[Twosugars]

Thoughts?

Eating bananas whole is ... gay? Fragile masculinity's bizarre new 'hetiquette'
Arwa Mahdawi

Rapper Wiz Khalifa’s insistence that ‘you gotta break it in pieces, bro’ is but one example of gender expectations affecting food
Fri 20 Jul 2018 18.44 BST Last modified on Fri 20 Jul 2018 21.29 BST

Rapper Wiz Khalifa thinks heterosexual men shouldn’t eat bananas straight out of the peel. Khalifa shared his fruity thoughts on the Breakfast Club radio show earlier this week, telling host Charlamagne Tha God that men should break their bananas into little bits. It’s simple “hetiquette”.

“If you bite into a banana, you sus,” Khalifa said. “Sus” is slang for suspect, and in this instance, seems to be implying that eating a banana whole is a gay thing to do.

When Charlamagne protested “it’s just fruit”, Khalifa doubled down on his assertions. “You gotta break it in pieces bro … gotta break the banana in half. I’m just trying to help you out, bro. If you’re in public, just break it into pieces.”

Khalifa’s comments haven’t gone down well on the internet, with a lot of people pointing out that being afraid that eating a banana makes you look “gay” is the very essence of toxic masculinity.

Khalifa isn’t the only celebrity to have demonstrated, via food, just how fragile their masculinity is. In 2016, Richard Hammond, a very manly, very heterosexual man who drives fast cars on the Amazon motoring show The Grand Tour, said he didn’t eat ice-cream: “It’s something to do with being straight.”

Hammond served these bizarre thoughts up to a live studio audience who applauded him. He then continued: “Ice-cream is a bit – you know. There’s nothing wrong with it, but a grown man eating an ice-cream – it’s that way, rather than that way …”

After facing a backlash for his comments, Hammond said he didn’t know what the big deal was. “When I hear of people in the media coming out, I think, why do they even feel the need to mention it? It is so old-fashioned to make a big deal of it. That isn’t even an interesting thing to say at a dinner party any more.” Facts disagree with Hammond’s feelings: LGBT students are two to three times more likely to be physically assaulted or threatened at schools than their straight peers. Despite great strides in LGBT acceptance, a 2017 report found that rates of homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools are at an “unprecedented high”.

Do real men eat quiche?
Khalifa and Hammond may be more outspoken about their views on how gender connects with food than the average person, but research has shown that men edit their food and drink choices every day to conform to gender expectations.

A 2010 study, Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche, found that when men have to make a snap decision about what they consume, they choose whatever their intrinsic preference is, even if it’s coded “feminine”. They’ll opt for that tasty pink drink at the bar instead of a more manly-seeming whiskey, for example.

When men have more time to consider a decision, however, they start thinking about the social implications of transgressing gender norms, and choose something that conforms more to a masculine gender identity. They’ll order the whiskey even if that isn’t really what they want.

James Wilkie, assistant professor of marketing at University of Notre Dame, who co-authored the study, explains that women aren’t as sensitive about making appropriate choices because they’re not penalized in the same way that men are. “If anything,” says Wilkie, “a woman might get compliments if she orders a more manly drink at the bar.” We live in a culture which rewards acting in stereotypically ‘male’ ways and punishes ‘female’ behaviour. Sad as it may be, this extends to the manner in which you eat a banana.

[Niamh.]

Eating a banana whole? Like not even biting it?

[Rob!]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Eating a banana whole? Like not even biting it?

Don’t be modest you

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Rob!

Don’t be modest you

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Eating a banana whole? Like not even biting it?

...I have a friend who does that...she just peels the skin off completely and puts the whole banana in at once and then a few seconds later it’s gone, she’s swallowed it all...it’s a fascinating thing to watch no matter how many times I’ve seen her do it..I’m pretty mesmerised by it.....


...she does it with all of her food though, she just loves food I think...she doesn’t eat it, she devours it...fascinating...she’s really ultra slim as well, how can that be..?...

[Nicky91]

i think you would most likely choke if you eat a banana whole


i usually chop it up and put it in my yoghurt for example

[Twosugars]

LOL, no, they mean eating it out of the skin by chomping on the whole banana bit by bit
apparently you meant to break it up with your hands first, not your gob

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Twosugars

LOL, no, they mean eating it out of the skin by chomping on the whole banana bit by bit
apparently you meant to break it up with your hands first, not your gob

But your hands would get sticky then, this makes no sense

[Twosugars]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

But your hands would get sticky then, this makes no sense

Better that than have your masculinity questioned

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Twosugars

Better that than have your masculinity questioned

[smudgie]

Utter bollox.

[arista]

Originally Posted by smudgie

Utter bollox.

Yes Food is Food.

[hijaxers]

Originally Posted by arista

Yes Food is Food.

Too right

Bloody gay food what a joke.

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by smudgie

Utter bollox.

.

[AnnieK]

Look someone in the eye when you're eating a banana and it feels just wrong lol. But no, it has to be eaten whole or sliced but not broken up by hand....that's just messy

[Twosugars]

Originally Posted by AnnieK

Look someone in the eye when you're eating a banana and it feels just wrong lol. But no, it has to be eaten whole or sliced but not broken up by hand....that's just messy

Embracing the shaft of a banana with your lips while gazing meaningfully into someone's eyes

[kirklancaster]

Originally Posted by Twosugars

Embracing the shaft of a banana with your lips while gazing meaningfully into someone's eyes

I prefer sexual partners who are weird; Embracing my shaft with their lips while gazing meaningfully at a banana.

[Nicky91]

i never break my banana up with my hands, if i eat one during lunch, i just eat it bit for bit

[Withano]

Think it only counts if you look the guy on the bus directly in the eye as you do it

[Twosugars]

the examples of the rapper and hammond are laughable
but I do think some men would never dream of ordering a girly looking cocktail so they don't look silly

[Withano]

Although I think ‘Wiz’ has the opposite logic (in that it happens and we should watch out for that), I do agree that it happens.

When I was younger, I genuinely thought beer was for males and wine was for females. It still goes on to a lesser extent, and its difficult to believe beer or wine is anybodys favourite flavour beverage.

[Calderyon]

You peel the skin off, and then break up pieces of it and eat.

[Twosugars]

break up pieces with what? mouth or fingers?

[Calderyon]

Using your hands, of course.

[Twosugars]

Originally Posted by Calderyon

Using your hands, of course.

Cald proves the point