It's A Diet Trend, It's A Stupid Neologism, It's … Heganism

According to the Boston Globe, men can now be vegans. Except they’re called “hegans,” and they’re extra-manly!

The Globe‘s Kathleen Pierce interviews several adherents of lifestyle (can men have a “lifestyle?”), but identifies one as “the ultimate hegan.” He is manly because:

— his name is Rip
— he is a firefighter
— he is also a triathlete
— he says, “Sure there is a stigma attached to it, that it’s for yuppie, tree-hugging, emaciated weaklings. That is far from the truth. I like to say that real men eat plants.”

Dodai tackled stereotypes against male vegans in 2008, asking, “Just like it’s offensive to say that eating meat is ‘manly,’ isn’t it awful to assume that not eating meat is ‘girly’?” (or, y’know, yuppie or emaciated, hence … girly). The Globe‘s assumption that male vegans need a new, stupid name seems to indicate that these stereotypes are still firmly in place. Since none of the guys quoted actually uses the word “hegan” (nor does the Amazon page for Rip’s book, The Engine 2 Diet, which “can save your life — whether you’re a man or a woman”), I blame Pierce and her editors for taking the lazy route here. As Paul the Spud points out at Shakesville, slapping “he” or “man” in front of something and calling it a trend has become ubiquitous, as though everything — from shaving your pubes to losing your job — is news as soon as a dude does it (or, more accurately, as soon as a journalist notices dudes doing it). Surely heganism will soon be replaced by hedonism, hecession by heconomic hecovery, while the only rational response remains a colossal he-addesk.

Men Leave Their Own Mark On Veganism [Boston Globe]
Eating Vegetables Will Turn You Into A Limp-Wristed Nancy Boy [Shakesville]