“I Don't Want to be Sexist But…”

Abstract

Reporting the results of semi-structured interviews with adults and teenagers in twentytwo urban and rural families in British Columbia, Canada, this paper explores how gendered divisions of food consumption continue to exist within a supposedly “non-sexist” ideological context. With a photo elicitation technique used to stimulate discussions of food and gender, investigators found that most interview participants reproduced stereotypically gendered categories of food and ate in typically gendered ways; they did so even as they resisted the naming of particular foods as gendered. We therefore argue that while food and foodways remain gendered, the denial of them, through a process we call “performing individualism,” strengthens gender inequality by allowing gender disparities to appear not as systematic instances of inequity but rather as isolated instances of “natural” tastes and personal choice.

Keywords:

• food
• gendering
• individualism
• liberalism
• performativity
• photo elicitation

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Deborah McPhail

Deborah McPhail is a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Social and Economic Research. Her work on the social aspects of obesity discourse has been published in such journals as Antipode, Radical Psychology and Social Science & Medicine. Her current postdoctoral work focuses on the effects of obesity policy and discourse on traditional eating practices in Newfoundland and Labrador. Faculty of Medicine, Division of Community Health and Humanities, The Health Sciences Centre, St. John's, Newfoundland, A1B 3V6, Canada ([email protected])

Brenda Beagan

Brenda Beagan is a sociologist specializing in social inequality and health and illness. She is Associate Professor at Dalhousie University School of Occupational Therapy, and currently holds a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Women's Health. Her research focuses on how everyday activities are affected by race, class, culture, gender, sexual orientation, (dis)ability, and so on. School of Occupational Therapy, Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3J5, Canada ([email protected]).

Gwen E. Chapman

Gwen Chapman is Professor of Food, Nutrition and Health in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia. Her research uses qualitative methods to study how people's everyday food practices and concerns are shaped by socially constructed notions about food, health, bodies, and social roles. Food, Nutrition & Health, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia, 219–2205 East Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z4, Canada ([email protected]).