An Overview & Some Optimism

Given that my topic involves media and gender, it is of course necessary to address the ever-present question of whether media influences us whether we want it to or not, or whether we can pick and choose its influences.  I am personally inclined to believe the former-- a view supported by noted german philosopher- Theodor Adorno.  For Adorno, a chief criticism about mass media was the fact that its audience becomes passive through mindless consumption.  On the other end is John Fiske, who posits that viewers are more active and controlling in mass media, because they influence how its made.

That being some of the background for mass media, it is logical to consider how gender is portrayed--because well.... most portrayed are either men or women. The general consensus seems to be that women were portrayed poorly in earlier decades-- without substance, submissive, domestic.... etc., whereas now, there has been some progress.  Men still dominate the television landscape- at least in terms of lead roles and speaking roles, and women are getting more substantial roles-- but it is still debated whether there has been considerable progress in portraying women in non-traditionally feminine ways.

In light of this not-so-awesome finding, it felt kinda reassuring to discover this book: Secret Ingredients: Race, Gender, and Class at the Dinner Table, by Sherries Inness. Specifically, the last chapter is pertinent to my research in that it discusses how Food Network broke gender stereotypes by running a program called Two Fat Ladies (you can guess that the ladies were... fat).  I'll discuss in later posts how this is actually the opposite of what most people think about the channel, but I thought I'd start with some optimism.

In television cooking, male chefs being overweight is a sign of their legitimacy, but fat female chefs are more rare.  Most female chefs look like slim actresses.  In the 1990s, the hosts of Two Fat Ladies-- Jennifer Paterson and Clarissa Dickson-- broke this female norm.  They were overweight and over middle age (Paterson in her sixties, Dickson in her fifties), but proudly unapologetic of both facts.  They promoted the enjoyment of high calorie and high cholesterol foods and abhorred dieting.  The author asserts that for Americans, thinness is related to youth, success, and assertiveness-- so fatness, conversely, demonstrates inactivity and failure. Especially for women, who are supposed to feel guilty for gaining a few pounds, the hosts combatted such a stereotype.

Paterson and Dickson stressed the importance of tradition- but not in the way that was about serving the family.  Rather, they believed food was how people connected to the past and present.  They also addressed the stereotype of women having to eat lightly to preserve femininity while men who ate meat heartily were viewed as masculine, by cooking/eating a lot of meat and advocating for women to do the same.

Overall, this paints a more positive picture of the gender atmosphere on food television... but then again, this was in the 90s.  I don't see a lot of reruns.

To be continued.... !!