10.

Sex = Food

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40868763@N02/3761724457/

I am fascinated by the way in which Naomi Wolf  equates sex with food in The Beauty Myth. She argues that food indulgences are seen in a way that sexual indulgences have been seen in the past - shameful, pleasurable, emotionally tolling. She observes that "while sex for pleasure was a sin; women make the same distinction today between eating to sustain life and eating for pleasure" (98). 

I recently read an article in the New Yorker in which a journalist makes a distinction between a meal and a dessert. A meal is what you need to survive (in keeping with Wolf's parallel, the sort of sex used for procreational purposes), while dessert is superfluous (like sex for pleasure). We indulge in dessert, not because we need to, but because we can. The sugary properties of desserts make them impractical in the long run in terms of sustenance (all we get is a sugar high and then a crash). Instead, they are wild and impulsive, about living in the moment. 

With the woman as the"domestic goddess," cooking being a traditional task, must she balance the menu with food and dessert? Is this not symbolic of the age-old contradiction women are expected to embody - on one hand the stable, fertile mother but also the flirtatious, sexually arousing vixen.


This parallel between food and sexual desire is drawn in The Handmaid's Tale as well. In moments of sensory desolation, Margaret Atwood describes her protagonist as suddenly overwhelmed with hunger, the desire to taste, to consume. Offred's desire to feel alive is associated with her desire to eat.  Oral consumption satisfies the senses in a big way - smell, sight and taste are involved. It seems that exhilarating these senses is a crucial part of being "alive".

Wolf agrees, saying "To be alive is to want to satisfy hunger" (126)


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By complete coincidence I walked into my sister's room this morning and found her browsing a new website--foodporndaily.com---where drool-worthy images of food are posted daily. Fascinating that such a website exists, but also a bit creepy!

http://foodporndaily.com/pictures/soft-gooey-cinnamon-rolls-drench-in-cream-cheese-icing