Latest Symbol Of Women's Oppression Is Full Of Weeds

I admit that headline could be construed more than one way, however, in this case the weeds are along the line of spring mix, not mary jane.  See, some writer out there in the blogosphere has decided that salads are "a tool used to oppress women."

Writing for Quartz, Olivia Goldhill has decided that it's time for women to eat like men:

So why have salads become such a commonplace meal? Because bowls of leaves are really just the side helping to the constant diet of guilt our culture feeds women about their bodies. Salads are a socially acceptable way of eating less and limiting calories. “I get it, we all get it,” says Lambert. “We all have an inner critic and it talks to us every day, especially women.”

Some of us eat salads to keep the system humming along and help get rid of all the man food, truth be told.  Shrinking the waistline...that goes up there with, say, controlling blood pressure and helping the skin.  It's all part of healthy eating.

In the larger argument that Goldhill makes - she was recovering from an injury and needed more calories, and nutrition than a salad provides - salads as the main event at a meal is, indeed, foolhardy.  No, there aren't enough calories and nutrients in lettuce and olive oil alone.  Additional meat, cheese, and vegetables are always needed to get all that is required for good health.  But, wholesale dissing of salads is not really a great idea regardless of the "inner critic" and crushing pressure on women to look good. (Hence, the premise that salads are a tool of women's oppression.)

Most humans without gastro issues like Crohn's Disease, actually need the roughage to keep the system humming along.  Lettuce, of course, is not the only leaf that we can be using for this purpose, but it is one of the easier to come by.  It is not evil, contrary to Goldhill's premise.  And some of the actual weeds one finds in spring mix are packed with nutrients.  This writer's ancestors used to pick dandilions as soon as they popped up for what they called a spring tonic (loaded with vitamin C).  Of course, they were farmers....

At any rate, the idea that food is a symbol of oppression is kind of looney.  If anything, the mentality that says this is what women should eat in order to look good is oppressive.  And what "looks good" to various individuals varies, anyway.

H/T - Jillian Kay Melchior at Heatstreet