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ABSTRACT
This paper explores the bachelorette party as a postfeminist expression. By focusing onfood and drink consumed at bachelorette parties held in Atlantic Canada over a twenty year period, it considers both the symbolic construction and consumption of male bodies in the form of meatballs or phallic cake, and the conjuring of girlhood through the ironic reinterpretations of candy associated with childhood. It examines how food and drink served at bachelorette parties fit into the hypersexualized and transgressive play that characterizes these events. KEYWORDS: Bachelorette party, feminism, foodways, play
Today the bachelorette party is such a common part of wedding celebrations in North America and beyond that it might be in danger of being taken for granted. Reinforced by decades of practice and popular culture representations, and supported by an industry that facilitates party planning, the bachelorette has become a regular wedding event alongside other festivities such as the bridal shower, bachelor party, rehearsal dinner, wedding ceremony, and reception. Accordingly, Beth Montemurro argues that bachelorettes must be analyzed within the context of the contemporary lavish wedding (Montemurro 2006:3) that began with Queen Victoria's marriage to Prince Albert in 1840 and took hold with the growth of consumerism and advertising (see Otnes and Pleck 2003). Otnes and Pleck credit the lavish wedding's rise in popularity to several factors, including its ability to bring together tenets of consumer culture and romantic love, offer magical transformation, provide memories of a sacred and secular event, and legitimate lavish consumption through the "ethic of perfection" (Otnes and Pleck 2003:8) and all of these aspects are present to some degree in the bachelorette party. As Montemurro notes, in a sense bachelorettes and bridal showers function as "pep rallies," helping to build excitement and anticipation for the wedding and providing a rehearsal of sorts for the bride-to be where she has the opportunity to "try on" her new role (Montemurro 2006:3). However, bachelorette parties also deserve attention as events unto themselves because they reveal much about at least some western women: the ways in which they "do" gender, their relationships with other women, and how they understand constructions of femininity and masculinity (Montemurro 2006:4). This article examines some of these meanings through an analysis of one aspect of bachelorette parties: the...