Masson came into the public eye in the early 1990s, when he waged a 10-year libel lawsuit against the writer Janet Malcolm, disputing quotations that were attributed to him. (He was also engaged to feminist scholar Catherine Mackinnon.) He is now most famous for his best selling books on animal emotions, When Elephants Weep and Dogs Never Lie About Love. Masson's work with animals led him to convert to veganism five years ago. Since then, he has been promoting the vegan lifestyle and animal rights pretty much nonstop.

I went to see Masson speak last weekend in Woodstock, NY. The lecture was intended to promote his new book, but it ended up being about a lot more than that. Masson is a great speaker, and he is particularly convincing when he discusses the mistreatment of animals in the American livestock industry. I am basically the furthest thing from vegan, but Masson allows himself, and others, a certain level of flexibility in the quest for ethical consumption. Eric Konigsburg for the New York Times writes:

For an author of polemics - and "The Face on Your Plate," though it's more measured and engaging than most, is definitely that - Mr. Masson has a deep inclination to forgive. He said that the best excuse for eating meat (or butter or eggs) is "because you like the taste."

What he gets more worked up about are "rationalizations," such as the argument that animals like cattle and chickens exist only because we eat them and their milk and eggs. "That's denial," he said. "We're the only animal who gets to choose what we eat, so we can choose to do what's humane and also much healthier."

Masson believes that there is no such thing as giving farm animals a "good life," and has nothing but scorn for anyone who tricks themselves into believing this "rationalization" (during the talk, Masson spent a good deal of time bashing Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, for his pro-meat stance). However, Masson occasionally contradicts himself, a habit that was particularly apparent during his lecture. He was good, but not good enough to convince me to give up bacon.

In the two and a half hour discussion, one of the only things Masson did not mention is the issue of veganism as it pertains to dress, something that is perhaps even more difficult to navigate than diet. Today, Dana Wood, senior fashion editor at W magazine, blogs about the difficulties facing vegans with a love for fashion:

But here's the real dilemma for someone like me, who clocks in at a fashion magazine every day and also happens to be utterly fashion-obsessed: Steering clear of meat is a walk in the park compared to finding a decent bag, boots or shoes that don't involve leather, suede or some other cuddly-critter byproduct. In fact, the more committed I become to this little project, the more I realize how challenging it is.

Like Masson, Wood allows herself a certain level of freedom in both her diet and her purchases. Working in the fashion industry, it is almost impossible to conform to perfect vegan ideals, but Wood says she is trying. Fortunately for the vegans among us, the last few years have seen a rise in vegan restaurants and vegan boutiques. In many ways, veganism can seem like a passing fad (kind of like "going green" or "recessionistas"), but for those committed like Masson and Wood, veganism is a lifestyle. And a growing one at that.

A Man With Opinions on Food With a Face [NY Times]
Trials of a Fashion-Loving Vegan [W Magazine Editor's Blog]

• Last Monday, China implemented an internet ban on YouTube. Although China has the technology to block only certain URLs, the entire site has been blocked from use. • In order to lure in the desirable baby-boomer demographic, The Hallmark Channel is playing up their status as a "soothing, predictable" network. At least they know their strengths. • The Statue of Liberty is set to re-open for the public on July 4th, 2009. Lady Liberty's crown has been closed since 9/11. • This is kind of a downer: America's eight most downsized cities. The "Rust Belt" list includes Youngstown, Ohio at number one and Detroit at number three. • Sled dogs are among the most energy efficient animals on earth, and scientists hope that their "fat-burning prowess" could be used to discover new ways to treat diabetes and obesity. • Delta Air Lines is resurrecting vintage uniforms for flight attendants from now-defunct carriers like Pan American World Airways to promote their pending merger with Northwest Airlines. • Forbes has some advice for those of us who suck with money: 7 steps to fix your retirement. •  Nickelodeon has asked kids to unplug their games and gadgets on April 22nd in honor of Earth Day. • Funny lady Janeane Garofalo is also in on the action, and in this video, she advocates for the "huge turn off" on Earth Day with some serious armpit hair. •  Sociological Images has pictures of the new Angela Merkel Barbie. She looks... classy? •  To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, organizer Michael Lane plans to throw together a free, green, outdoor music festival. He is currently looking for sponsors and scouting venues in New York City. •  A unique community of killer whales has failed to recover from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. Experts say that the pod is slowly dying out, and with it, their distinctive song-dialect. • 

Times writer Kara Jesella notes that many '70s feminists even used the phrase "I don't want to be a piece of meat. I'm not going to eat a piece of meat," as a rallying cry.

But, if vegan activists are speaking out about not eating meat for environmental reasons, should they be happy that more alpha males are eschewing steak because they see scantily clad women promoting that lifestyle? Despite their beliefs about sexual objectification? The question boils down to: do the means justify the ends? And speaking of ends, the appeal of veganism to the heterosexual bore might not be very strong in the first place: Johnny Diablo has already put his Gentleman's club up for sale because of poor attendance.

