Wolf Peach
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Date
2022-08
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University of New Brunswick
Abstract
While food can be a means to symbolize many positive aspects of life—such as community, pleasure, and culture—it also illuminates social power dynamics. Food metaphors have been and continue to be used to dehumanize certain groups of people. This thesis specifically looks at three different kinds of food metaphors: 1) the use of fruit as a metaphor for queer people, particularly gay men as “soft” or effeminate; 2) the use of vegetables as a metaphor for both women and disabled people as passive objects; and 3) the use of meat as a metaphor for sexual assault survivors as consumable objects. The poems which comprise this thesis engage with these food metaphors to weave various identities (queer, transgender, survivor) together and present a narrative of loss, pain, growth, and eventual healing in the face of gender-based violence.