You Really Are What You Consume

Lately it’s starting to feel like we’re on the brink of a gender neutral revolution.

Some passport applications are no longer gender-specific. At Egalia, a Swedish preschool, “him” and “her” don’t exist. One couple caused an uproar by raising a genderless child, and even boys wear pink nail polish.

But it seems the trend hasn’t yet hit the world of food and drink. Companies are targeting one gender to boost sales. I remember seeing “Girls’ Night Out” wine for the first time at the LCBO and I cringed. To rebel, I embraced my masculine side and went with a six pack.

It’s not only savvy marketing that’s creating a gender divide when it comes to what we consume. Deeply engrained gender stereotypes have led to the masculization and feminization of food. Since we perceive women as delicate and dainty (at least more so than men), salad has somehow become the poster food for femininity. When women want to indulge, it’s chocolate. Men use it (along with flowers) as a way to get back into a woman’s good books.

Of course, men eat salads too. But if a man and woman were on a date, I would be willing to bet that salad would be the guy’s last menu choice. When we think of “manly,” for some reason we think of meat. Maybe it’s because men are beefy… or beefcakes… or something like that.

This food and gender business could be a simple matter of association. Carnivores must kill for food and so have a more violent disposition. Leaf eaters are seen as peaceful and gentle. The end result? Femininity came to equal a lighter vegetarian diet and masculinity meant anything under the umbrella of “hearty.”

So does this mean we are what we eat? Are you more manly if you drink bitter beer and eat wings smothered in Mansauce or more girly if you sip cosmopolitans over a salad?

No way. The gender bias may exist when it comes to food and drink, but only if you buy into the stereotypes.

Parsley, please. I need to cleanse my palate of this nonsense.

Contact the author here: tinybart@morningquickie.com