Cooking as Activism: Subversive Culinary Discourse in Liberal Feminism, 1963-1985

• In Event: 442 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Paper Session. Feminist and Intersectional Approaches to Social Movements

Abstract

Liberal feminists are best known for working within established political and legal avenues to advance women into previously male-dominated spaces such as higher education, the paid workforce, and government. Less attention has been paid to how these feminists have politicized feminized spaces within the home. This is common across the social movements literature, which, under the contentious politics paradigm, has historically prioritized the study of episodic and public collective action that targets the state. However, the recent emergence of the multi-institutional politics approach argues that social movements can simultaneously challenge many institutions in addition to, or in place of, the state. Using the multi-institutional politics approach as my theoretical foundation, I argue that liberal feminists have used cooking as a form of activism that challenges patriarchal institutions. I analyze liberal feminist magazine and newspaper articles, archival material, and cookbooks to uncover these activists’ culinary suggestions and ideals. Rather than avoiding the kitchen, I find that some liberal feminists proposed ways of subversively engaging with it. By calling for quick and easy cooking, encouraging men to cook, and proposing that women make money from their cooking, these feminists advanced culinary methods that challenged women’s position within multiple patriarchal institutions. I conclude by suggesting that social movements scholars explore the potential for activism within cooking and other feminized actions across a range of social movements.

Author

• Stacy J. Williams, University of California, San Diego