Using a Foucauldian perspective, we explicate the systems of power which shape the lives of women in or at risk of ‘food poverty’. We develop a theoretical framework of power for analyses of contemporary food poverty, which we apply to data from focus groups with women on low incomes in two cities in the north of England. Our data underlines the repressive power of the state as well as the broader chronicity of state surveillance. We argue that, while disciplinary and pastoral power may characterise the majority of food banks, alternative logics of mutual aid are evident within some food aid providers. We underline the power of governmental discourse in constituting gendered subjectivities and find that the most potent form of coercion is derived from self-regulation. The article closes by exploring possibilities for praxis via discursive resistance.

从福柯主义的角度出发，我们阐述了权力体系，这些权力体系塑造着处于“粮食贫困”之中或处于“粮食贫困”之中或处于危险之中的妇女的生活。我们为分析当代粮食贫困建立了理论上的力量框架，并将其应用于来自英格兰北部两个城市低收入妇女的焦点小组的数据。我们的数据强调了国家的压制力以及更广泛的国家监督的长期性。我们认为，尽管纪律和牧民权力可能是大多数粮食银行的特征，但在某些粮食援助提供者中，互助的替代逻辑是显而易见的。我们强调政府话语在构成性别主观上的力量，并发现最有效的胁迫形式来自自我调节。