The Fun Police at it again?

I couldn't help but laugh at how serious this issues has become. I think the good Doctor is reading too much into the show...and sounds like a cliche herself with the "identity politics" as lampooned brilliantly by critic Mark Steyn.

We've had these similiar arguments before, no doubt someone clever enough to earn a PHd out of it and a lucrative book deal but ultimately not adding anything of value to the body of knowledge...It's just another form of conspiracy theory wrapped in criticism of patriachy, a beast long ago slayed in the West but alive and well in other cultures--perhaps Dr Swinbank should examine these "cultures" for signs of patriachy...She can consult with Mark Steyn on that one if she is brave enough to tackle these vocal cultures. But perhaps she is not so brave?

Dr Swinbank, in case you didn't know, the Gender War in the West was won long ago by your side...have you ever heard of Hiroo Onoda? He was the Japanese soldier who surrendered in 1975 after fighting a one man war in the Phillipines...He didn't believe World War 2 ended in 1945 !

Dr Swinbank the Gender War on Western Patriachy is over ! Your side won-- you should be enjoying the victory instead of worrying about some crumbs or food scraps left to the losers, pardon the culinary pun !
cheers

Truther,

No need for me to post now. Even used my long worn feminist lost soldier.

Arguments like these are even vaguely feasible, but rather uninteresting. Like you say really scraping the bottom of the barrel for something left to complain about.

Let it go love:-)

' some serious issues at stake'

Hardly.

I don't know why cooking has suddenly become such a big thing here, like dancing, Aussies never really used to be that into cooking or dancing. I think we really want to be Europeans, as we see them as sophisticated. Well, the yuppies have always had wet dreams about living in a Tuscan Village, but now even the bogans think their omelette is a culinary masterpiece.

It's a strange world.

Jamie Oliver Sexy? Wow, some are easy pleased.

' when men arrogantly and ignorantly claim that women are innately inferior cooks, they are not only denying the culinary talents and knowledge of women in general, but, even more significantly, they are not respectıng the history of women's collective culinary culture which has made an incalculable contribution to human civilisation.'

For a start, I really don't see men claiming any such thing. If anything the average Joe thinks cooking is women's work, and is happy with a nice cut of meat, and skips the salad and veges. The vast majority of men are simple creatures and really don't give these things too much thought.

Which is why it is a massive stretch to think any of them would possibly be making any comment on 'the history of women's collective culinary culture which has made an incalculable contribution to human civilisation.'

Not even at a dinner party in Balmain on a Saturday night.

Who the hell cares about who is the best cook.

It is who is going to have to do the washing up that matters.

I am not very interested in, & won't argue about who is the best cook, but there are definitely a couple of titles the women do win by a country mile. That is the competition for who is the messiest cook, & who can dirty most implements when cooking.

I have to admit the ladies win those by a country mile.

Women have equality plus, but the opportunities to become chefs go begging.

Women who have pursued excellence cooking and crafts, for instance the fair and accomplished Nigella, have copped unrelenting sniping, sarcasm and abuse from feminists for 'letting the side down' and fuelled by jealousy as well.

Where are all of the empowered feminists to take up the thousands of very well paid jobs as roofers, tile layers, plumbers and builders? Ask any tradies, they are desperate for apprentices and the starting pay for anyone who will turn up for work and take instruction is well beyond what the tradesman himself could have expected in his day.

Layers of vinyl on floors are getting paid $100,000 PA, but there are no women takers for the work. Feminists must be princesses because in my mother's day and her mother before, it was usual for women to cut and lay vinyl in their own homes.

Come to think about it, women used to take many home maintenance tasks in their stride until post-WW2 when so many girl children born in cities were treated as princesses by their parents and society. It was the rare city girl who did anything but act as a budgie in front of her mirror and complain. Any wonder they raised such spoilt, entitled and frivolous brats?

Here we go again. Another women vs men debate. When will we ever learn. Isn't that a song.

There are numerous women and men who work as chefs. Nobody I know thinks men are better or worse chefs, in fact they don't think about it at all as long as the food is good and their tummies are full.

For goodness sake it is not a competition. Women and men don't have to be exactly equal to be equal.

'Dr Swinbank, in case you didn't know, the Gender War in the West was won long ago by your side...'

Oh, really? Can you give me some idea of a date and time?

Or is that just privilege-speak which translates as: Now that men have so benevolently bestowed all this wonderful equality on women, all women have to do now to make life comfortable and pleasant again for men is to just shut the hell up about a few thousand years of gender injustice?

I really feel for you having to experience such intolerable levels of exasperation and impatience with an article on how women's contribution to the agricultural revolution - possibly the greatest milestone of human civilisation - was totally written out of history by men. I wish I could make it easier for you. I really do. But justice has its own time table.

You might also like to keep in mind that two thirds of the world's people who live in less industrially "developed" countries depend on the women for their sustenance - not just for the preparation, but also for the growing of the food. These women inherit vast amounts of knowledge, especially regarding the biodiversity around them.

Women have always tended the crops, harvested and prepared the foods in these countries.

It's interesting that once farming is industrialised and mechanised (and usually converted to monoculture), suddenly these women are seen as redundant and men take over.

All over the world women are right now tending small gardens and harvesting naturally grown foods to nourish their families.

'It's interesting that once farming is industrialised and mechanised (and usually converted to monoculture), suddenly these women are seen as redundant and men take over.'

Don't worry Poirot, then when the country goes further and outsources to the poor countries, and has a service/managerial based workforce, the women then take over again.

I'm with pelican, get a grip people.

Killarney,

I never see feminists spruiking for women to get credit for any of the terrible wrongs throughout history. They're innocent bystanders when things go bad, but somehow should be championed as central to the cause when things go well. That's why I see feminists as female supremacists; They genuinely believe women are superior to men.

