Give Me Some Sugar
I've been noticing something. Just here and there. Maybe it's the existence of Men's Pocky, a less sweet version for those macho manly men who don't want to eat girly feminine..uh...chocolate-dipped pretzel sticks. Right. Or this helpful list, which will make sure you don't shame yourself by ordering something as revolting as a drink known primarily to be drunk by women. Sweet things are coded as feminine, and, to some extent, lesser. As opposed to, you know, a matter of taste and preference, because then how would you know who's winning?
In Victorian times, sweets and greens alone were considered ideal food for women (no manly meat or anything), which illustrates that the dichotomy of women/sweet vs men/not-sweet was already a deeply ingrained idea. Many cultures have had the idea of men's versus women's foods, but I'm honestly not sufficiently informed to really touch on more than the more recent and Western one at hand. Beer managed to make the transition from being a very female-oriented drink up to the turn of the century to a more masculine one, but it's something of an oddity for that, though the extreme, caricatured masculinity of the advertising has definitely played a part. And the beer companies have been coming up with brilliant and not at all offensive ideas to try to convince women to drink more beer and disregard the offensive sausage-party-ness of the beer advertising that already exists.
The fact remains that there is a sexist stereotype about women and sugar. From the idea that women all drink pink, sweet cocktails which are somehow inferior to bitter or dry beverages, to the stereotype of the housewife eating bonbons before the television or the tragic single with a pint of Ben and Jerry's. I think there's more to it than a general bias against women consuming things that may possibly lead to Fat (a fate worse than death or hairy pits). I think it's the oppositional nature of sexism and gender stereotypes at work. If sweetness is women's food, then men's must be as unsweet as possible. And as men's perceived preferences are more esteemed, therefore women's must be dismissed as inferior. And that shit? Is fucked. There's not a damn thing wrong with preferring either, or not even having a preference. Taste is taste. Campari and soda? Enjoy. Sweet Riesling? If it floats your boat. You are not superior for your 75% dark chocolate, and the person enjoying their white chocolate is not a cocoa-wuss for it. (Though white chocolate IS straight-up gross.)
In Victorian times, sweets and greens alone were considered ideal food for women (no manly meat or anything), which illustrates that the dichotomy of women/sweet vs men/not-sweet was already a deeply ingrained idea. Many cultures have had the idea of men's versus women's foods, but I'm honestly not sufficiently informed to really touch on more than the more recent and Western one at hand. Beer managed to make the transition from being a very female-oriented drink up to the turn of the century to a more masculine one, but it's something of an oddity for that, though the extreme, caricatured masculinity of the advertising has definitely played a part. And the beer companies have been coming up with brilliant and not at all offensive ideas to try to convince women to drink more beer and disregard the offensive sausage-party-ness of the beer advertising that already exists.
The fact remains that there is a sexist stereotype about women and sugar. From the idea that women all drink pink, sweet cocktails which are somehow inferior to bitter or dry beverages, to the stereotype of the housewife eating bonbons before the television or the tragic single with a pint of Ben and Jerry's. I think there's more to it than a general bias against women consuming things that may possibly lead to Fat (a fate worse than death or hairy pits). I think it's the oppositional nature of sexism and gender stereotypes at work. If sweetness is women's food, then men's must be as unsweet as possible. And as men's perceived preferences are more esteemed, therefore women's must be dismissed as inferior. And that shit? Is fucked. There's not a damn thing wrong with preferring either, or not even having a preference. Taste is taste. Campari and soda? Enjoy. Sweet Riesling? If it floats your boat. You are not superior for your 75% dark chocolate, and the person enjoying their white chocolate is not a cocoa-wuss for it. (Though white chocolate IS straight-up gross.)