The Carrot Some Vegans Deplore [New York Times]

Earlier: Can Female Vegetarians And Male Carnivores Ever Find True Foodie Love?

• So, Marc Jacobs hater/International Herald Tribune critic Suzy Menkes may have loooved Marc's show, but general MJ fangirl, the NY Times' Cathy Horyn, missed it altogether! Only to then check it out online and write, "[I] can see why some people found it a little slack." Only to then be responded to huffily, via the COMMENTS, on Marc by Marc himself, if you will: "Dear Cathy....I wish you could have been at my show...I deliberately stated I was uninspired this season as I have felt that talking about inspiration is so not the point to making and showing a collection." So yeah, any time you thought about dismissing the entire industry as one big neverending middle school...you were pretty much right. [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Oh no! Pink eye rampant at London Fashion Week! Think it's a deliberate conspiracy to sabotage the whole "certificate of health" thing? Yeah, fashion people are not that smart. [Vogue UK]
  
• The latest victim of an eye-infection? Hagyness herself! [The Sun UK]
  
• Aw, Benetton is getting back to its awesome ad roots: Its newest campaign is a promotion for a microlending program in Africa. [Fashion Week Daily]

• Now that the writers strike is over and the Oscars are officially on, the stars are expected to wear super bright and flashy colors. [Reuters]
• L'Oreal, meanwhile, is issuing a special limited edition color in honor of the Oscars: Red Carpet Red. Such creativity! They must've agonized over that one. [MediaPost]
• Kim Kardashian is the new face of Bongo jeans. When the jokes are this easy to make, we feel cheap making them. [Speak for your royal selves! Also...sorta liberal use of the word "face", huh? -Moe][MediaPost]
• "A good blow-dry is an absolute necessity. Let someone else do the work for you!" Harrods scion Camilla Al Fayed. [WWD, 3rd item]
• "I never had aspirations to be a shoe designer, but I just wanted a pair of elegant, animal-friendly shoes. Now I can walk into a store and there's a whole collection." Natalie Portman: And humble, too. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Balloon fashion show = awesome. Not as awesome as the condom fashion show, but. [Chic Report]
• L'Oreal profits are up 29%. All thanks to pricey makeup's growing popularity in countries where the per capita income is still like $3,000! [WSJ]
• Valentine's day Reeboks! [Chic Report]

Maybe it's just me — and I'm already anticipating the hate comments I will get about this — but something about a man refusing to eat meat seems sort of...sissy-like. I realize it's probably cultural brainwashing, but when I hear the phrase "male vegetarian", I picture a dude with matted dreads and a patchouli stink who cries when a tree is felled. In short: I picture a hippie, and I cannot hold with hippies. Take the male vegetarian and Florida real estate agent quoted in the Times, Ben Abdalla, 42, who says he prefers to date fellow vegetarians because meat eaters smell bad and have low energy." Anyone using the word "energy"? Definitely a hippie.

To be fair, these are not entirely fair assumptions about men who shun meat. But they are real. An (admittedly old) study commissioned by the Vegetarian Times conducted way back in 1992 found that "of the 12.4 million people who call themselves vegetarian, 68 percent are female while only 32 percent are male." (We're looking for more recent statistics.) And the women at Feministing, in fact, have an fascinating post about a set of new Maxim-like PETA ads which assert that (in their words) "it's okay to buck the stereotype of Real Men Eat Red Meat, because here are some naked ladies to reassure you that you're still a superhetero manly man!" (Plus, there's an entire book called The Sexual Politics of Meat by Carol Adams, which apparently intertwines feminism and vegetarianism. Go figure!)

I also polled the other Jezebels, and honestly, most are a little prejudiced against the idea of a male vegetarian. Moe admits that she's "prejudiced against sissies but would date a vegetarian... only if he wasn't a sissy about it though. Like, no freaking out about chicken boullion or whatever." Tracie says she converted a vegan to a full blown flesh-eater: "My ex was a vegan for 10 years when we met and I used to use eggs and chicken stock in recipes after a while and not tell him. Then I got him to eat fish and now he eats steak like every day. I changed him for the better." And Jennifer? She says, she's only gone out with one vegetarian in her lifetime. "I met him at yoga class," she says. "He was a sissy. Hence the reason we only went on three dates. That and he was a really bad kisser."

Then you have someone like my brother, who only ate meat and potatoes growing up, and is now married to a vegetarian. She won't cook meat herself, but she is never judgmental about it when my brother orders a burger, proving that love can conquer carnivorous instincts. Question is, how much of a dealbreaker is a person's issues with food? And how often do people put aside major dietary differences for true romance?

I Love You, But You Love Meat [New York Times]

Related: The Sexual Politics Of No Meat [Feministing]
The Gender Gap: If You're A Vegetarian, Odds Are You're A Woman. Why? [Find Articles]