It's Pioneer Woman's Fault

    As I have written in my short bio, I am a little recipe obsessed. Many times, I'll have an idea for something I want to make, but not know the exact seasonings or measurements. Like most people, I turn to the internet and try to compare multiple recipes, often taking elements I like from several to combine into one dish. Often, this can be an exercise in frustration and for this, I blame the Pioneer Woman.

    Pre-Pioneer Woman one could search for a recipe, click on any links that sounded promising, find the name of the recipe, a list of ingredients, and maybe, if you were lucky, a picture and reviews of the recipe. Nowadays, everyone and their Aunt Sally have food blogs. In order to get to the actual list of ingredients, you must scroll through their cute and touching anecdotes, several glossy pictures of the process, and finally, again if you are lucky, you will find the recipe. Some sites actually make you click on an additional link to get the actual recipe. It is so time consuming and honestly, the story and pictures are tantamount to annoying ads to me. I just want to see what the ingredients are to determine if this is something my family will like and whether or not the recipe will require an additional trip to the store.

    I have no idea whether or not the Pioneer Woman started this trend, but if she did not, she at least perfected it. Her stories are charming, folksy, and relatable. Her photography is beautiful and balances well with the content. She seems to be the inspiration for many food bloggers to the point that this particular style and format has been imitated on infinite food blogs across the internet. No longer is it the norm to just post a recipe with a picture. One has to tell a story about it, and punctuate each step with a beautiful color saturated photograph. It looks stunning, but it is so frustrating when all you are looking for is seasonings to put in your marinade.

    While searching for recipes, I made a rather startling discovery. I was looking for a recipe and found a version on the very old school pre-PW site, allrecipes. From the reviews, I could tell that the recipe had been around since at least 2001. PW had published the same exact recipe, pretty much word for word on her blog years later. As stated before though, hers of course had the delightful narrative and gorgeous photos.

   

 It made me angry, if I am being honest. Not angry because she had obviously plagiarized, but that she had thought of this first. She has built a whole empire on being a former city girl turned rancher who is just so wholesome and deprecating about her serendipitous transformation into Food Channel maven and author.  It now just seems so manufactured. She came up with this idea to elevate simple recipes found on the internet into a food blog. This led to a massive following, being the star of television show, a published author, and even a whole line of housewares. She is no chef; she is merely a home cook trying out recipes from the internet and she just so happens to have a nice camera and decent writing skills.

    I do not mean to hate on a beloved personality. I’m a little jealous I did not come up with the idea first, and I am annoyed that her format has become the norm. If you have a food blog, please stop with the stories and pics, or at least, put the recipe first. I am sure I am not the only one who feels this way. We all just want to quickly search recipes, not read about your friend Linda’s Great Aunt Sue who made this that one time at Christmas and now it has become a tradition in your house.

Dressing Appropriately vs. Body Shaming

     Once the school year is in session, there are going to be inevitable social media posts about girls sent home from school due to dress code violations. School administrators will be accused of body shaming, school boards will be held accountable, and dress codes will be cited as unfairly targeting females and enabling rape culture to flourish. There may be actual cases where this is true, but sometimes, maybe, just maybe, things get blown way out of proportion by reactionaries to the cause. 

     Let me first start by saying that I do not think that the way a female dresses should in any way subject them to abuse, or unwanted attention and actions from others. I do not think dress codes should be used as a way to protect women from unwanted male attention, or to prevent males from being distracted. If an agency is using either of those as an excuse, they have put in place their rules for the wrong reasons. However, that being said, I think that dress codes can be appropriate in a school or professional setting. 

     If an organization feels a dress code is required, then they should do so because they want to project a certain image. Usually this means they want their employees or students to have a clean and neat appearance. In the case of construction or other blue collar jobs, it can be for safety reasons. Whether you work in banking or in construction, you would not wear a cocktail dress or tuxedo to work. It would not be appropriate, nor would it be comfortable, and in the case of construction, it would not be safe. Similarly, you would not wear a tank top, flip flops, and shorts to your great grandma's funeral service. You would not wear pajama bottoms and an old stained t-shirt to your brother's wedding. It would be inappropriate to do so. 

     I have noticed more so lately, that people are dressing down more and more. Whatever happened to dressing appropriately for the occasion? What you wear to a parade, picnic, or theme park should differ from what you wear to work or school. What you wear to lounge around the house should not be the same as what you wear to go out to eat at a fancy restaurant. A flowing halter top maxi-dress with strappy heeled sandals is perfect for a summer barbecue or pool party; it's not appropriate to send your 5-7 year old to school in such an outfit. It does not work for running on the playground or kicking a ball in gym. Such outfits are impractical and look absurd on small children. 

     This summer I went to a theme park. It was almost unbearably hot with temperatures hovering near the triple digits. I saw several women of varying ages, shapes, and sizes wearing just a bra and shorts. I am not talking about sports bras that can double as workout tops. I mean lacy, two straps with a clasp in the back, typically worn under your shirt type bras. I know it was hot, but just like I wouldn't want to see a man walking around in a t-shirt and underpants, I don't care to see a woman in her bra. I do not care your age, shape, or gender. I do not care to see your undergarments in public. 

     When I see the posts about girls being dress coded for wearing a tank top or shorts that were not fingertip length, or leggings instead of jeans or pants, I do not think there is anything inherently wrong with those outfits. It angers me when the excuse given is that boys will not be able to concentrate if girls dress that way. Another part of me though says, you know what? That outfit is perfect for weekends and evenings, but maybe not so much for school. Maybe you should dress a bit more business casual for what is essentially your job until graduation. Maybe you should dress more practically for your environment.  I don't know, maybe I am just getting old, but I think that what you wear to school or work, no matter what or where that is, should be clean and neat, and appropriate for your environment.