from the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development |
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Across the U.S., college and university students in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, agender, asexual, and Two-Spirit (LGBTQIA2S+) community face intersectional challenges. In a new JAFSCD article, “Gender, sexuality, and food access: An exploration of food security with LGBTQIA2S+ university students,” authors Eli Lumens (corresponding author), Mary Beckie, and Fay Fletcher present findings from qualitative research that explores and analyzes food insecurity at the intersection of the LGBTQIA2S+ community and the university and college student population in the American South, as told by the community itself.
Although research has been limited to date, food insecurity has been shown to be more pervasive in the U.S. among the LGBTQIA2S+ community, affecting millions annually. College and university students also experience statistically significantly higher rates of food insecurity than non-students. Informed by intersectionality theory and queer theory, this research examines food insecurity experiences of LGBTQIA2S+ students at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), and the socio-cultural, political, and environmental factors that pose barriers and create opportunities to improve food access.
KEY POINTS
Socio-political factors such as social inequality, religious practices, and historical legislative policies that fail to protect LGBTQIA2S+ individuals in North Carolina were reported as significant barriers to food access.
Participants found access to healthy and affordable food limited on UNCG campus, but most felt unsafe traveling further from campus or downtown Greensboro for food shopping due to negative attitudes toward the LGBTQIA2S+ community in surrounding areas.
Transgender students faced unique challenges that affected their food security, highlighting a need for increased support from universities. Over one-third of participants described their ability to pass as cisgender and/or heterosexual as a privilege because it decreased their risk of garnering negative attention. Three-fourths of participants reported limited finances as significantly impacting their food security, with factors such as the high price of university tuition, the cost of living and/or eating on-campus, and difficulties in securing employment as key components.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY, PRACTICE, AND RESEARCH - Understanding the intersectionality of LGBTQIA2S+ students’ experiences and providing relevant and effective support on university campuses is needed to improve equitable access to nutritious and affordable foods.
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Future studies could aim to include more participants and be designed to generate longitudinal data in order to gain a broader understanding of factors involved in LGBTQIA2S+ university students’ food insecurity, and to identify any changes in food access over time, with respect to influences of LGBTQIA2S+ identities.
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Further research is also needed on experiences specific to sexual, gender and racial minorities, as well as the overlap thereof, and how intersectional factors disproportionately position the LGBTQIA2S+ community to have diminished food access.
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How do students at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, agender, asexual, and Two-Spirit (LGBTQIA2S+) community experience food security? Read the new @JAFSCD article, “Gender, sexuality, and food access: An exploration of food security with LGBTQIA2S+ university students” to learn more. #LGBTQIA2SPlus #FoodInsecurity #Intersectionality Read for free: https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2024.132.010
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Image above: University of Alberta Edmonton Pride Parade 2011; photo by Flickr user Kurayba. |
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At The Table: The Chef's Guide to Advocacy, by Katherine Miller
Reviewed by Bob Perry, chef in residence at the University of Kentucky
From the review: "Before turning her attention to food and becoming a vice president of the James Beard Foundation, Katherine Miller advised left-leaning political campaigns and foundations on strategy and advocacy. We can be thankful she focused her attention on food and, while the title of the book suggests that it is a guide for chefs, anyone in the good food space can learn her methods of advocacy." Read the full review for free! |
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Feeding New Orleans: Celebrity Chefs and Reimagining Food Justice, by Jeanne K. Firth
Reviewed by Natasha Bernstein Bunzl, New York University
From the review: "[Author Jeanne K. Firth] interprets her field notes from charity events and her interviews with scholarship recipients and donors . . . illuminating how chef philanthropy has played an integral role in shaping 'post–Hurricane Katrina' New Orleans. Firth reveals the way racism, classism, and sexism inform celebrity chef foundations. That said, the book does not only decry how inequality seeps into and is reproduced by chef foundations; it also explores how actors across the system both resist and reinforce these dynamics."
Read the full review for free! |
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| In this popular and free webinar series from our sister program NAFSN, panelists share connections and insights to help attendees identify possibilities for their careers. The spring 2024 series highlights job creators across the food systems profession.
There is still time to join us for the next Finding Your Future in Food Systems webinar with Marion Mosby (Tennessee State U), David Gianino (Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services), and Raghela Scavuzzo (Illinois Farm Bureau) Wednesday, March 20, 6:00-7:00 pm ET REGISTER for this free event! |
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