Studies reveal that guys (being the morons we sometimes are) skip over foods we want in favor of foods we deem “masculine.”
Admit it, you’ve been there before. Out at the local Red Lobster with a bunch of friends on a Friday night, you open the menu and begin contemplating the vast array of options. It’s hot, and you’d prefer something light, cool, and refreshing—like the Caesar salad, and maybe one of those fruity mixed drinks to quench your thirst.
When the waitress arrives, your friends place their orders—a medley of steaks, lobsters, and chicken, accompanied by pints of beer.
Pangs of doubt creep into your mind. Suddenly that Caesar salad seems a bit skimpy; maybe, you think, it won’t be filling enough.
Before you can say “appletini,” it’s your turn to order.
“And what can I get for you, sir?”
The pressure mounts; all eyes are on you. You begin to anticipate the snickers, the prodding, the playful teasing. Don’t be a pussy—for a second, you swear you hear it—or is it all in your head?
You order the steak. And a pint of Guinness.
* * *
There’s no denying it: when we order food and drinks, we often pass up desirable menu offerings in order to adhere to gender-specific expectations. As Tom Jacobs of Miller-McCune reports, study after study shows that if you’re an American male, eating “gender appropriate grub becomes a way of affirming one’s manliness.”
Why does this happen? Well, there’s always the genetic argument to fall back on—you know, that we’re biologically wired to seek high-protein foods in order to bulk up for those woolly mammoth hunting expeditions. (“It’s not my fault I’ve eaten six cheeseburgers over the past two days—my genes made me do it!”)
But there’s more to it than just genetics. Society, culture, and gender norms all play a significant role. For example, in a study conducted by Northwestern University, men who had to choose their food item in under ten seconds often selected foods designated as “feminine”—fish, vegetables, yogurt. (It all depended on what they were in the mood for.) But when given more time to weigh their options, men “were significantly more likely to choose ‘masculine’ food than those who had to make an on-the-spot decision.”
According to Salon, people “are more likely to eat a food when they associate with it qualities they’d like to see in themselves. So a man who wants to be strong and masculine is more likely to eat a food described as strong and masculine—hence the prevalence in American culture of meat as a manly food.”
American advertising executives have pounced on this, proliferating the media-driven definition of what it means to be a man. To companies promoting their products, food, apparently, is no different than cars, clothes, or cigarettes. Corporations know what they want to sell, and who they want to sell it to. They are keen to exploit insecurities or inadequacies to the extent that we feel we aren’t good enough, and that we need to associate ourselves with certain “things” or products in order to be “x” (e.g. happy, sexy, intelligent, successful, or, in this case, manly).
But it doesn’t have to be that way—so fight the urge to conform, and trust thyself! The raisin-walnut salad that piqued your interest can be just as bad-ass as a bacon burger. Berry mango daiquiris taste great—don’t let anyone tell you otherwise—and if you’re really ready to be a trailblazer, jump on the froyo train.
Of course, if you find yourself overwhelmed by a burger craving, by all means, go big or go home.
—Nick Lehr