Ban meat-eating men from sex, animal rights group urges

on women to ‘‘go on sex strike to save the world’’.

‘‘We all know them, the suburban fathers with beer bottles and barbecue tongs, sizzling 70c sausages on their €700 grill. The courgette added by the visitor is eyed with suspicion and only reluctantly tolerated,’’ Daniel Cox, campaigns team leader for Peta Germany, said.

‘‘The fact that Germany’s grill masters believe they have to prove their masculinity to themselves and their fellow species through their consumption of meat is not only to the detriment of the animals, however.

‘‘Now there is scientific proof that toxic masculinity also harms the climate. Therefore, a hefty meat tax of 41% for men would be appropriate. A ban on sex or procreation for all meat-eating men would also be purposeful in this context.’’

It said every child not born saved the equivalent of 58.6 tonnes of CO2 a year. ‘‘For all the still meat-grilling dads who still want children with a liveable future on a liveable planet, we recommend changing your lifestyle by joining our free Veganstart programme,’’ Peta said.

The organisation referred to comments by Sandrine Rousseau, a prominent French Green MP, who ignited controversy in France last month by branding the outdoor grill as a ritual that reeks of virility, male meat-eating compulsion and power over women.

‘‘If you want to resolve the climate crisis, you have to reduce meat consumption, and that’s not going to happen so long as masculinity is constructed around meat,’’ the self-declared ‘‘ecofeminist’’ said.

The UN has said that the rearing of livestock generates 14 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions and called on governments to create incentives for people to eat less meat.

Such incentives should not include a sex ban, said critics of Peta’s demand, which yesterday made the front page of Bild, Germany’s best-selling newspaper.

Social media users rubbished the idea and conservative politicians were also critical. Stefan Muller, an MP for the Christian Social Union party, told Bild: ‘‘Peta doesn’t even stop at the bedroom anymore in the fight for attention.’’

Alois Rainer, a fellow CSU MP and a master butcher, called it ‘‘total nonsense’’. – The Times