Men, Meat, and Marriage

Models of Masculinity

Bibliographic Data

ID5221658
AuthorsJeffery Sobal (0000-0001-5962-5345, Cornell University, corresponding author)
Year2005
Volume13
Issue1-2
Pages135-158
Publication date2005-03-09
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueFood and Foodways (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0740-9710 • E-ISSN: 1542-3484
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/07409710590915409
OpenAlexW2023378626
LanguageEN
Citations received182
References cited96

Gender permeates all aspects of life, including foodlife, and can be examined using singular and multiple models of genderedness. Singular models of masculinity gender-type foods as masculine and feminine, suggesting that men and women "do gender" by consuming gender appropriate foods. Meat, especially red meat, is an archetypical masculine food. Men often emphasize meat, and women often minimize meat, in displaying gender as individuals. Dealing with gender in joint marital food choices requires negotiations about sharing masculine and feminine foods as partner foods in joint meals. Contemporary Western "proper meals" center around meat, creating masculine marital meals that reproduce wider patterns of male dominance. Meat is often a contested food in marriage, with food negotiations conflicting about whether, what types, when, and how much meat is consumed. Multiple models of masculinities suggest that marital meat consumption does not necessarily follow formulaic, hegemonic gender patterns. These plural masculinities offer various adjectival gender scripts that can be selectively invoked in negotiating meals shared between partners. Multiple cultural scripts for strong men, healthy men, wealthy men, sensitive men, and other conceptions of masculinities are employed in marital negotiations about "doing meat." "Doing marriage" involves negotiating and managing masculinities and femininities in food choices that reflect, reproduce, and oppose a variety of gendered societal food scripts. Both singular and multiple models of masculinity offer insights about meat and marriage. Acknowledgments An earlier version of this paper was presented to the Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS) in 2003. The author thanks Alice Julier, Caron Bove, and Carol Devine for comments

Dominance (genetics · Food choice · Hegemonic masculinity · Masculinity · Negotiation · Plural · Red meat · Sociology · Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact · Culinary Culture and Tourism · Food Science · Gender Studies · Medicine · Organic Food and Agriculture · Psychology

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