The Wild Side of Man. How animal metaphors shape masculine food practices and midlife transitions
Résumé
The chapter explores the trope of wildness in masculine age transitions during midlife. It is based on a research on food habits and constructions of masculinity, which was carried outfrom 2017 to 2018 with 29 men, 40–63 years of age, living in France and Italy. The paper firstrecalls the importance of the animal metaphors in the social transitions and in passages of age,and the way in which they constitute a more general reminder of the ontogenic processes thatshape a person. Then it examines how, through food choices, the animal metaphor is used toexpress the relationship to gender identification processes within an ageing perspective.Empirical qualitative findings reveal that this relationship between masculinity, age andanimal metaphor comes in three main ways. The first one takes the direction of anidentification to the animal, which is expressed, for example, by the criticism towardcontemporary slaughter or breeding methods. This can lead to the rejection of a hegemonic profile of masculinity and a renegotiation of gender and class dominations. The secondmodality, “rejecting the wild,” is rather based on the dissociation from the wild side of adominant masculinity even if the reproduction of a predatory masculine attitude may persist.The third modality of the relationship to the animal metaphor is expressed through rewildingforms, which are permitted by the exit of the family circle and/or the homosocialrelationships. This “exit strategy” allows the interviewees to temporarily escape constraintsrelated to ageing issues.