Feminism is indirectly responsible for obesity in the U.S.

[Effie]

Feminism is also indirectly responsible for obesity in the United States. Instead of a mother/wife at home cooking a nutritious meal for her wife and kids, she is encouraged to work 8 to 5, leaving her children to eat disgusting cafeteria food for lunch (and sometimes breakfast!) and then coming home to an improperly portioned TV dinner loaded with trans fats and high sodium.

Oh okay... and what's the father's responsibility here then? :roll:

I just think that if a movement was made to empower women, then they should be prizing the role of women in the world today as cooks, nutritionists, organizers, seamstresses, midwives, child bearers, and care givers, instead of either victimizing them, or making them seem weak or unintelligent.

Huh? We should be prizing women if they choose certain "female" roles?

thegingernator.blogspot.com/2010/12/college-and-feminism.html

[desertvixen]

Oh fuck this.

I just think that if a movement was made to empower women, then they should be prizing the role of women in the world today as cooks, nutritionists, organizers, seamstresses, midwives, child bearers, and care givers, instead of either victimizing them, or making them seem weak or unintelligent.

I have news for this writer - most of us feminist types have managed to combine most of that with jobs that require us to work outside the home. (I don't sew or deliver babies, personally.) I work 60-80 hours a week and I still manage to put food that I have cooked on the table most nights. I still manage to keep my house clean, my daughter in school, and all the little pieces of life moving forward. I don't think mothers who stay at home are weak, because I would certainly not thrive if I had to stay home all the time.

But fuck these people and their rigid closed little world views.

[Confused_by_religion]

Oh Goddess of History smite them, and smite them hard!

If women working outside the home are responsible for obesity, how does it come that working women in the Industrial Revolution did NOT end up with a dozen obese children? I mean, they worked longer hours than people do today, so shouldn't their kids have been extra fat?

Or....might it be just that so much calorie-rich food is available for so little money that?

(Apart from that, is there a gene that forbids fathers to throw together a healthy meal now and then?)

:doh:

[SamuraiKatz]

Really? Wow... Where do these women come up with this stuff?

Femisim didn't force me to "abandon" my kids for the work place. I chose to work because it provided a stable home life with real food and clothes for my kids. I used a rice cooker and a crock pot for a lot of our evening meals-- Or I prepped dinner the night before and one of the girls popped it in the oven after school the next day.

I am glad I had the opportunity to earn a living to support my kids.

Oh -- and I am chubby because I like Coca Cola and Tater Tots from Sonic....A Lot! :-)

edited for grammar riffles

[ilovetchotchkes]

So, how does that explain the Duggars love of Tater Tot Casserole?

[Effie]

Oh fuck this.

I have news for this writer - most of us feminist types have managed to combine most of that with jobs that require us to work outside the home. (I don't sew or deliver babies, personally.) I work 60-80 hours a week and I still manage to put food that I have cooked on the table most nights. I still manage to keep my house clean, my daughter in school, and all the little pieces of life moving forward. I don't think mothers who stay at home are weak, because I would certainly not thrive if I had to stay home all the time.

But fuck these people and their rigid closed little world views.

Yes, you are right about that. Their world views are very closed.

My mum has managed her full-time job and all those other things as well. She cooks food as soon as she gets home (food to the next day). She is doing things here and there. When I ask her to relax, I find her in the ironing-room ironing clothes. She tells me that's her way of relaxing... One morning when I was home she sent smses to everyone in the house with photos of newly baked bread. :) She wanted us to get up and eat breakfast together. I love her.

I don't know if I will manage to combine all those things, but I expect my future husband to help me with the household.

[ilovetchotchkes]

Yes, you are right about that. Their world views are very closed.

My mum has managed her full-time job and all those other things as well. She cooks food as soon as she gets home (food to the next day). She is doing things here and there. When I ask her to relax, I find her in the ironing-room ironing clothes. She tells me that's her way of relaxing... One morning when I was home she sent smses to everyone in the house with photos of newly baked bread. :)

I don't know if I will manage to combine all those things, but I expect my future husband to help me with the household.

