Constructing the gendered body in prison cookbooks

Abstract

ABSTRACT Prison cookbooks have been systematically ignored as a form of narrative. The current study adds to the criminological literature by using thematic analysis to explore the construction of gender through the narratives of 24 prison cookbooks. Findings suggest that much of the gendered discourse troubles reductive and stereotypical presentations of incarcerated men and women. Through language choice, male cookbook authors embody relationship-building and introspection strategically while also espousing tenets of hegemonic masculinity. Women’s prison cookbook narratives construct gendered bodies that follow the norms and values of emphasized femininity, yet the “doubly deviant” aspect of female criminalization is apparent. Cooking, cleanliness, community, and weakness are prioritized throughout the women’s prison cookbooks, but these feminized behaviors experience tension within the context of imprisonment. We conclude that food writing may be one way to allow the self to occupy disparate embodiments of masculinity and femininity that facilitate the navigation of daily incarceration.