We must honor those who pioneer our path.
There are amazing female butchers out now making a name for themselves like Kari Underly, Sara Bigelow and Lindy & Grundy as well as women in other countries. It is amazing the similarity in our stories. It makes me crave a little place of my own, like the character Harriet Michaels in So I Married An Axe Murder (A MUST SEE!).
But, for a truly inspirational story, I look to Cheralyn Darcey. She speaks my heart!
Why don’t more women pursue meat cutting as a profession? Of the notable females in the field, many come from butcher shop families. In fact, the traditional butcher shop was a family business where all the children were 
raised to see the beauty and dignity in this honest trade.
So why do many women, even culinarians, leave the butchering to the boys?
Admittedly, before going to culinary school, I hated dealing with raw meat. I would use paper towels and tongs to avoid touching it. “Ewe, ewe, ewe” was a common phrase in my kitchen. I would even pay a shit-ton more money per pound just to have someone else chop it up so that I would not dirty my counter or cutting board. I could literally kick myself now for the money I wasted!
Within the first few weeks of school, I was given a whole bird, shown a demonstration on the most effective way to break it down and told to go at it. I almost threw up. But, whether it was the supremely sharp knife or the way I was able to maneuver through joints and cartilage without any sawing or hacking, I was surprised to find how incredibly easy and rewarding it was. And thus the passion began.
There is, however, a bit of a glass ceiling in the butcher shop. For some, it’s okay for a female to cut up fish and chicken, maybe even handle some sausage, but breaking down 4-legged animals seems to be a butcher shop boys club. Maybe it’s because the knives are bigger and there is some sort of prehistoric need to protect the female. I think that is the same rational as to why men are the “grill masters” and women are the “home cooks”. Danger! Must not let the woman play with fire!
But I digress, it is a challenging and rewarding vocation that I am proud to be part of and highly recommend to any gender.
The other day, one of the guys told me he felt “emasculated” because I asked him to hold a large container steady while I emptied a 50 pound bag of brown sugar.
When he saw me struggling from across the room, he valiantly came to my aid.
“Let me help you with that.”
“Thanks Man. Can you hold that steady so I don’t dump this on the ground?”
“Here. Let me do it”
“No. I don’t need you to do it for me. I just need a spotter.”
To that, he dropped to one knee and hung his head while I hoisted the sugar into the container.
“This is really emasculating.” he said. While I probably should have tempered my response, the first thing that came out of my mouth was “Sack Up”. Again, I am not intentionally antagonistic. I just have little patience when it comes to assigning gender roles.
And why should I feel the need to feed into this idea that men are big and powerful while women are frail and weak. If you read my post Lift The Heavy Sh*t, you will see that I have strong opinions about being treated as an equal and how that means doing equal work. Yeah, I may have hurt someones feelings but hey, Man Up.
When I first started, I thought that in order to be taken seriously, I had to “butch(er) up”. That meant no make-up, bright color or any item that would let on that I was a girl . . . like it was something that I could or should hide. Since then, I have grown up and realized that (SHOCKER!) they were aware of my gender when they hired me and the fact that I was trying to hide it was making most people pretty uncomfortable.
Now (insert soap box here), I am of the FIRM belief that everyone should be exactly who they want to be. If that means dressing outside gender stereotypes, I embrace that and find it truly beautiful. So, for me to deny my love of femininity and god-given curves seemed hypocritical.
I started slow . . . clear lip gloss and mascara. The reaction was incredible. My original worries were quickly dispelled. Guys who barely spoke to me began warming up. Outside work, I can be pretty glam (when the occasion presents itself). The key at work is to keep it natural. Lately, I’ve started busting out my “girly” hats and shoes (hot pink, flowers, the whole nine-yards). I expect and welcome the teasing from the guys. It opens the door for me to point out their Darth Vader boots and ridicule their worn out Batman tees.
Truth is, I feel more like ME. I think that may be what they are actually warming up to.
BUTCHER BABE 