I would also bet that not cooking and relying on processed foods has a lot to do with the obesity epidemic in this country.

The idea that “women’s studies” can really be taught in classrooms is inane.

Ninety percent of feminists I’ve met fall into one of a few categories: 1) Lesbians 2) Recent divorcees 3) Young women who believe they were abused by their father or another male figure 4) Divorcees who won’t tell you that they bugged the crap out of their husbands and never put out, but still enjoy the settlement 5) Cat-women who could never, in a million years, ever get married.

These crazed and angry women dominate the “feminist” landscape, to the movement’s very detriment.

Contrast some of the comments here against most of the comments on allrecipes.com. Seriously, take a look. See how many women just say, “I loved it, but I won’t be making it again, because DH hated it.” Or, “the kids didn’t like it, but DH loved it, so I was happy.”

Yeck.

Sounds like those stupid WalMart commercials where some fat Southern girl is mis-pronouncing how she’d like to make her husband, “a real mil.”

Figure it out, okay? Cooking for your kids, ok. Slave-pleasing your hubby and vetoing your own interests because he didn’t like it? Gimme a break.

The “feminist” movement here better start hanging together if you want to make some real progress. But then again, you haven’t yet, and you probably won’t. After all, look at you all still bitching at eachother.

Individual brains and souls are good, people. Lesbians, divorcees, and “abused” girls included.

Semper Fidelis,
Sgt Spring “Betty Crocker” Keyzers

I do agree with your culture on this, however: cooking is a deeply spiritual act of love and nurturing. It is a very intimate thing, cooking for others: when we cook, part of our own essence, our own energy, goes into the food we make. It is the intangible ingredient, and I have found that when we cook with love, our food has a quality that is indefinable, but yet quite present, and the positive energy of it has a positive effect on others. I believe that food which is made with willful, intentional love, and with spiritual awareness and care from high quality fresh ingredients is healthier for us to eat, and nurtures not only the body, but the spirit as well.

As for feminism–I was heartened to hear what you had to say about it. Although I think it is a shame that feminist has become a dirty word–thanks in large part to pundits like Rush Limbaugh and his ilk, I am pleased to hear a young woman embracing the -essence- of the word, if not the word itself.

I care more about what feminism can do, and has done and will do than what it is called. And frankly, I am happy that there are young women growing up expecting more than the young women of my generation, my mother’s generation, and my grandmothers’ generation. That, to me, is a great sign of progress.

Social change moves slowly. There are of course, sudden bursts of movement at certain times, but mostly, the wheels of change grind along at a snail’s pace. I would say that on the whole, the changes I have seen in my lifetime have been going forward, and while they are slower than I would like, the pace is also a realistic one from a long-range anthropological or sociological perspective.

Thanks again for posting your insights. They are valuable.

And, somehow, it occurs to me that classifying cooking as a “woman” or “man” thing defeats the whole purpose of equality… There appear to be a lot of older women here with good insight into their views of what “feminism” is. I just graduated from high school, so I thought I might add my two cents of how it was seen among the other girls my age. Basically, feminist has become a “dirty” word that you use to insult someone - somewhat along the lines of being “butch”. Of course this has nothing to do with the actual principles behind the word… but I have to say, I’d prefer not to be associated with the word simply because, as Jimmy said, it has become a subject so large, self-contradictory, and confusing that I have no clue what it is supposed to stand for anymore, except that everyone involved in it seems abnormally uptight and angry. I ignore it all together; but, in the end, isn’t that what it is supposed to be? I already expect the same pay as men doing my job and I know I can take legal action if I’m not getting it. I don’t feel like I’m growing up in a male-oriented society or view any of the actions of taking care of the household as male or female, just things that need done. Isn’t the “fight” over when equality is so day-to-day that the fight over it becomes almost a non-issue? Not to say everything is peachy - but maybe its a better thing that a lot of the women of my generation are moving forward with a “no duh” expectation of entitlement to “equality” and without all the anger.