The KInd Life Community Forum

That's interesting, Karincita. I've never met any men who became veg*n in order to lose weight. In most cultural contexts, you'll end up confronting the assumption that virility is somehow tied to meat-eating (word of the week = "Carnism"). The reality is that men have to deal with snide insinuations about their masculinity no matter what choices they make (and no matter which continent they live on, etc.). Kids in a schoolyard will ridicule the tallest kid for being tall, and the shortest kid for being short, and so on. Your husband was probably dealing with insults for being fat back when he was fat, and he may now deal with snide remarks about being thin. I remember a white guy complaining to me that he didn't like being in Cambodia because he was ridiculed for having long hair; I asked him, simply, if he assumed he would be ridiculed any less if he shaved his head bald. People who want to insult you will find some pretext to do so. Honestly, I think that your husband would be dealing with insults of this kind (one way or another) no matter what choices he made in life. The only choice you've got is of whether or not you feel that you're doing something that's worth being insulted for. In an earlier message I tried to suggest that it is much more useful to pose the difficulties (for an audience of men) in terms of a positive challenge (i.e., something difficult but worthwhile) rather than presenting it as easy or a minor choice that won't significantly change them.