‘Masculine’ Portions at Mealtime Hurt Women’s Image, Study Finds

A new study has confirmed what many women have known for years--it is not socially advantageous to eat large meals in public.

Researchers from Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., say that when all other things are equal, women with large appetites are not highly regarded by their peers.

In the study, a student actress was filmed eating four different meals chosen by students who rated the menus from “very feminine” to “very masculine,” said Susan Basow, associate professor of psychology at Lafayette.

The actress ate a “feminine” meal of a small tossed salad with diet Italian dressing and a glass of seltzer; a larger “feminine” lunch of a large Greek salad and diet soda; a “masculine” meal of half a meatball Parmesan sandwich on a hoagie roll, six mozzarella sticks and a large soda, and a “man’s” meal of a large meatball Parmesan sandwich, cheese sticks, soda, fries and chocolate cake.

Students who viewed the woman dining rated her as being significantly more feminine and having more social appeal when eating the small meal. But when seen eating the large hoagie, she was considered less socially appealing and as less physically attractive than when eating the other meals.

“The pressure on women is incredible,” said Basow. “An ‘unfeminine’ woman is not going to be well liked, even by other women. To appear feminine, therefore, she must be constantly on guard, even when she is engaged in the most ordinary of daily rituals--such as eating.”