Tuesday, December 17, 2013

I am hungry, how are you?

I have a male cousin who just graduated college.  Bryce is a kind, smart, and overall decent person, and I couldn't be happier that he lives closer by now.  He's looking to move into his own place now, and I decided that I'd look for some things he can take with him to the new place.  First up was a decent cookbook.  As a firm believer in gender equality, I believe that men and women have the equal right to be at home on the range (that is, the oven range).  And why not get my cuz on board too?  He likes equality just like me!

Going to look for that cookbook, though, was something of a nightmare, especially for a women's studies graduate!  Who knew that food was gendered?!  All along, I'd thought that eating was something we all did every day, no matter what our gender is.  But no, you would have NO IDEA how hard it was to find a gender-neutral cookbook!!  All the cookbooks geared at women had some pink and ultra-feminine detail, and they mostly dealt with making family sized meals and accommodating specific diets.  Which is helpful, but since I was buying for a single guy, it probably wasn't the target demographic.  Then, the cookbooks geared at men were as stereotypical as it gets!  All meat and grilling and bacon and, oh right, more meat.  And in enormous quantities.  So well, sure, I thought, my cousin likes meat, but I do know that's not the only thing he eats.  Besides, to put it lightly, let's just say Michael ("The Guys' Guide to Feminism") Kimmel would probably have a field day with how hypermasculinized the content of the books were and I figured that Bryce would find it more silly than useful. 

Don't believe me?  Well, take some of the titles: