Vegetarian girlfriend refuses to kiss me after I've eaten meat

My girlfriend is a vegetarian and has been for quite a while but I think it is making our relationship awkward and uncomfortable at times.

She said she doesn't mind me eating meat around her but she refuses to kiss me if I've had a meal with meat in. If I do attempt to kiss her (to see if she was just joking), she gets really mad and tells me I have to brush my teeth and use mouthwash first.

I don't know if I'm just being over-sensitive but when this happened, I felt kinda offended and it made things awkward between us for the rest of the day. If I would have brushed my teeth then, neither of us would have been in the mood for making out because of the bad atmosphere created.
There have been other times where she doesn't like me breathing near her when my breath "stinks of dead animal", so basically she refuses any affection I'm trying to give her and pushes me away.

Is this something you would be offended by?

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Reply 1

DrawTheLine

It does seem a bit extreme her reaction, however not completely unreasonable. My boyfriend doesn't like fish or any seafood with a passion, so he says if I eat it around him before we kiss I have to have a mint or brush my teeth first. I don't really mind it because fresh breath is always nice, however if he ever got to the extent of pushing me away because of it then it'll get too much.

Reply 2

Xopher_

And this is why I could never have a vegetarian girlfriend.

Reply 3

Bio 7

It seems reasonable to me. She doesn't want to eat meat and so tasting it won't make her feel comfortable.

Just don't eat meat around her.

Reply 4

Zargabaath

Just don't eat meat around her then. Ez pz

Reply 5

fallen_acorns

for me - it depends why...

If her objection is moral/ethical, then its just stupid.. her kissing someone who just ate meat, and getting a tiny bit on her, makes no difference to her stance/convictions at all. get a new girlfriend

If its a taste/flavour/smell thing.. then thats normal, we all have those. No chance I am kissing my wife after she eats her smelly tofu ducks neck mix.. and she is not a fan of kissing me after anything thats too garlic-y..

Reply 6

Trinculo

Get a new girlfriend. This one is a loon.

Reply 7

Napp

What a ridiculous position to take, tell her to sack up or piss off.
I mean with all due respect that is lunacy to refuse to kiss someone because they've have a bacon butty or some such.

Reply 8

Integer

Some can't stand certain foods so it's not unreasonable to not want to kiss after.

Reply 9

Avaia

My partner is vegetarian and tbh they have no problem with me kissing after eating meat, as long as I don't full on rub bacon all over my lips and face xD xD But I am respectful of peoples beliefs etc, so I just swill my mouth out first just out of that courtesy :smile:

You should try to be a little more understanding, you don't have to make a huge deal of it, just swill your mouth out after you eat next and see how she reacts to you showing you are trying to cater to her somewhat :smile:

Get a new gf.

Not everybody loves the taste/small of meat- to some, its as repulsive as what coffee or Marmite is to other people who dislike such things.

On a psychological level too, to someone who severely opposes the consumption of animals because they believe them to be intelligent sentient beings etc, the taste/smell of the meat of a goat, chicken or pig etc, can be as disturbing as the taste/smell of the meat of an ape, dog or dolphin would be to someone who wouldn't eat nor agree with the consumption of such animals due to their intelligence.

She isn't forcing her beliefs/senses on you, only asking you to be considerate of hers. You don't have a right to her body so you should respect her boundaries. She isn't doing this to spite you (so try not to take it personally).

EDIT: I'm not a vegetarian however when I was a child, I had one particular experience where I almost turned vegetarian:

I grew up on a farm and had a lot of "pet" chickens (160 at one point). I say "pet" because while they were all well cared for and tame etc, most of these chickens were for the eating and I knew that from the get go (so kept a degree of emotional distance from them). But there were these 2 particular roosters which were extremely tame and who were banned from ever being slaughtered; unlike the others, they were raised like true pets (and their charisma and intelligence shone- I was very attached to them and they even learned tricks like they were dogs or parrots!). However one day there was a mix-up with the chickens being slaughtered and not only were they killed, but they were cooked up and I ended up unwittingly eating them.

I did not find out that I had basically eaten my own pets until I had just finished the meal and upon finding out such information, it made me feel so sick to my stomach, that I literally almost threw up!
I felt as ill & disturbed as I would have if I'd eaten a lovely stew only to find out afterwards that it contained the family dog. After the incident, for some time I grew a psychological aversion to eating meat and I had many moral dilemma's over it (although in the end I did eventually return back to meat eating).

I've had friends over the years who had near identical experiences (but who turned and remained vegetarian for good); one friend was fed her pet rabbit by her messed up father (she lived in Australia where eating rabbit is much more culturally acceptable and commonplace), while another was fed her pet geese by her old mean & mealy mouthed grandmother (who thought it stupid that she kept pet geese).

Once you've developed a psychological aversion to eating something, the physical repulsion of that food can be very real.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 12

Trinculo

Original post by Feastful

You don't have a right to her body

"You don't have a right to her body"

"You don't have a right to her body"

Let that just sink in for a moment while we consider just how absurd and ridiculous conversation has become.

There was no suggestion whatsoever at any point that OP believed he had dominion over his girlfriend's body - but you just had to get that in there, didn't you - a moronic, sly little pejorative dig......just in case that's what he thought.

Get out of town, Tonto. And the horse you rode in on too. No one needs your bile.

Reply 13

Feastful

Original post by Trinculo

I wasn't accusing the guy of believing such a thing, only illustrating the point that you must respect people's boundaries (in this case someone's strong aversion to the taste/smell of meat) because we are all individual etc.

Reply 14

anosmianAcrimony

Original post by Trinculo

If the OP thinks he's entitled to kiss his girlfriend even when she doesn't want to be kissed, isn't that trying to exert some kind of dominion over what happens to her body?