UnSpun

Cooking, With a Dash of Sexism

Even though feminism has come a long way over the years, I often feel that the media has been a bit slower in it’s march away from sexism.  The media vocabulary is a tough thing to change, given how ingrained it is in the environment and the way we live our lives.  Today there are still glimmerings of sexism in the way that we speak in the media.  They’re not always obvious, but I feel it’s important to make light of them.  For example, I was reading an article today in the New York Times about “The Biggest Loser” and it’s emphasis on home cooking to maintain a healthy weight.  It included this passage:

“It is difficult to quantify a decline in cooking skills, but many studies show that time in the kitchen has declined steeply since 1965, when American women spent a weekly average of 13 hours cooking… Today, women in the United States report spending an average of 30 minutes a day preparing meals. The percentage of women who are overweight has risen to about 65 percent from about 30 percent in the 1960s.”

Nowhere does the article give any statistics on how much men cook.  In fact, there isn’t really any discussion of men cooking at all.  It makes sense that the amount of time women spend cooking would decline from 1965 (when we started having jobs out of the home), but what about the time spent on cooking for men?  It would be interesting to see if cooking has increased for men over the years, but they don’t touch that here.  Cooking is framed within the context of women, with no mention of even the suggestion that men should cook as well.

Even more troubling to me is the way that this passage links the decline in cooking women and the rise of obesity. After stating that women now spend only 30 minutes a day cooking on average, the article immediately cites the rise of female obesity to 65% from 30%.  What about the men?!  Obesity has been labeled an epidemic for ALL Americans, not just women.  I feel that excluding men from these statistics implicitly places blame on women for the current problem with obesity.  To me their logic implies that women have spent less time cooking, for themselves and for men and children, therefore obesity has increased.  If home cooking is essential in maintaining a healthy weight, then both men and women are responsible for putting in the time.  Unfortunately, this article is very one-sided in terms of gender.  It encourages home cooking for weight loss in general, but it’s more granular statistics single out women.

This is an example of the subleties of the media vocabulary, and how there are still these roots of sexism.  What is not mentioned is just as important as what is, and it’s critical to look at both.  To be aware of these subleties is essential to modifying the way subjects are framed and discussed within the media.  This specific example is one of many that exist throughout the media environment, if you just look closely enough.

Here is the link to the entire article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/dining/04loser.html?pagewanted=1