Women and Food - socio-cultural aspects

Dossier / Travail de Séminaire , 2006 , 33 Pages , Note: 1,3

Philologie Anglaise - Culture et Études de pays

Food is life. It touches everything, reveals our identities and marks social differerences. Our three basic needs as human beings are love, security and food. The act of eating is something which is present all over the world, at any time. It is an endlessly evolving enactment of family, community relationships and - which is most important for this paper - of gender. In this paper I want to discuss the powerful and fascinating relation between food and gender by showing in how far women can be studied and understood through food. How do women define themselves through their foodways? What distinguishes them from men in this special context? I also want to show how women across cultures often speak through food and appetite and try to examine some of the meanings of eating, dieting and being thin in women´s lives. These meanings extremely differ between men and women and therefore are closely linked to cultural images of masculinity and femininity. But in contrast to men, women have a special relationship to food: whereas men can mainly be characterized as food consumers, women have a dual function: they are foodconsumersas well as foodpreparers.Thus, the paper at hand not only wants to examine the aspect of women as food consumers but also their traditional role as primary food preparers. What powers do women gain and lose through their dominance and control over food preparation and distribution? Another important aspect when dealing with women and food would be the relationship to their bodies. How does the objectification of the female body subordinate women, and how can women challenge it? Thus, in chapter 3 I will examine the connections of food, female body image and culture. As Carole Counihan and Penny van Esterik both say in their introduction, food is both a scholarly concern and a real-life concern. Food studies has an interdisciplinary nature.
This is why so many scholarly disciplines such as cultural studies, anthropology, sociology, history, philosophy and literary criticism developed an interest in food studies over time. But food has ever since fascinated the general public, too. In this paper, I will try to examine anthropological, cultural, sociological and even some historical aspects to discuss the relationship between women and food. Because food-sharing can be seen as an important medium for social relations, according to Counihan and van Esterik food refusal and fasting have powerful social and symbolic weight.

Contents

Table of figures

1 Introduction

2 Women and Food
2.1 Female food habits - women as food consumers
2.2 The control of food – women as food preparers in past and present

3 Food, Culture and the Female Body
3.1 Female body image
3.2 The thin-ideal: women, food and dieting
3.3 Popular portrayal of the female body
3.4 Internalizing or resisting the ultra-thin ideal?
3.5 Eating disorders

4 Conclusion

Bibliography

References

Websites

Image sources

Table of figures

figure 1: farm woman preparing food

figure 2: advertisement published in “The American” (issue date: April, 1951)

figure 3: woman grinding grain, Narus, Sudan (South)

figure 4: Modern Priscilla magazine cover, September, 1926

figure 5: Marilyn Monroe in the 1950´s

figure 6: Twiggy Lawson in the 1960´s

figure 7: Cosmopolitan cover (issue date: August, 1970)

figure 8: Cosmopolitan cover (issue date: July, 1988)

figure 9: Harpers Bazaar Magazine (issue date: May, 2002)

figure 10: photograph of a “skinny” model

figure 11: image taken from a pro-anorexia website

1 Introduction

Like cannibalism, a matter of taste

G. K. Chesterton

Food is life. It touches everything, reveals our identities and marks social differerences. Our three basic needs as human beings are love, security and food. The act of eating is something which is present all over the world, at any time. It is an endlessly evolving enactment of family, community relationships and - which is most important for this paper - of gender. In this paper I want to discuss the powerful and fascinating relation between food and gender by showing in how far women can be studied and understood through food. How do women define themselves through their foodways? What distinguishes them from men in this special context? I also want to show how women across cultures often speak through food and appetite and try to examine some of the meanings of eating, dieting and being thin in women´s lives. These meanings extremely differ between men and women and therefore are closely linked to cultural images of masculinity and femininity. But in contrast to men, women have a special relationship to food: whereas men can mainly be characterized as food consumers, women have a dual function: they are food consumers as well as food preparers. Thus, the paper at hand not only wants to examine the aspect of women as food consumers but also their traditional role as primary food preparers. What powers do women gain and lose through their dominance and control over food preparation and distribution? Another important aspect when dealing with women and food would be the relationship to their bodies. How does the objectification of the female body subordinate women, and how can women challenge it? Thus, in chapter 3 I will examine the connections of food, female body image and culture. As Carole Counihan and Penny van Esterik both say in their introduction, food is both a scholarly concern and a real-life concern (Counihan, van Esterik 1997: 1). Food studies has an interdisciplinary nature. This is why so many scholarly disciplines such as cultural studies, anthropology, sociology, history, philosophy and literary criticism developed an interest in food studies over time. But food has ever since fascinated the general public, too. In this paper, I will try to examine anthropological, cultural, sociological and even some historical aspects to discuss the relationship between women and food. Because food-sharing can be seen as an important medium for social relations, according to Counihan and van Esterik food refusal and fasting have powerful social and symbolic weight (Counihan, van Esterik 1997: 3). In this context, in chapter 3.2 I will also deal with eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia - again mainly female phenomena - in conjunction with contemporary women in Western cultures.

