You Are What You (M)eat: Explorations of Meat-eating, Masculinity and Masquerade

Abstract

Food consumption is frequently linked to identity and to who we are as individuals, which I explore through the analysis of the US reality television series Man V. Food. Through close readings of various scenes, I look at representations of hegemonic masculine performance, and the sexualisation of women and meat. In light of my analysis, I argue that the show is both post-feminist and part of a wider backlash against feminist action. Man V. Food is analysed in consideration of the wider phenomena of masculine crisis and backlash against various social movements, specifically recent feminist and vegetarian/vegan movements. This article explores the intersections between the treatment of women and that of nonhuman animals in contemporary Western patriarchal society, and is particularly interested in the gendering of food, specifically meat, as a means of establishing hegemonic male dominance in contemporary Western society.