Most stock photos are awkward, stilted and wholly unremarkable. They’re simply visual representations of bland people doing bland things together, like embracing over their shared love of Activia, or walking along an empty beach, or laughing soullessly as they drift along in a rowboat. We shouldn’t examine them under a microscope, because, in truth, there is nothing of substance to examine.
That said, stock photos can absolutely be accused of falling into an all-too-familiar trap: good, old-fashioned sexism. And no, I’m not just talking about the wildly outdated advertising campaigns from the 1950s and ’60s.
Recently, writer Mike Rugnetta noticed that a shocking number of modern cookbook covers feature overbearing men “helping” women cook by leaning over their shoulders and being generally invasive.
https://twitter.com/mikerugnetta/status/955567739426541569
Like … this trope pops up A LOT. Apparently, none of these men trust their wives unsupervised in the kitchen.
https://twitter.com/mikerugnetta/status/955580161839304710
Apparently, this trend is disturbingly common among stock photo archives of couples cooking together.
https://twitter.com/tattooed_mummy/status/955789563783507968
The whole thing is hilariously insulting, particularly considering the fact that micro-managing your spouse’s cooking by putting your hands over theirs seem highly inefficient.
https://twitter.com/mikerugnetta/status/955570095509659653
What the f*ck are these people cooking that requires this level of codependent vegetable preparation?
At what point will we be using the pot in the preparation of what looks like cucumber sandwiches? pic.twitter.com/w6iV8FUtTy
— radley "the rad" raddles (@angharadyeo) January 22, 2018
I guess that women really can’t be trusted to cook unless they’re under the watchful guidance of a man!
Oh that’s why some of my recipes don’t come out exactly right, I don’t cook with a man standing over me
— Felicia (@Felicious1908) January 22, 2018
I mean, it’s probably best to be on the safe side and not allow tiny, itty-bitty ladies to handle sharp knives by themselves.
https://twitter.com/Weinbergrrrrr/status/955605889062338560
So, basically, these cookbooks are used by women but seemingly engineered by men?
https://twitter.com/MeowtroidPrime/status/955585239891529731
IDK, maybe these are all just romantic, Stockholm Syndrome-themed cookbooks.
Are these, like, "how to cook with the dude who took you hostage" books? Because that's what it looks like.
— 🇵🇸fdhb stephanie 🇵🇸 (@fdhbstephanie) January 23, 2018
Bottom line: there are so many questions and pretty much zero answers.
I'm so confused. Is this…?
a) "we're so in love we have to do EVERYTHING together"
b) hapless lass needs to be taught how to cut a pepper
c) demo of most awkward way to assist in pepper cutting
d) supposed to make me want to buy the book pic.twitter.com/s8OKlawLjP— 🥧 SUZANNE 🥧 (@425suzanne) January 2, 2018
Twitter has decided (and I think we can all agree) that this level of hands-on kitchen assistance should be dubbed “deMANstrating.”
deMANstrating?
— Nelson Brown (@NelsonBrn) January 22, 2018
The whole thing is pretty insulting and regressive, and serves as a reminder that there are constant, subtle ways in which outdated gender dynamics are reinforced in our daily lives.
But, then again — these aren’t even the most depressing cookbooks I’ve seen this week.
https://twitter.com/cluebcke/status/955826902547116032