As we careen toward more possible human extinction, the association of environmentalism with femininity and homosexuality seems more and more absurd. And yet it persists!
Stephen, a 23-year-old Canadian, is telling me about an otherwise uneventful opening shift at his job as a barista that turned ugly when serving a burly male customer. “We were chatting, and he asked why I had a bowl full of coffee grounds,” he explains. “I told him it was because we compost them.” At this point, Stephen says the man “freaked,” and his previously friendly demeanor shifted. “He said I was a ‘fairy’ for caring about the environment, and he was kind of angry about it.”
Jeff, a 34-year-old political consultant in Nebraska, says he’s had his masculinity similarly questioned because of the small hatchback he drives for environmental reasons. “I live in a college town with a lot of truck-driving country kids, and when I was using my Honda Fit as an Uber driver, I’d get comments like, ‘Pretty manly car’ and ‘Do you like them small?’” Cam, a 39-year-old Torontonian working in the energy sector, says his decision to carry reusable bags and cups provokes much of the same: “It’s mostly at work, from dominant white men with conservative mindsets, comfortable in their bubble. They’ll say stupid shit like, ‘Nice purse’ or ‘That’s a pretty cup, does it come in men’s?’”
Recent studies confirm that not eating meat is still seen as unmanly , that men eschew reusable shopping bags to avoid looking gay and that men who feel emasculated compensate by harming the environment . Meanwhile, one of the far right’s favorite insults is “ soy boy ,” a term that mocks urban liberals with green lifestyle markers like plant-based diets.
One of them is Josh, a 31-year-old IT worker in South Louisiana, who is often made fun of for his tote, reusable bottle, occasionally vegetarian diet and lack of desire to drive a truck. “It’s just constant microaggressions,” he explains. “I live in a big oil area so this stuff happens constantly – the truck thing is probably the most consistent.”
To better understand the perverse idea that it’s gay to save the planet, I spoke to more than 30 people who say they’ve been at the receiving end of these views
Several others confirm that cars are viewed as an important marker of masculinity and that environmental choices are seen as feminine or gay. “I get a lot of smirking and mocking tones when people realize I drive a Prius,” Felix, a 23-year-old phlebotomist in Oregon, tells me, and Andrew, a 33-year-old in Maryland with an intimate knowledge of car culture, verifies that this sentiment is widespread. “Tons of car dudes just irrationally hate Priuses,” he explains. “They’re still using them as punchlines, with lots of ‘dirty hippie car’ jokes in there.” He also tells me that hypermilers , a subculture of car enthusiasts who focus on minimizing fuel consumption, receive similar treatment. “The vast majority of car dudes look down on this kind of thing,” he adds, “calling it ‘gay’ and using F-slurs.”
As we careen toward more than two degrees of global warming , near-term social collapse and possible human extinction , the association of environmentalism with femininity, homosexuality and a certain kind of weak heterosexual masculinity seems more and more absurd, and yet, it persists
Peop le who forego cars altogether fare even worse. Zack Furness , associate professor of communications at Penn State Greater Allegheny , has experienced much of this scorn as a cyclist. “During the years I was a bike commuter in Pittsburgh, I’d say the most common slur I’d hear yelled at me – always by men who saw themselves as inconvenienced for a second by airg my existence on ‘their’ roads – was ‘faggot,’” he says. “During the course of writing a book about bike advocacy , I interviewed tons of people, and the majority of men I spoke with had similar experiences.”