CHOCOGYNY
by The Chocolate Dictionary
Smooth, beautifully shaped surfaces.
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Chocogyny is the complimentary description of women, or aspects of womenhood, in terms of chocolate, especially where the description comes wrapped in Milk Tray associations. The actress Natalie Portman once described herself as more of a chocolate bar than a hard sex symbol. June Brown – Dot Cotton in the BBC’s Eastenders – said when she was young she had lips like Mayfair chocolates, i.e. as luscious as rose crèmes. In reference to her frequent appearances in magazines and gossip columns, Kate Middleton’s sister Pippa was described by the Daily Mail in 2012 as a “Hazelnut Whirl in the chocolate box of life”.
Chocogyny was also the slant to why American model Estelle Reyna became the marketing inspiration for kitchen appliance company Le Gourmet. It was, they said, because of her “luscious pout”, “curvaceous body”, and “chocolate-brown bedroom eyes”. Many were left wondering whether Estelle’s chocolatey charms would not have been better served in the promotion of bedroom, rather than kitchen furniture or, indeed, in the promotion of boxed assortments.
Chocogyny has long been a rich source for advertisers. In the 1960s, TV ads for Rowntree’s (now Nestlée’s) Dairy Box portrayed the assortment in terms of the floaty “cool blonde” seen advertising them. “You’ll find her on the pure white box,” the creamy voiceover informed, “as smooth and as beautiful as the milk chocolates inside it: made with almonds from Majorca, brown sugar from the Caribbean, and ripe English strawberries. Choose all this, and more,” the succulent invitation oozed on, “from blonde, silky, cool, milky, Dairy Box”.
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Dairy Box is a cool blonde, according to the ads. (image from: YouTube)
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In a 1979 ad for Fry’s Chocolate Cream, a man saying goodbye to his girlfriend as she was about to board the Orient Express, waxed lyrical about how the chocolate bar would always remind him of her: slim, dark, sophisticated yet underneath, a soft heart and a sweetness that would haunt him forever.
The Chocolate Dictionary 
Interesting idea – I always connect certain chocolates to particular memories or occasions, but as yet not people. A great question to ask someone – “If you were a chocolate what would you be…?!”
Thanks for your comment. I find a lot of people connect women, and men, to chocolates and I’m always interested, not to say amused, by the analogy. That question – “if you were a chocolate what would you be?” – would be a good one for a dating site, or just a chat-up line!