  (Toronto Sun files) |
With camouflage cooking aprons, fiery spice rubs, mouth-burning hot and thick sauces flavoured with Jack Daniel’s or Guinness widely available, it does seem as though the summer grilling season has been expertly tailored to guys, doesn’t it?
In a way, this makes sense.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire and that’s thrillingly primitive.
Even if the threat of danger is microscopically small, it is indeed present, and that in itself is exciting.
Sure it’s a far stretch from hunting elusive wild game with spears, but gripping the right grilling tools while standing at the helm and mastering the barbecue domain is as close as many modern men will ever get.
At home, my boyfriend is clearly the pit master. Timing and delicate precision is everything — knowing just when to flip the burgers, steak and chicken is the difference between perfectly cooked, underdone or inedibly charred. Meanwhile, chopping veggies and salad prep is my job.
That’s fine with me because frankly, propane scares the bejezus out of me.
But what does this division of labour mean?
According to Trent University history professor Christopher Dummitt, there’s more going on with the male grilling ritual than just tasty meat offerings.
In his recent research, Dummitt notes that barbecuing — which gained popularity during the rise of suburban life in the 1950s — was then a way for men to establish a masculine role in domestic life while ensuring that traditional gender roles — and possibly inequalities between the sexes — were kept firmly in place.
Sound extreme?
Maybe so, but Dummitt’s extensive examination of literature and advertisements from the era continually points to the same conclusion: The wholesome image of the ‘50s dad leisurely cooking up a feast for his family on the backyard barbie may be sweet, but this post-war pastime isn’t quite so simplistic.
“What people expected men to do, they weren’t domesticated in the same way that women were seen to be,” says Dummitt.
“If men were just to cook dinner in the kitchen on a weeknight, it might be seen as too feminine.”
Back then, important societal shifts were happening.
With women entering the workforce, men no longer were the only ones bringing home the bacon.
While women were taking on jobs that stretched beyond cooking, cleaning and child-rearing, a man’s place in the home wasn’t so clear.
At the same time, experts were strongly urging fathers to play a more active role in the home for the benefit of children, particularly for the healthy mental development of boys.
“Barbecuing was a way of finding a place in the ‘50s family,” Dummitt explains. “They’re cooking, but it’s not really seen as cooking.”
Companies, quick to recognize the trend, promptly began targeting the male demographic using persuasive advertising language touting strong steel products, durability and bigger barbecue stations.
In fact, before the arrival of the Hibachi, another compact barbecue was given big cred by advertisers promising it would do a “man-sized grilling.”
Indeed, much of this original marketing strategy remains.
While the idea of buying an oversized, industrial-strength world-class barbecue can seem bizarre to some, every year a new set of shoppers dig deep into their coffers to purchase the latest and greatest luxury model.
Certainly many things have changed since the Father Knows Best days, but if you look at the slabs of meat lined up the on fire, it seems this much hasn’t — guys still love grilling.
While not necessarily a bad thing, Dummitt believes the tradition is worth noting when it comes to playing out stereotyped gender roles.
“I think it should be a cautionary note that we haven’t come as far as we think we have,” he explains.
“Men might do more cooking and take care of more domestic tasks, but study after study shows women still take on more of the tasks ... I don’t think there’s anything negative about letting a guy take over the grill, but is that where a man’s domestic commitment stops?”
