In a previous post, Gwen explained that sugar consumption rose in Britain during the late 1800s because more nutritious foods were scarce and saved for men. Women and girls, then, consumed sugar because it offered energy, even if less nutrition. This led to an association of sugar with women that remains to this day (think of who supposedly LOVES chocolate, binges on ice cream after a break up, etc.).
While having tea with my friend Marie in Ireland, I spotted her bag of sugar and snapped a photo for the blog:
Notice that not only do we see a giant, lipsticked kiss on the bag, but their slogan, “spread a little sweetness” (plus heart and arrow!), is a statement with a double meaning invoking both sugar and a quality associated with/required of women.
NEW! Sarah D. snapped this photo of a sugar packet, also in Ireland:
See also this post on efforts to market chocolate to men.
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Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
Comments 5
Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist — September 16, 2009
that's really interesting, never knew that. This just kills me, though. Sugar, ice cream, chocolate, and fatty sweets are associated with women, they aggressively push those products at us and tell us to buy it and eat it... while we are also expected to be stick-thin, have nice bodies, and have no cellulite!
Oh, the paradox.
MsAnon — September 16, 2009
Ironically, when they do "taste studies" to see what flavors people prefer and break it down by gender, men generally prefer their food and drinks sweeter than women do. (For example if the subjects are tasting sugar solution or fruit drink with varying amounts of sugar.) However that doesn't necessarily mean that men eat more sweets, or report liking them more.
you can google "preferred sweetness+gender and age", there are lots of studies that come up.
FreshPeaches — September 16, 2009
Where I come from (Southern US) "sugar" is also synonymous with "kiss" (not in a creepy way). The two words were practically interchangeable for my grandparents' generation, though a couple of generations later it isn't used as much.
Maria — September 16, 2009
in the same vein as deaf indian's post, i always put sugar and weight issues together- at least in the modern day. the stereotype that nags at us is "oh no i broke up with my boyfriend/had a fight/had a bad day at work/etc now i must have some ice cream/chocolate/cake because it doesn't matter now- nobody loves me i might as well be fat, i have no one to look good for" ie "unattractive". becuase, ya now- a.) anything unskinny is worthless or b.) god forbid we want to be healthy for our OWN good.
Jender — September 17, 2009
You might interested in this bit of sugar marketing: http://feministphilosophers.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/sugar-daddy/