My mom worked 2 jobs. We always ate pretty healthy. Yeah there was the occasional "Market day" pizza, but what she'd do is, on her day off, make and freeze lasagnas, soups, that sort of thing. All my dad had to do is pop it in the oven at 350 or heat it on the stove after defrosting....

[Witsec7]

I worked after the birth of my DD, she went to work with me for 6 months.I was very lucky. I gardened preserved food, and cooked meals. Our small family was rather organized and we all ate healthy home cooked meals. I'm one of those women who would not have thrived being a SAHM, I had a husband who understood that and was a great SAHD(ad).

These folks don't need to make up lies to make me or other Mothers who work out of the home look bad just to justify their own choices.

On a humorous note I thought, 'yea feminists don't allow their husbands to lock up the cheese.'

[Effie]

The thing is, if this were true: "Feminism is indirectly responsible for obesity in the U.S." then why aren't more people obese in my country? I mean, my country is the most equal (=feminist?) country in the world. According to her reasoning, Swedes ought to be super-obese, like big, big vikings.

[liltwinstar]

Oh for the love of pete.

No.

I'm an evil, work-outside-the-home feminist, and I manage to get a home-cooked meal on the table the vast majority of the time... occasionally, yes, we do go out (like tonight when we're going to go look at Christmas lights and then hit up a local brewpub!), but most of the time, dinner is cooked by me. Lunches? Also cooked by me. I make our lunches for the week on Sunday afternoons. Or, you know, have sandwiches and stuff. Plus, my husband is very handy in the kitchen and is more than able to take over when necessary or when he just wants to.

[Jessica]

The thing is, if this were true: "Feminism is indirectly responsible for obesity in the U.S." then why aren't more people obese in my country? I mean, my country is the most equal (=feminist?) country in the world. According to her reasoning, Swedes ought to be super-obese, like big, big vikings.

On the flip side... Shouldn't Anna from Simple Living Alaska be nice and willowy?

[Boogalou]

Oh for crying out loud. It's like these people hear of a bad thing and then find some way to blame it on feminist. I'll save them some time: global warming, terrorism, war disease, famine, the Duggars, declining water levels in the Ogallala Acquifer, pollution, the economy, and Michelle Bauchman are all the fault of feminism. How? Doesn't matter, they'll find some convoluted explanation that ignores the complex realities of the world.

[desertvixen]

I don't know if I will manage to combine all those things, but I expect my future husband to help me with the household.

My ex was pretty good about it - my current partner doesn't live with me, so that issue hasn't been quite worked out.

I'm not denying it's hard sometimes, and sometimes I come home to a mess and just say "screw it" and go to bed, but it is doable.

[Sola]

So the USA, with a higher percentage of the population being fundamentalist Christians, a higher percentage of the population being SAHM as a result, MUST have lower rates of obesity than Europe.

Oh wait....

(not knocking overweight people btw)

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

Oh okay... and what's the father's responsibility here then? :roll:

Huh? We should be prizing women if they choose certain "female" roles?

thegingernator.blogspot.com/2010/12/college-and-feminism.html

Wait wait wait..."Instead of a mother/wife at home cooking a nutritious meal for her wife and kids..." Those fundies, always idealizing the good old days, when lesbian marriages ensured that everyone was healthy and thin. :lol:

[Effie]

Wait wait wait..."Instead of a mother/wife at home cooking a nutritious meal for her wife and kids..." Those fundies, always idealizing the good old days, when lesbian marriages ensured that everyone was healthy and thin. :lol:

Haha wow, I love that typo! That's awesome. :lol:

[Nothing2CHere]

You know who does some of the best cooking in my family? THE MEN! Ever since my grandmother died in 1988, my uncle took over cooking and hosting Easter and Christmas dinners. And on the years I have to have the main holiday meal with my husband's family instead of mine, I get very sad, because I love my MIL, but her cooking just can't compare.

Oh, and just because something is home-cooked doesn't always mean it's nutritious. Hello, Paula Dean, queen of the butter.

[Linnea]

Wait wait wait..."Instead of a mother/wife at home cooking a nutritious meal for her wife and kids..." Those fundies, always idealizing the good old days, when lesbian marriages ensured that everyone was healthy and thin. :lol:

Hee!

