Do We Even Care? From an active consumer’s perspective

 

Introduction

The gender inequalities in food and water is never a simple topic, rather an interlinkage and sophisticated systems that is intertwined and has shaped how it was in the past and how it is today. I would like to present in this article that perhaps even from our smallest thinking and action may have an impact in the big structural system of gender inequality in food and water. Although societal challenges such as neoliberalism plays a big role, cultural embeddedness and women’s sensitivity on how they view their aesthetic side all seem play their roles.  I would like to stretch a little further and question from the perspective of an active consumer, do I know where my water or where the vegetables are grown from or where our clothes are manufactured from? Am I well-aware of these? My answer would lie somewhere like, “I know they come from Third World nations, but I do I really care about it? Not really”. I will be discussing on articles based on re-defining neoliberalism and the resistance of aesthetics thinking in the background of on-going capitalism.

Re-defining neoliberalism

Ahlers and Zwarteveen’s redefinition of neoliberalism through the lens of feminism with a focus in Latin America builds on a conversation of the disproportionate amount of water to women. Their analysis on the language of neoliberalism argues that it translates to universalisation and human nature that reduces the differences of human being which makes it rhetorically correct and difficult to deny. For example, neoliberalism language in water translates to “naturalisation” and catering towards words like “population growth” than to “industrial growth” (Ahlers and Zwarteveen 414). However, this has a price to pay that hinders the social structure of how women are perceived. They are often overseen of their social, cultural and historical measures of inequalities. Looking closely as to the hidden dynamics of neoliberalism practice leads us to the next section of capitalism.

The loop of capitalism

Cycle of capitalism never comes to an end, especially because it is about people buying people, the continuous (un)necessary buying and selling of things. It brings up the concept of labor and how we don’t know where the things we buy really come from. And it is most likely that we don’t know and we don’t really care. This shows how interesting capitalism works. Its obscure. This leads us to the next topic on how women’s everyday thinking of their body shape impacts in the way they view the world.

Resistance of Aesthetics Thinking

Allen and Sachs use the following three way perspectives in understanding the relationships between women and food: the corporeal, socio-cultural, and material domains (Allen and Sachs, 1). One of their key concepts lie on the fundamental mentality of women in today’s world which are reflected in the image of our body. This is a crucial argument in that it is often overlooked in our society today, women are conscious of their body display and psychologically mistaken that they weigh more than their actual weight. However, famous public figures these days have embraced their natural and grounded look. Recently, Alessia Cara took off her make-up while performing on stage to spread the message that we are still beautiful no matter what. These little actions and messages sent to the public is a prime example of resistance and change in the social structure.

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Conclusion

Like mentioned earlier in the introduction,  I would want to take a moment and get back to the question, do we even care?  Our little concern and our little awareness can definitely make a change in the larger societal system. It is crucial for us to expose ourselves in the realm of “our world” and not be stuck within traditional terms. If changes need to be made, we don’t need to blame neoliberalism or to conventional terms, however, active consumers like us can make a small difference by having a little twist in our minds that it is okay to not appear perfect and accepting the body that we are given to which will eventually and naturally open our way to continuing the fight for resistance of the gender inequalities of food and water.

 

Citation:

Ahlers, Rhodante, and Margreet Zwarteveen. “The water question in feminism: water control and gender inequities in a neo-Liberal era.” Gender, Place & Culture, vol. 16, no. 4, 14 July 2009, pp. 409–426.

Allen, Patricia, and Carolyn Sachs. “Women and Food Chains.” International Journal of Sociology of Food and Agriculture, vol. 15, no. 1, Apr. 2017, pp. 1–23.

 

Sources for images:

https://www.glamour.com/story/alessia-cara-2017-vmas-performance

http://www.azquotes.com/quote/1535551

www.youtube.com/rsaanimatecapitalism