Yes! Food Sexism Exists And PepsiCo's Lady Doritos Has Proved It

Last week PepsiCo announced that it would release a new brand of Doritos chops, called Lady Doritos. These are apparently a less crunchy, quieter chip. It turns out there is a difference in the way men and women eat.

Pepsi CEO, Nooyi has said that women don’t like to crunch too loudly in public. And they don’t lick their fingers generously and they don’t like to pour the little-broken pieces and the flavour into their mouth.

Apparently, men lick their fingers with great glee, compared to women.

“For women, low-crunch, the full taste profile, not have so much of the flavor stick on the fingers, and how can you put it in a purse?” says PepsiCo.

And PepsiCo has done studies with focus groups on this subject. Chip crunchiness makes women self-conscious according to Pepsi.

However, there have been case studies done on chips, and psychologists have found that the crunchier the chop, the more satisfying it will be for both genders.

Of course, Twitter users have lashed out at this concept. Why have a woman-friendly chip which panders to societal norms?

Food sexism is rampant in India:

Women eat after their husbands, they eat less than the men, they don't sit at the head of the table, and the expectation to serve food falls squarely on the women's soldiers.

Journalist Rituparna Chatterjee illustrates this phenomenon well in her now-viral Twitter thread. She said that the crunch-less chips reminded her of the sexism around food in Indian families growing up.

Women ate after everyone else at any meal because a woman's claim to proper portions of good food came after everyone else's. Women are advised from a pre-pubescent age to eat less eggs lest their hipbones get calcified and hard, making childbirth difficult.

— Rituparna Chatterjee (@MasalaBai) February 4, 2018

She spoke about how women eat after everyone else, because that apparently is a 'woman's role'. And this exists till today. 27-year-old Preeti was taught to eat last while growing up, having to serve her father first. "Even at my in-law's place, my mother-in-law and I eat after my husband and father-in-law eat. It has always been the rule in our families," she tells SheThePeople.TV

"People turn to women to serve them at tables even in many educated households, hiding the misogyny as flattery: 'women are efficient at this sort of thing, men are not.' Women in many households aren't allowed a third helping. They are expected to be polite and discreet in public,"

So, to all girls growing up into women: to hell with them. Crunch your chips, lick the sauce off your fingers, chomp your food, take delight in what you eat. They made up the rules for you as they went anyway, you can do the same.

"Women were once told not to eat in front of men, lest the ugliness of chewing, spitting out bones, swallowing put men off. They ate in the kitchen. They still do in many parts of India. Putting away the excess food at night, even after a tiring day, is still mostly their job," says Rituparna.

So, to all girls growing up into women: to hell with them. Crunch your chips, lick the sauce off your fingers, chomp your food, take delight in what you eat. They made up the rules for you as they went anyway, you can do the same.

— Rituparna Chatterjee (@MasalaBai) February 4, 2018

Even seemingly innocuous things like the man sitting at the head of the table, point to sexism.

Positions at a table mean something, says 20-year-old Kavya. "We have seven granddaughters, and my family talks about feminism, but the man's place is always at the head of the table. What's more is my grandfather tells us we need to learn how to serve!"

This #foodsexism is real! Had always seen it around me until one fine day I saw my mother say she doesnt care if others arent hungry as she sat down to eat before others.That questioned my conditioning.She still does that and each time I judge her less and less. let's unlearn! https://t.co/Jqh6QYjqOt

— Lubhawani (@Lubhawani_Yadav) February 5, 2018

And this happens in other parts of the world too!

Some of this sound awfully familiar. I can clearly see lot of resemblance to my experience of growing up in Turkey.
Men is served the best portions, they start eating before others, women set the table and serve portions, and men never meddle with serving or putting food away. https://t.co/IDP0tnyyXF

— Işıl Arıcan 😷💉 (@isil_arican) February 5, 2018

Everything under this thread is also true in some African communities. Smh https://t.co/J0YMOrhR6F

— Miss_C ✨🇨🇲 (@_ImCameroonian) February 5, 2018

Sounds like some Israeli Mizrachi families, Iraqi, Moroccan in particular. But also some well educated Ashkenazi families I know. Patriarchy is not discriminatory. https://t.co/eipA1UyYgJ

— Rebecca 🍀 🏀 (@dorothyofisrael) February 5, 2018

Also Read: Stop Serving Casual Sexism on Billboards