Just like Julia simultaneously holds the position that she need not be married or have children to relate to the needs of families, but argues that men in blue ties can not possibly understand the plight of women in this country. Somehow the latter is not be considered sexist. Or rather misogynist, as she has redefined it.

Despite the saturation of feminist education, young women are disregarding the scolding feminist dinosaurs left over from the Seventies and Eighties excesses and are rediscovering the joy of cooking for self and family and the reward of cottage crafts done for a purpose rather than as a diversion for the bored middle class singleton.

The herd of feminist wordsmiths are scrambling to find a way around the Feminine Mystique's denouncement of the kitchen and home, "But she didn't say specifically that cooking was *bleep*, yadda, yadda".

Fifty years later of course Betty Friedan can flip-flop and she did. However, much earlier Betty Friedan herself revolted against the radical, man-loathing radicals who had taken over feminism.

"As early as the 1960s Friedan was critical of polarized and extreme factions of feminism that attacked groups such as men and homemakers."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Friedan

If feminism should be about anything it should be choice, not what some fierce old feminists tell young women to do.

Young women are making their own choices and are rejecting the lives led by the materialistic, middle class feminists who spurned femininity and family. Their decision, good on them and it is the direction led by their interest in whole food and natural things. There is a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction in being able to raise a family on foods grown in the yard and bread made without additives. Yes, babies are best breast-fed.

For those who hope to continue the gender feminism that delivered so many cushy careers for so long it is disappointing, to say the least.

The old dragons of gender feminism might hiss and breathe fire that they are not always put on pedestals by the young. But when any woman is one day on her death bed and is asked what she really wanted in life but didn't get enough of, it will be time with friends and family that is mentioned, not the conspicuous consumption, material possessions and career 'status' that are the concerns of feminists.

Did any of the belittling, pontificating dudes here actually read the article at all? Or did you just get as far as the first phrase hinting at something about male privilege and double standards?

Contrary to attempts here to reduce the essay to a regurgitation of tired, irrelevant feminist dogma, it actually made a critical point that cannot be made often enough, one that is directly relevant to the ongoing gender income gap. Because women’s work, historically, was restricted to the family environment, it was deemed less valuable than work done by men.

While the essay focuses on the history of food production and food preparation, the general attitude that women’s labour is mostly done ‘for love of family’ still strongly influences the nature of today’s workforce. Female-dominated professions and jobs pay less than men’s, women settle for less remuneration for their labour than do men, and women compromise their careers and financial independence once they become mothers (while men do not).

Belittling the messenger does not make the message go away.

‘… young women are disregarding the scolding feminist dinosaurs left over from the Seventies and Eighties excesses and are rediscovering the joy of cooking for self and family and the reward of cottage crafts …’

They may or may not be, depending on what you read.

Most of the women I know absolutely hate the grinding routine of coming up with a family meal every evening and spending so much of their lives in supermarkets. Many women, on the other hand, ARE heeding the feminists of the 70s and 80s. Instead of cottage crafts, they are learning home maintenance skills (like carpentry, DIY and plumbing), which their upbringings denied them - particularly as so many women end up as struggling single mothers and heads of households.

Sure, some women are just born to be earth mothers - but the pay is lousy. If they have a private income to pay the bills while they’re busy making cheeses and quilts (or if they’re Amish), good luck to them.

Young women are making their own informed choices. A wardrobe full of expensive suits with shoulder pads that make women look like spined citrus fruit bugs, and big bags that reek pretentious bad taste (and lonely hotel rooms) are not much comfort on long weekend public holidays or Christmas.

As well, those flannel shirts, khaki bibs and braces overalls with the Doc Martin boots have very limited appeal too.

Choice is what it is all about. So the old feminists can feel free not to direct young women in what they have to think, say and do anymore. That was all so last century and well back in last century too!

Better cooks? Men or women? You've got to be kidding!

Let me tell you a story.

Once upon a time, in my olden days, there was a pizzeria in Sydney, which I went to.

In the pizzeria there was an attractive young maiden (at least that's what her family believed), who waited table in the salon. She and the family owned and ran the pizzeria. They were Sicilian.

Well, as things turned out, it wasn't too long before a relationship developed between my good self and the maiden and I began to frequent the place much more frequently. After a while, it got hot in the kitchen and the next thing you know announcements were being made about the engagement and wedding. Expensive rings were purchased. True story!

Anyway, seeing as how I was soon to be embraced by the family, naturally I was expected to work in the family business. Only people who have ever worked in a pizzeria/restaurant have any idea of how really hard people work in the food industry. In the pizzeria, it being a family affair, no one cared less who did what or who was the best cook. Everyone just got stuck into doing the work. And work we did. Everyone cooked. From the 14 year-old son to the Signor himself. Even I cooked. The maiden cooked, the Signora cooked - everyone cooked.

We all prepared ingredients, carried drinks and stocked the bar, washed-up, cleaned tables, served food, exchanged pleasantries with the charmingly drunk scumbag customers. Got the picture? It was like war when it got busy and it got busy a lot. The place cooked really good food and it was a great financial success.

The point here is that food was prepared and cooked in accordance with tradition by the family. These were real people who worked hard and nobody cared whether the cook was a man or a woman. The customers came and came back because they enjoyed eating the food.

So who cooks best? The answer is simply anybody who cooks food that I like.

Cheers.

That was the business. What about the delightful cultural tradition fo meals and get-tigethers with the extended family? Often too, with neighbours joining in?

Why wouldn't young people want to re-awaken these traditions?

Sure beats sitting around a table in a hotel somewhere 'networking'. Spiny citrus bugs in 'power-dressing' jackets. Charlie Chaplin look-alikes, but no jokes! LOL