In May we featured a block of cheese that inspired quite the response. Riffing off the name “Monterey Jack,” a company was selling “Monterey Jill”: the same old cheese, but reduced fat. It was an excellent example of the way dieting is feminized.
People — myself included — were pretty stunned to see gendered cheese; who knew this was going to be a thing. In fact, Liam sent us an example of gendered string cheese with the exact same theme: there’s string cheese animated by a male character and reduced-fat string cheese animated by a female character. Also, they’re surfing; aaaaaand I have no analysis of that.
Thanks for reminding the ladies to be worried about their waistlines cheese people! It’s not as if we don’t get that message absolutely every time we turn around!
Comments 14
Harper Lee Haynes — July 3, 2013
Let's not forget that Mr. Boy Cheese is carrying a book and wearing glasses, for the trivia edition. That, in combination with everything else, is not a mistake. All the girl gets is a fabulous outfit for her stringy good-looks. Like much of gendered advertising, femininity is reduced to physical appearance, while masculinity gets to have a mind attached to the (cheese) body.
Kate — July 3, 2013
And the pink lips, because... girl. Also, "Stringsters" must be a term for these cheese folk who surf. At least they're being active?
Elly — July 3, 2013
What makes it even more ridiculous is that there's only a trivial difference in total calories (approx. 10 kcal per "string") between the regular and (implied) "diet" versions.
[links] Link salad rises up into the air and explodes | jlake.com — July 4, 2013
[...] The Weird New World of Girl Cheese — Gendered cheese. Because reasons. (Thanks, I think, to Lisa Costello.) [...]
Elena — July 4, 2013
Also, they’re surfing; aaaaaand I have no analysis of that.
Surfing was fresh and young in the 1960s, when the Beach Boys topped the charts and Elvis made films in Hawaii. See TV Tropes, Totally Radical. And tubular. Cowabunga, dude.
Ruby — July 5, 2013
Good observation about "Trivia" and bookishness being associated with the "boy cheese." On a more superficial note, I also noticed that "70 cal per serving" is written in pink, whereas "90 cal per serving" is in orange. Both packages alternate between red and blue as dominant colors, inverting the logo colors a bit. While the "girl cheese" packet is dominated by blue, it is also the only one that includes pink, reinforcing the "pink is for girls only" message.
Sunday Morning Medicine | Nursing Clio — July 7, 2013
[...] The weird new world of girl cheese. [...]
Links I Have Found Interesting | DESERTWINDHOUNDS — July 9, 2013
[...] Girl cheese. Cheese for girls. The weird world of marketing. [...]
Are Women So Different They Need Their Own Kind of Cheese? | Care2 Causes — July 12, 2013
[...] see, we need very special reduced fat cheese. At least, that’s what this photo published by Sociological Images of Precious’ “Stringsters” would have us [...]
Hello world! « coffee and a blank page — July 20, 2013
[...] advertisements for cheese and mid-20th century [...]
blac — September 15, 2014
why not the weird new world of GUY CHEESE? so the guy cheese is the default cheese~~~ what even...
rachel — April 5, 2015
And the girl only gets half the clothes the boy gets.
A2Bookmarks France — August 15, 2024
In an unusual twist, the world of cheese has seen the introduction of gendered varieties, as exemplified by "Monterey Jill," a reduced-fat cheese riffing off "Monterey Jack." This development highlights how dieting culture is often feminized, with the gendering of food products reinforcing stereotypical body image concerns. Even more surprisingly, gendered string cheese has emerged, with male characters promoting regular cheese and female characters representing reduced-fat versions, complete with surfing animations. This quirky trend underscores how pervasive and insidious societal messages about body image can be.
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