Hunger Makes Me Summary

In Hunger Makes Me, Jess Zimmerman describes a series of socially-constructed of expectations for women. These expectations, take the form of binaries, where both sides are considered reproachable by the society at large. For example, the article argues that for women, possessing an appetite is always viewed as unhealthy. Whether it be for food, attention or sex, these desires are filtered through binaries, where the impulse for these things is consistently perceived as excessive. As a result, a simplistic choice is socially disseminated: either accept the labeling of your body as greedy, attention-seeking, etc., or relinquish your right to desire entirely. In all honesty, I feel strange writing a response to this paper. The pernicious

Last week, my friend was very hungry late on a thursday night and asked me if I would go with her to get food. I told her I wasn’t too hungry but that I would happily join her. When I got in her car, she asked me where I wanted to go and I told her I would go wherever she wanted because I could eat something small anywhere. Despite the fact that she was the one who was hungry for a full-meal we spent roughly 30 minutes driving the streets of Salem as she calmly asked me: “Would you eat at Chipotle? Would you eat at Mod Pizza?” Finally, I said to her “Hey! Just go wherever you want to eat, I’ll get something small.” If someone had to said this to me, it would happily end any group deliberation over food. Instead of reacting like I would, she let out an exasperated sigh as if I had delivered bad news. At this moment I felt lost on what to do. The first thing that came to my mind, was that she may feel reluctant to decide on food due to the social expectations Zimmerman details in her piece. I knew that if I simply picked a place, she would feel content and happy at least temporarily, so I did. However, reflecting back on it, I am left with some thoughts, perhaps ignorant ones at that. First, I felt