LET'S NOT BODY SHAME OUR WOMEN (part 1)

One phrase I have noticed myself shouting at friends, family or even general members of the public is “LET’S NOT BODY SHAME OUR WOMEN” which out of context seems a slightly bizarre instruction. However, hopefully after reading this series of slight rants of it will hopefully become clear why I am becoming so frustrated on how we place the contradictory relationship between women and food. I could rage about this forever so I think I will split this between body shape, female culinary illusions and the use of food to demonise women. 

Body Shapes and poetic origins:

If you were to Google (other search engines available) the phrase “body shape” you immediately get placed clearly within the constructed feminine sphere: ’12 body shapes from Trinny and Susannah’, ‘3 female body types’, ‘female body shapes: which are you?’. Some of the immediate results are obviously focused on men, but the overall focus is predominantly on women. Now this isn’t exactly a hard fact to base my claims on, but looking a little deeper as to how we describe these body shapes is where it becomes a bit more disturbing. 

Apple, pear and even banana are but a few of the more common ‘body shapes’ out there. On its face value this seems logical, as the generic outline of that fruit can match a body shape. Logical, but slightly ridiculous practice. However, the connotations of this allusion places women as something to be grown, helplessly nurtured, selected, traded and consequently consumed for economic, pleasurable or nutritious gains. That sounds like a bit of an exaggeration in today’s society… but looking back at the role of women in many cultures for centuries it sounds all too familiar.

The image below exemplifies this, as you have a general outline of a range of female bodies with a picture of the respective fruit literally overlayed on top. Viewers are invited to directly correlate the body with food. 

Are we supposed to make a timely smoothie with 50% of the population? 

Note how the artist hasn't included any defining characteristics other than the fruit and the incredibly crude category of what shape they fit into. Though I have no objection to people fitting into general trend of body shape/size and breaking things down in such a way may be helpful in certain situations (though after 10mins of thinking I've yet to think of something other than clothes... which doesn't exactly counter my main point!).

I can't help but think of Elizabethan sonnets where the female body is deconstructed and essentially dissected to fit within a societal norm of beauty. Alabaster skin, ruby red lips, globes for breasts, golden locks are common imagery in the literary genre. However, in a sense makes these poor beloved subjects of these poems sound like a B&Q or a treasure trove for pirates. 

The Ditchley Portrait of Elizabeth I (circa 1592) 

The Ditchley Portrait - which portrays Elizabeth I exemplifies this even further. She is so extravagantly adorned with the huge dress, tiny synched waist,  hair emblazoned with jewels and even the background by extension as she stands on an atlas demonstrating her dominance over the the country. The only parts of Elizabeth's actual body on show is her face and hands. You could make a joke about how even her ankles are covered to distinctly remove any sense of sexuality but joke would sadly be correct - Elizabeth was known as the 'virgin queen'. The female body has clearly been manipulated to fit within a societal structure that has been crafted by a patriarchal society.

Thankfully, some playfully exploited this  Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 for example, who manages to parody these techniques to great comic effect:

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
   And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
   As any she belied with false compare. 

Shakespeare's subject is not as beautiful as nature: yet nonetheless the speaker is in love. That seems like an incredibly reductive and simple literary analysis - and it is. At every comparison to nature, astronomy or beauty - the subject is often the opposite. By Elizabethan sonnet standards, she is an absolute failure - but yet she still has the speaker in love. While the physical body shape of the subject is not revealed, her facial features are still emblazoned into separate parts for the readers to weave into a complete image. 

This dejection of literary convention not only plays with the form of the sonnet but also can be seen as a comic commentary on how enforcing these nonsensical rules of how we should and shouldn't look are plain whimsy. Yet despite all of this, the presentation on how we approach the bodies of women still appears to be very similar - if not the same. 

References:
Sonnet 130 accessed from http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/130.html accessed on 23/7/16

Body shape picture: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgifeE7bwWIJ0iBiLVMsevQGgpDDFc5NG0yypSyDNPKvTlcgaQvmnefKOaLKTC2stAfZbqIz69G5ZwcSfU2F2VKtLonugQZZNMwM2PjTLOLU1G2dYkmNpkrnc_3sjtfcqh4Dz6dpa_Ys2af/s1600/fdg.bmp  accessed on 10/07/16

The Ditchley portrait accessed from http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw02079/Queen-Elizabeth-I-The-Ditchley-portrait 16/7/16

The 'Euromyth' of Cucumber curvature.

Bonsoir (French), dobra večer (Croatian), Kalispera (Greek)… Good evening Europe, London calling. 

No, that wasn’t my attempt of showing off how nifty I am (with the help of an online translator to make sure everything makes sense!) 

War is coming. Apples will be harmed. Celery will be used as artillery. The less said about the state of tomatoes, the better. 

