Saturday, January 7, 2012

Cupcakes and Sexism Part Deux

In the Summer of 2011 I posted an entry entitled, Cupcakes and Sexism. In that post I mentioned David Arrick, the owner of Butch Bakery. Arrick's cupcakes are made of non-traditional ingredients such as whiskey, bacon, and cayenne pepper. While I appreciate the creativity of non-traditional cupcake ingredients, I do not appreciate that these ingredients are assigned a gender.

The sexist trend continues with the cupcake creations of Allison Robicelli.  Robicielli states that these "are the manliest cupcakes in America."

The cake on the left is a Chicken n' Waffles cupcake. The middle is a Buffalo Wing and Blue Cheese cupcake and the right is a Peanut Butter and Bacon cupcake.

So, why are these manly cupcakes? With the exception of the blue cheese ingredient I think I'd enjoy all of these cupcakes. If I were to be seen eating one of these I don't think anyone would refer to me as a man. But if a man holds up a pink cupcake, will be called a woman?

A sexist man might refer to another man as a woman when he wants to offend him. This is a concept that has been embraced by women as well. A man who shows some type of vulnerability is often considered weak underneath the ray of patriarchy. And underneath that ray, weakness often translates to something that is considered feminine or gay.

We often hear statements such as, "You're such a girl" or "that's so gay."

The "Manly Cupcake" trend has spread far and wide. It is a gimmic that works. And while it may seem innocent enough, it is just one more area that has been touched by patriarchy. Just; let people eat (cup)cake.

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