Hur konstrueras den kvinnliga identiteten?
Om kvinnornas förhållande till matlagning och ätande
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54807/kp.v9.31285Keywords:
food, mat, eating, ätande, women, kvinnor, gender, genus, cooking, matlagning, body, kropp, emotions, känslor, discourse, diskurs, responsibility, ansvar, family, familjAbstract
The aim of this article is to analyze and discuss women's relationship to food, eating and cooking. I assume that food and eating practices have a primary role in the development and maintenance of femininity and women's identity, experienced through the body and the emotions. For the women, food and eating habits and preferences are not just matters of "fuelling" themselves. These are central aspects to women's subjectivity and their experiences of embodiment. That is why the meanings, discourses and practices around food and eating are worthy of interpretation. I am discussing the division of labour (cooking) and the responsibility within the family which are essential objects of study when focusing on the relationship between men and women.
This article is in part based on my diploma work in nordic ethnology which was finished during the autumn of 1999. To collect material for the diploma work I used a questionnaire ("A questionnaire about women's relationship to food and their bodies") with three pages of open questions. Most of the recipients were female university students, born in the 1970's. In analyzing the answers it is important to remember that they are not simply the subjective property of individuals but are also part of a shared sociocultural experience about being a woman in today's society.