If you have been living under a rock for the past few months in British media, the UK will be holding a referendum in the coming weeks on whether or not we should remain a part of the European Union (EU) or leave - which will take place on June 23rd.

A map of the economic and political ties between European states

Already there has been be lots of discussion, debates, scaremongering, dare I say propaganda of ‘factual fiction’ on lots of issues that surround this bubbling issue. I think it would be just to say the core of all of these issues are pinned down by the cucumber. Perhaps a banana at a push.

That’s right. The mighty cucumber. The plant that is added to a salad, served as a refreshing snack or pickled with other fruit/veg, herbs and spices. It doesn’t have a great deal of flavour and compared to other popular fruits or vegetables it doesn’t offer much in the way of nutrition either. Some have a super-subtle sweetness, not unlike a melon. Others have a sense of bitterness about them as a result of the compound cucurbitacin. Most raw cucumbers are over 90% water.

As with any plant there are many different varieties and forms, but for the purposes of this blog entry I am exclusively referring to the ones you would commonly find in a supermarket, greengrocers or fruit and veg stall. From my brief research I believe the variety is a ‘Green Tasty’ - though I could be totally wrong. Though there are many variants and strains that have common characteristics, as with any plant, they come in all shapes and sizes. 

The dichotomy of taste perfectly reflects the ‘in’/‘out’ campaigns that we will all be subjected to for the next few weeks. 

This man won't hold any prisoners if you don't vote

The media took vegetable body positivity (if there ever was such a thing!) to a whole new level a few while back where rumours and articles of the EU banning any fruit or vegetable that did not conform to a set specification would not be allowed to be sold. 

This was consequently backed up by EU commissioners, with Commission Regulation (EC) 2257/94 which states bananas must be “free from malformation or abnormal curvature”. There is no guidance as to what is to be interpreted as ‘abnormal curvature’, which led to inflammatory arguments from the media. These claims were completely blown out of proportion, but still remains into the mindset of the public to this day with some journalists making the point that the "most famous Euromyth of them all" is in fact straight bananas. 

This contrasts from the case based on cucumbers (Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1677/88) where class I and ‘Extra class’ cucumbers are permitted to have a 10mm per 10cm bend. Class II cucumbers can bend twice as much. 

I should highlight that despite every piece of EU law or legislation being translated into every language of  the culture of the general public seems to be somewhat dependant on being apathetic when it comes to the political sphere. 

Though cucumbers are used in cosmetic products and home remedies for it’s naturally soothing properties, there aren’t many products that you can buy that are flavoured with cucumber or you buy primarily because it contains cucumber. In one sense, it is a rather trivial addition to our plates. Similarly, while this ‘euromyth’ I have referred to above is just a trivial creation of the British media it will be used as a weapon for leaving the EU. Dare I say it may even be possibly viewed as equally crucial as immigration or benefit breaks. Well, we will see about that anyway. It represents a mainland European challenge to our parliamentary supremacy and authority that we once held as an arguable world-leader in the Victorian age… yet it is artifice.

In the world of heated bureaucracy, political customs and systems the average human population too often are left out to get cold. Much like that poor dollop of sad, stagnant tinned mushy peas on the side sometimes served with glorious and lovingly made fish and chips from scratch. If you was wondering, yes, I am rather hungry writing this! 

Therefore I predict, for better or for worse, that food will be used as a language translator between the world of politic and the greater people. Economic plans or the intricate details of the core issues such as the ‘Free Movement of Goods’ or ‘Free Movement of Persons’ turned into much more domestic analogies or comparisons. 

By transposing all of this into a form people can understand, it can be used as a political weapon. Following this logic and without bigging it more - it is essentially Excalibur to the ‘question’ of European membership. 

However, as a result this poses the risk of conflation, as complex issues are collapsed into a simplistic comparison. As I said earlier, it is rare you buy a product because it contains cucumber itself. You buy it in addition with lettuce, tomatoes perhaps even yogurt. Cucumbers need context to work, much like you need the details behind the headlines to see things for what they are. 

All of this talk about the UK’s relationship with Europe and I’ve just discovered that the origins of cucumbers are thought to be South Asia. Oh sweet, sweet irony. 

Gourd for thought*?

*Come on, I needed at least one shoddy pun to lighten up this potentially very serious issue!

For a much more light-hearted visual interpretation of this blog, I have found this entertaining clip from a cartoon my sister used to watch. Readers, you can decide whether or not the characters flinging fruit/veg is either 'remain' or 'leave':

References:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/Supranational_European_Bodies-en.svg/600px-Supranational_European_Bodies-en.svg.png accessed 30/05/16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBfOOmBnfH0 accessed 30/05/16

http://i.imgur.com/72vNIsS.jpg accessed 30/05/16

https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/737399821615681537 accessed 30/05/16