| The gender practices of men in the animal rights movement were examined using qualitative methods. It is hypothesized that men associated with animal rights activism face stigmas surrounding their gender. A total of forty men were interviewed for this study. Respondents were identified through both snowball and purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to examine whether men do indeed perceive such challenges to their gender and if so, what strategies they use to protect or reconstruct their identity in more positive terms. The findings suggest that the resources men bring to the situation influence how men do or undo gender. In their quest for animal liberation, some men reinforce the unequal gender system as they maneuver around other social barriers that may compromise their ability to rebuke normative masculinity. Men endowed with greater social resources, such as higher economic positions, reconstitute patriarchy into a more humane gender system, while others challenge the dominant normative order. Factors such as social class, education level, parental support, male peer groups, and sexual orientation are related to the ways men cope with a gender system that stigmatizes vegetarianism and sensitivity towards animals. |
