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Eating meat pies at sporting events is sexist


20-year old feminist Cassidy Boon thinks pies at footy games are unnecessarily macho

Meat Pies are, like, a staple of Australian cuisine and are often associated with sporting events. Whether it's at an U12 boy's soccer game, or a State of Origin match, there's bound to be people stuffing their faces with meat pies and squeezing tomato sauce all over them. Having meat pies at the game is so common that most people don't even think twice about the deeper meaning and structural symbolism behind these pastry pralines.

The truth is that meat pies at, like, sporting events, like footy matches, is an extremely sexist phenomenon. The meat pie is a food that is strongly linked with masculinity and is seen as typical masculine man's food as it is unhealthy, full of meat and is very portable - like it's made for being eaten outdoors after having cracked open a couple of beers with the boys. Ad campaigns for meat pies and meat pie products are almost exclusively targeted to men, featuring brawny blokes doing stereotypicaly male things and enjoying the pie in a way that can be seen as outright aggressive by women and trans-individuals - and to make matters worse all this happens to the sound of a narrator with a rumbling deep voice.

Sports are also, like, linked heavily with aggressive masculinity. Footy is a very physical sport in which many people are often injured and people actually cheer on as all these burly men are fighting with each other. There seems to be no time for courtesy and absolutely no talk of gay or trans-rights at these events and it's worrying to see such destructive masculinity being allowed out in the open. The stereotype goes that men are more interested in sports and that is supported by the fact that men earn heaps more than women for the same sports. In short, sports are sexist.

So put the two together, meat pies and sports, and you get like a, totally, profoundly sexist cocktail that celebrates destructive machismo and makes women and gays uncomfortable at games. By selling meat pies at footy games, the arenas are literally telling women that they're not welcome. The meat pie is a symbol of the patriarchy and the oppression of women and when it's being distributed freely at footy games, it becomes clear that it's part of a big plan to keep women away from sports altogether. If you have ever eaten a meat pie at a footy game, you're only contributing to the problem and you're probably a sexist macho ape.

We need to start offering more tolerant foods at footy games - foods that appeal to women and which makes us feel safer. I'm suggesting sallad and yoghurt or something of that kind. These are foods that are often marketed to women and they don't evoke any kind of anti-woman sentiment the way meat pies do. If we get rid of the meat pies, we will all be able to enjoy a safer space in the footy arena and women and gays will not be turned away at the door by destructive masculinity.

I'm now officially starting a hashtag that will campaign to get meat pies banned from sporting events. Tweet under #BanMeatPies to join the movement. I think most of you agree with me, otherwise you're sexist.

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