Gender Roles in Society: How Food is Divided
Photograph: Sexual Appetites by Levon Bliss
In current times, the world is undergoing a change regarding the psychological aspect of food being gendered. Global dietary practices are ever-changing depending on the availability of food and new food products being created. Yet, generalizations about what foods are deemed as “manly” or “womanly” still progress, and findings provide evidence that the United States holds this psyche more than other countries of the world.
Looking at the psychological and biological side to gender-oriented food, many psychologists have some hunches as to why men and women eat what they do. In Riddhi Shah’s article “Men eat meat, women eat chocolate: How food gets gendered”, she quotes sensory psychologist Maricia Pelchat who highlights the reason why different genders prefer certain tastes: “Women, she said, are genetically predisposed to prefer sweeter tastes, with greater sensitivity to bitterness. […] Drinks and food for men, on the other hand, tend to let the bitterness take the fore”. Including the differences in caloric intake as well as how men and women are biologically different, it’s no wonder that these varying dietary preferences are prevalent in society today. However, we can’t leave the strong influence of the food industry out of the mix. Food advertisements, jobs and products all have been given a specific gender to target and, most frequently, it is these sweet and savory “womanly” foods which are targeted to a feminine audience (i.e. chocolate, fruit, ‘light foods’ such as crackers, etc.), and hard, filling or bitter foods which are presented to male consumers (I.e. meat, beer or in our generation today, Muscle Milk or protein shakes). Though biological factors do contribute to the dietary choices both men and women make everyday, the United States has developed the most gender-segregated food cultures in the world.
American culture has a way of imploding and exposing the gender roles of society- especially through food. Mentioning advertisements in the food industry again, the United States has mastered the ability to effective use subliminal messages about gender roles in their advertisements. They take the psychological aspect of representing ourselves through the food we eat and applying it to the advertised food- hence, men who strive to be more masculine are going to eat the products which are deemed “manly” and the same goes for women. So then in turn, the food we choose to eat represents our identity. Whether the United States, the world or even the food industry continues down this gender-specific path, food may always have an unsaid effect on how we appear in society.
Sources Used:
Shah, Riddhi. "Men eat eat, women eat chocolate: How food gets gendered."
Salon. Salon Media Group, 1 July 2010. Web. 12 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.salon.com/2010/07/02/food_gendering/>.
Looking at the psychological and biological side to gender-oriented food, many psychologists have some hunches as to why men and women eat what they do. In Riddhi Shah’s article “Men eat meat, women eat chocolate: How food gets gendered”, she quotes sensory psychologist Maricia Pelchat who highlights the reason why different genders prefer certain tastes: “Women, she said, are genetically predisposed to prefer sweeter tastes, with greater sensitivity to bitterness. […] Drinks and food for men, on the other hand, tend to let the bitterness take the fore”. Including the differences in caloric intake as well as how men and women are biologically different, it’s no wonder that these varying dietary preferences are prevalent in society today. However, we can’t leave the strong influence of the food industry out of the mix. Food advertisements, jobs and products all have been given a specific gender to target and, most frequently, it is these sweet and savory “womanly” foods which are targeted to a feminine audience (i.e. chocolate, fruit, ‘light foods’ such as crackers, etc.), and hard, filling or bitter foods which are presented to male consumers (I.e. meat, beer or in our generation today, Muscle Milk or protein shakes). Though biological factors do contribute to the dietary choices both men and women make everyday, the United States has developed the most gender-segregated food cultures in the world.
American culture has a way of imploding and exposing the gender roles of society- especially through food. Mentioning advertisements in the food industry again, the United States has mastered the ability to effective use subliminal messages about gender roles in their advertisements. They take the psychological aspect of representing ourselves through the food we eat and applying it to the advertised food- hence, men who strive to be more masculine are going to eat the products which are deemed “manly” and the same goes for women. So then in turn, the food we choose to eat represents our identity. Whether the United States, the world or even the food industry continues down this gender-specific path, food may always have an unsaid effect on how we appear in society.
Sources Used:
Shah, Riddhi. "Men eat eat, women eat chocolate: How food gets gendered."
Salon. Salon Media Group, 1 July 2010. Web. 12 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.salon.com/2010/07/02/food_gendering/>.