2 Women and Food

2.1 Female food habits - women as food consumers

What is it that distinguishes women from men in terms of their eating behaviour? This chapter wants to reveal women´s certain food habits and also gives answers to the question why some type of food can be regarded as typical female. The diverse food consumption patterns in societies evoke not only social but also gender differentiation. Thus, social and gender distinction and self-identity are among other criteria also created through particular food choices. The prominent slogan “´ you are what you eat´- originally intended as a nutrition slogan to encourage healthy eating- gains symbolic validity through particular food choices and food habits, in which a food or eating experience imbued with a certain status or image becomes associated with the individual consumer” (Germov & Williams 1999: 95). According to Deborah Lupton, food is often defined as “good or bad, masculine or feminine, powerful or weak, alive or dead, healthy or non-healthy, a comfort or punishment, sophisticated or gauche, a sin or virtue, animal or vegetable, raw or cooked, self or other” (Lupton 1996: 1-2). These couplets again illustrate the social meanings, classifications and emotions that we attach to the food we eat, which thus serves to define who we are and helps to create our self-identity. Social diversity and individualism are phenomena that can be widely observed in our Western cultures. People use a variety of criteria to conceptualize their everyday food choices and related eating behavior. In explaining why they choose to eat the foods they do, both males and females typically mention dimensions such as the pleasure derived from the food, the health value associated with it, and the convenience of obtaining it. Oscar Wilde once said: “When I´ m in trouble, eating is the only thing that comforts me" so we should first take a look at the first dimension concentrating on food choices in terms of the pleasure derived from the food: comfort food. We can find some important differences between the food males consider to be comfort food and the food females would consider to comfort them. Whereas men are said to find comfort in foods that are associated with those that have been prepared to them by the homemaker (that is mothers, wives, girlfriends and so on) women on the other hand tend to associate such foods with toil. Why is this so? Due to the role of women in bygone years they were the ones who usually prepared the meals and consequently weren´t so accustomed to having prepared meals for them. As a matter of fact, this leads to the consequence that women would not derive the same comfort or satisfaction from the same food. Thus, where men usually seek hearty meals for comfort food, women tend to opt for snacks that require very little or no preparation. This is said to be the reason why adult women are the most inclined to snack on chocolate, cakes and crisps simply because the food is not labour-expensive. Most would argue against this opinion but the fact of the matter remains that women between the ages of 25-44 consume an estimated two-thirds of all chocolate produced (http://www.chocolate.org/choclove/women.html). A new study from the US based on responses from 277 participants revealed that comfort food consumption varies with gender emotions. The study which is a collaboration between New York's Cornell University and Canada's McGill University says that women indulge in comfort foods to boost their emotions when they are down, whereas men are more likely to opt for them when they are happy (http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/news/ng.asp?id=64039-comfort-foods-snack-foods-gender). Thus, not only the fact that chocolate is not labour-expensive and therefore the ideal female snack is important but also there is great difference between male and female when it comes to the question of psychological comfort, i.e. when and under which emotional conditions chocolate is consumed. According to the researchers, concerning the choice of the food type men generally opt for protein-rich foods such as steak, while women prefer high-calorie sweet snack foods like chocolate and ice cream. Another interesting point would be the fact that after eating their favourite comfort foods, men and older adults were more likely to report higher positive emotions than women, who often felt guilty after consuming these foods. This leads to the point that the concept of establishing social identity is another important aspect when gendered food choices are being analyzed. Another research on food preferences suggested that the type of food and the amount of food consumed may be a way for individuals to establish a desired social image. Essentially, food choices may provide a source of social information about others. According to Kim M. Mooney, one line of research has investigated the effects of meal size on impression ratings of women: “Women who consume relatively small meals are rated as more feminine and concerned about physical appearance and more socially appealing than their counterparts who consume larger amounts of food”. Another line of research explored the effects of meal type on impression ratings . The amount of food was unimportant in this context, rather the overall fat content eaten by a hypothetical college female was being explored. The result was: compared to the female college student who preferred a higher fat diet, the fat-restricted eater was rated as being more attractive, intelligent, conscientious, and calmer. Thus, for women there is a strong link between their food choices and their pursuit of a thin, ideal body shape. ” The attention that women pay to their food consumption is supported by the evidence that compared to men, women diet more, purchase and consume more dietary products (...)” (Lorenz & Mooney 1997: 2). The relationship between female food consumption and the ideal body image will be deeper analyzed in chapter 3 (Food, Culture and the Female Body).

2.2 The control of food – women as food preparers in past and present

As we saw in the previous chapters, eating is a highly social act. Through the cultural rituals of preparing, serving and eating food can be seen as essential not only physiologically but also for the social and emotional life. Feeding others represents a reflection of the beliefs and customs of the society at a particular time. Until recently, viewed socially, food preparation has typically been largely the work of women. Women's work and women's lives all over the world have long been intertwined with food. In every country on every continent, it is women who assume primary responsibility for preparing and serving meals for themselves and their families. But food preparation and eating practises in contemporary households should be seen against a background of outstanding technological and economic changes: nowadays, we live in a world of Mc Donald´s, convenience foods, boil-in bags and microwave frozen dinners. This, indeed, could be regarded as a remarkable liberation of women from the drudgery and imprecision of daily food preparation. According to Marjorie L. DeVault, even “a few generations ago, when more households were agricultural ones, and when work was usually closer to home, families were more likely to eat together, three times daily. They had little choice, because there were few other places to be fed. Cooking for an entire household was time-consuming and heavy work” (DeVault 1994: 35). A century ago, domestic labour took the equivalent of a full work week, and mostly related to food. Food preparation in 1900 required a lot of time. According to a survey at that time, a typical woman spent 44 hours a week preparing meals and cleaning up after them. Wood had to be cut and coal hauled for fuel. Since few houses had indoor plumbing, water for cooking and all other purposes had to be pumped and carried in from outside. Bread usually was baked at home in rural areas, with one day each week being largely devoted for baking. Ice boxes were widely used in towns to keep food cool. Thus, there were many burdens women had to bear.

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• Université: Ruhr-University of Bochum (Englisches Seminar)
• Cours: Food and Identity
• Note: 1,3
• Auteur: Denise Sajdl (Auteur)
• Année de publication: 2006
• Pages: 33
• N° de catalogue: V62357
• ISBN (ebook): 9783638556156
• ISBN (Livre): 9783656804307
• Langue: anglais
• mots-clé: Women, Food, Identity, Gender, sociocultural