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 26, 2012
Reaction score
8,598
Location
Oxfordshire, UK
Lifestyle
  1. Vegan
SHE: Sensitive, compassionate, as well as emotional and irrational, in a cute and funny way. No real job, spends time doing yoga and beautifying herself. Is a vegetarian and friend of all cute animals.
HIM: Analytical. Has a boring, but well paid job. Drinks beer, watches sports, eats meat ...

I was going to use the TV show Dharma and Greg as evidence of this stereotype, but it turns out Dharma was no vegetarian, just a "flower child". Phoebe in Friends would perhaps qualify. Well, I can't think of any good examples right now, but I still feel that this is a typical portrayal of veg-omni relationships. I guess the idea is that opposites attract.

While I find this stereotype offensive and more than a little annoying because it makes veg*ism out to be a mainly womanly pursuit, it does seem that these kinds of relationships (female veg*an + male omni) completely outnumber the opposite configuration (male veg*an + female omni). Of course, this probably has a very natural explanation, namely that for cultural reasons, women tend to do most of the cooking, so any male veg*n with an omni female partner will soon be turned omni.

Thoughts?
 
It's the other way around for two couples I know, but both men are really good cooks, along with their wives, so I guess the cooking factor might have something to do with it, at least in the cases I know about. I also know a couple of single male vegetarians who also happen to be wonderful cooks.
 
SHE: Sensitive, compassionate, as well as emotional and irrational, in a cute and funny way. No real job, spends time doing yoga and beautifying herself. Is a vegetarian and friend of all cute animals.
HIM: Analytical. Has a boring, but well paid job. Drinks beer, watches sports, eats meat ...

I was going to use the TV show Dharma and Greg as evidence of this stereotype, but it turns out Dharma was no vegetarian, just a "flower child". Phoebe in Friends would perhaps qualify. Well, I can't think of any good examples right now, but I still feel that this is a typical portrayal of veg-omni relationships. I guess the idea is that opposites attract.

While I find this stereotype offensive and more than a little annoying because it makes veg*ism out to be a mainly womanly pursuit, it does seem that these kinds of relationships (female veg*an + male omni) completely outnumber the opposite configuration (male veg*an + female omni). Of course, this probably has a very natural explanation, namely that for cultural reasons, women tend to do most of the cooking, so any male veg*n with an omni female partner will soon be turned omni.

Thoughts?

Not entirely organised thoughts:

Some of those tropes/stereotypes are common portrayals of women in general in the media (irrational, emotional, spends time on her appearance, not career-motivated).

Phoebe from 'Friends' does somewhat fit your criteria, although I'm not sure her husband Mike fits other half of your theory.

Dr. Brennan and Seeley Booth from 'Bones' is an example of a veg-omni relationship, but it doesn't fit the stereotype at all... Can't say I've ever consciously observed what you're describing.
 
Of course, this probably has a very natural explanation, namely that for cultural reasons, women tend to do most of the cooking, so any male veg*n with an omni female partner will soon be turned omni.

Based on my own experience, I doubt that.

I take veganism here as an example, as I can relate to that.
In my opinion, if you are vegan but turn omni again because it is *so* difficult to cook your own meal, well, then your conviction likely was not very strong in the first place.
 
In my "real" life, I know of only *one* vegetarian male + omni female couple. They soon ended up as an omni + omni couple, even though the guy had been vegetarian for a long time.

Besides Andy, are there *anyone* here in a veg*n male + omni female relationship? And how many in the opposite configuration? I do think that part of the stereotype has some merit, but the yin-yang aspect is (hopefully) entirely fictional.

I'm also curious what the stats are for single male vs female veg*ns. My hypothesis is that males are much more often single.
 
I guess we both have the challenge that we only have very small sample sizes that we can draw our experiences from ... so not very much statistically valid....
 
It seems to me that the number of females who are veg*n is significantly higher than the number of males who are. (Likewise, the number of women engaged in grass roots animal rescue work is very significantly higher than the number of men.) Based on that alone, given the drive to be part of a couple, it's to be expected that there will be significantly more "mixed" couples where the female is veg*n but the male is not. Added to that, since compassion is an expected female trait but considered to be less acceptable in a male, I would expect female veg*ns to have an easier time finding/being accepted by an omni partner than male veg*ns would have being accepted by a female partner.
 
I definitely don't think that most vegetarians or vegans act like Phoebe from Friends.:rolleyes: I think they made her character deliberately kooky because vegetarianism was less mainstream in the 1990's.

I was actually reading this old article a few days ago. 84% of vegetarians go back to eating meat again | Daily Mail Online Apparently one survey has a large majority of veg people as women, with 74 per cent of vegetarians and 69 per cent of vegans female. Just from my own experience I would have thought there were more female vegetarians than male but that vegans would be more equally split.
 
Apparently one survey has a large majority of veg people as women, with 74 per cent of vegetarians and 69 per cent of vegans female. Just from my own experience I would have thought there were more female vegetarians than male but that vegans would be more equally split.

it depends on how long people in a sample have been veg*n. Some may take it up for a year and then drop it; others take it up for longer. Maybe you have mainly met people who have been veg for a longer time....:shrug:
 
I am always suspecting that those studies of ex-vegans and ex-vegetarians also contain those that, at one point in their life, did not eat meat for a week and found it was too hard to stick to it...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Danielle
it depends on how long people in a sample have been veg*n. Some may take it up for a year and then drop it; others take it up for longer. Maybe you have mainly met people who have been veg for a longer time....:shrug:

I am always suspecting that those studies of ex-vegans and ex-vegetarians also contain those that, at one point in their life, did not eat meat for a week and found it was too hard to stick to it...

Yes, I think my perception is skewed because I've lived in London for so long. I have known people who said that they went vegetarian for a very short time (like a week or something!) but found it too difficult so if you include all those people I can understand why the stats are so high for failed vegetarians.
 
I am 13 years into the vegetarian/vegan journey, married 44 years to an omni, who will sneak some of my vegan food but, mostly, won’t admit any of it is good.

Personally, I don’t understand the fear people have, with regard to trying/liking vegan food.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Skylark
I haven't met that many veg*n men in comparison to veg*n women, so most of the mixed couples I've seen have been veg*n woman and omni male. I do know a vegetarian guy who dated an omni woman, though they recently broke up (not over that).

My omni man doesn't quite fit the stereotype, probably because we're also an inter-cultural couple. He works in construction, loves his meat, and likes to go fishing. But he would rather eat sushi than steak, and he watches martial arts movies instead of sports. He's pretty open to vegetarian/vegan food and actually really likes the vegan nut "cheese" that we tried at restaurant. The only thing he gets squeamish about is fermented foods.

Oh, and he isn't weirded out by tofu at all. He actually prefers soy milk over cow milk ... he has been drinking it since before I even met him.

ETA: Ohhh, my brother perfectly fits the male stereotype! He is an omni and has been seeing a vegetarian woman for about a year now. He goes fishing, watches hockey, loves his red meat, likes his beer, etc. He has made fun of my tofurkey and other veg*n foods for as long as I can remember, so I find it amusing that he's dating a vegetarian now. He now talks about stuff like how he tried barbecuing veggie dogs this summer. Haha.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: PTree15 and Val
I'm a vegan male and my wife is an omni female. It would actually be hard for her to become vegan because her stomach is sensitive to beans and she can only eat them a couple of days on the trot. Also she is addicted to cheese and the vegan version makes her sick. She still likes trying out my vegan cooking though. :)