Ban all meat-eating men from having sex because their love of pork is killing the planet, animal rights group demands

21 September 2022, 21:46 | Updated: 24 September 2022, 08:29

Stop men who eat meat from having sex because their consumption is killing the planet, animal rights group Peta has demanded.

Its German branch called for women to start a "sex strike to save the world" in response to the "toxic masculinity" of men who enjoy eating beef, pork and poultry, and called for an eye-watering "meat tax".

Daniel Cox, Peta Germany's campaigns team leader, said: "We all know them, the suburban fathers with beer bottles and barbecue tongs, sizzling 70c sausages on their €700 grill.

"The courgette added by the visitor is eyed with suspicion and only reluctantly tolerated.

"The fact that Germany's 'grill masters' believe they have to prove their masculinity to themselves and their fellow species through their consumption of meat is not only to the detriment of the animals, however.

"Now there is scientific proof that toxic masculinity also harms the climate. Therefore, a hefty meat tax of 41 per cent for men would be appropriate.

"A ban on sex or procreation for all meat-eating men would also be purposeful in this context.”

Alicia Kearns Conservative MP on PETA's sex strike

Peta cited research saying men cause 41% more greenhouse gas emissions compared to women, largely due to meat consumption.

It also said every baby that is not born would save the equivalent of 58.6 tonnes of CO2 annually as it promoted the idea of a non-vegetarian man sex ban.

The ideas were dismissed by politicians from the Christian Social Union party, which until the recent German elections had been part of Angela Merkel's government.

Alois Rainer, an MP from the party who is a master butcher, branded the idea "total nonsense".

Read more: Top executive at vegan firm Beyond Meat accused of biting man's nose and ripping flesh off

Over the North Sea, Conservative MP Alicia Kearns said it was a "sexist assumption" to think men eat meat and women don't, and that women somehow enjoy sex less than men so can use it as a tool.

"It just feeds in to all the worst narratives of the '90s that women use sex, it's not something they enjoy, that they should use it as a tool against men. It's also incredibly focused on straight relationships," she said on LBC's Cross Question.

Labour's Sam Tarry said it was typical Peta "shock tactics".

"I'm just glad I'm vegetarian, put it that way," he joked.

Peta UK director Elisa Allen told LBC's Iain Dale: "It's a bit of hyperbole, it's a tongue in check suggestion, it's designed to get men to sit up and taken note."

She said animals are dying "cruelly" for burgers and that the Amazon is being bulldozed to make room for cows who are later slaughtered.

"We don't really care about your sex life… what we do care about is the planet and the animals we share it with," she added.