Food For Thought

By Michael Anglin
I was at the video shop waiting in line to pay for some movies I intended to borrow when I overheard two fellows talking behind me. Actually, one was talking with the other listening while interjecting with the occasional grunt which could only have been taken as acknowledgement of what was being said. The conversation was about a third fellow, someone they apparently knew quite well. Based upon the tone of the conversation, this third person is living with his partner. I kept tuning in and out of the conversation in perhaps the same way as most other people in the store were. However, something was said that left a bad taste in my mouth. In fact, I could not help but feel disgust when the talker said, “I don’t know why he keeps her anyway. She can’t cook!” That did it for me on a number of fronts.
Who gives a man the right to ‘keep’ a woman? I was also concerned that the sentiment was that women could be valued or defined by their ability to cook and that he had the temerity to express this feeling in a public place. I was concerned that he had, in one fell swoop, made a statement that said to everyone within earshot that women are not worth much if they cannot cook or that one can only begin to think about being with a woman if certain duties can be fulfilled, one of which in his case, was being able to cook.
Maybe I am missing the point here but is there some rule that supports this assertion? Where do young men learn this from? Yes, we do know, they learn it from older men. For me the statement begs a number of questions, one of which is, what do you do when you find out the person you love and care about cannot cook? What happens if the woman is temporarily or permanently disabled and cannot do the things she is ‘required’ to do? What happens then? Or, is being able to cook a criterion for falling in love?
I paid for my movies, shook my head and prayed that one day this young man grows up and has an attitude change. Perhaps when he finally meets the woman of his dreams and raises the, “can you cook?” question, he might be shocked to hear her respond, “I can! You see, I can take care of myself. Can you?”
There is no justification for this attitude no matter how you look at it.

The views expressed here do not in any way reflect the views of the Helensburgh and District News