IMHO, Henry Ford, Bill Gates, and whoever invented television are more responsible for modern-day obesity than anybody else.

And yeah, how come those evil librul secular feminist Europeans aren't fatter than Americans?

[ADoyle90815]

You know who does some of the best cooking in my family? THE MEN! Ever since my grandmother died in 1988, my uncle took over cooking and hosting Easter and Christmas dinners. And on the years I have to have the main holiday meal with my husband's family instead of mine, I get very sad, because I love my MIL, but her cooking just can't compare.

Oh, and just because something is home-cooked doesn't always mean it's nutritious. Hello, Paula Dean, queen of the butter.

That's also true in my family, my brother and dad are really good cooks. If anything, it means that there's more than one person who is capable of making a delicious meal, as well as making extras to freeze. My brother and SIL even made extra meals to freeze before my niece was born, so nobody had to take food over to them. I'm obviously referring to the Mormon and probably fundie tradition of meals being taken to families that just had a baby.

[Jessica]

You know who does some of the best cooking in my family? THE MEN!

Yes! My father-in-law? Delicious, slow-roasted meat with fresh herbs rubbed all over, perfectly done every time, delicious mashed potatoes, rolls made from scratch with whole wheat flour, green beans steamed then tossed with butter and toasted almonds... And his first wife (who died so I never got to meet her sadly)? Well, they used to have a little Wheel of Fortune-type spinner on their fridge. All the wedges were equally sized and said "Burger King", "KFC", "Chinese take-out", etc. There was a very tiny sliver of a wedge that says "Mom cooks tonight" and according to my husband, "Mom cooks" actually meant "Mom heats up some hamburger helper and a can of corn". ;) His dad's new feminist (PhD in nursing, y'all!) wife? Also an excellent cook.

[dairyfreelife]

For example, majors like Human Development, Home Economics, Nutrition, etc. have all had their funds cut! In fact, the University of Houston completely removed their Home Economics program. Do you know why? Because of the lack of respect for women and femininity, ironically created by feminism. Being a housewife and/or a stay-at-home mom has negative connotations in today's modern world because of the lack of respect for women.

Um, wth? You think maybe those programs got cut and removed because there is no use for them anymore as a major and that no one really wants to take it as a major? Being a SAHM does not have negative connotations today and when it does, it has nothing to do with lack of respect for women. A housewife likely negatives because only the wealthy can really afford it and can you blame people for wanting women to, you know, actually do something with their life besides sit at home and clean the house. With modern technology, cleaning a place or one or two people is rather easy.

[Wolfie]

Not to mention that human development probably was absorbed into the education and psychology departments.

[antifundie]

Oh my god. Because every working wife/mother plunks her kid down to eat a TV dinner, and forces her poor, long-suffering man-child husband to eat frozen crap. Right.

This is totally anecdotal, but I've been grocery shopping more than one (when single and married, when I bought eggs, meat, fruit/veggies, etc), and seen a (what I assume to be single guy) buying a cartload of frozen meals and like, yogurt and banana. I almost never see women buying that stuff (a frozen lasagna here and there)--but never just a week's worth of frozen dinners.

I do the majority (ok, all) the cooking in my house, but my husband does know how to feed himself. And AND, my great-grandmother, who was a typical farmer's wife and made all home-cooked meals every day, was...stout. Not necessarily fat, mind you, but sturdy. I'm sure she was over the BMI for her height. And the woman worked and worked and worked, so it wasn't due to a lack of physical activity. Or feminism.

[Eliowy]

The thing is, if this were true: "Feminism is indirectly responsible for obesity in the U.S." then why aren't more people obese in my country? I mean, my country is the most equal (=feminist?) country in the world. According to her reasoning, Swedes ought to be super-obese, like big, big vikings.

This made my day (giggle) :D

[clibbyjo]

My stay at home mommy cooked huge from scratch meals when I was a kid and I was fat.

I am fat now because my SON bakes awesome bread every couple days and my husband keeps buying me sea salt caramels from Trader Joes. I am a stay at home mom, I am sure many working moms make dinners much healthier than I do.