There was a time when cleanliness was viewed as “next to godliness.” That clearly has changed. It is now apparently next to white supremacy. While it would be impossible to discuss all of the wacky scholarship being published today, Loyola (Chicago) Professor Jenna Drenten is a standout with a new theory that “cleanliness” is a “cultural gatekeeping mechanism” with “racist,” “sexist” and “classist” roots. It turns out that the sweet spice rack that your kid brought back from shop is actually a stratified, structural vehicle for white supremacy and male dominance . . . unless you keep it messy. Otherwise, you are pushing racist, sexist “pantry porn.”
Cleanliness has historically been used as a cultural gatekeeping mechanism to reinforce status distinctions based on a vague understanding of “niceness”: nice people, with nice yards, in nice houses, make for nice neighborhoods.
What lies beneath the surface of this anti-messiness, pro-niceness stance is a history of classist, racist and sexist social structures.
She warns others not to fall for “pantry porn”:
Magazines like Good Housekeeping were once the brokers of idealized domestic work. Now online pantry porn sets the aspirational standard for becoming an ideal mom, ideal wife and ideal woman. This grew out of a shift toward an intensive mothering ideology that equates being a good mom with time-intensive, labor-intensive, financially expensive care work.
Pantry maintenance is a new area of racism and sexism for Professor Drenten. Before she went after domestic Bull Connors, she blew the whistle on video gaming with papers on “Video Gaming as a Gendered Pursuit” and “More Gamer, Less Girl: Gendered Boundaries, Tokenism, and the Cultural Persistence of Masculine Dominance.”
Ultimately this sort of absurdity is best understood in the context of the overall Cloward and Piven strategy of the left – to attack every standard of excellence, every standard of accomplishment, every critical institution, to attack even logic itself, thought itself, not to mention creating scholarship, wealth, delivering great services – in an effort to so demoralize and induce mediocrity into all aspects of life as to collapse the society, the confidence of the society in its own values, the economy and reduce us to a state of panic and fear making us willing to surrender our values and our liberty to the left.
Victor – that is the most lucid explanation for what’s happening that I’ve heard yet. +1000
It can happen. Witness the killing fields of cambodia
“overall Cloward and Piven strategy of the left”
I don’t see conservatives as great paragons of scholarship at all. As far as I can see conservatives do not care about Great Ideas or the Great Works. They care only about the bottom dollar.
Being educated or intellectual is for those damn ivory tower libs–so stay all the hell away from being well-read. I agree with Sir Roger Scruton on conservatism and intellectual/philosophical thought.
“I don’t see conservatives as great paragons of scholarship at all. As far as I can see conservatives do not care about Great Ideas or the Great Works. They care only about the bottom dollar.”
Perhaps, Prairie, you need better education so that you don’t make such broad statements using a term that is fluid and means different things to different people.
Perhaps we should name a few famous people considered conservative.
Confucius: Maybe you don’t like his ideas of social stability and family values. That is common to most thought to be conservatives. The Golden Rule is espoused by Confucius, but maybe he “digs in its heels” to advance it.
I think you know who Cato is because he frequently is mentioned on the blog along with John Locke, another Conservative.
Perhaps you have heard of these three conservatives, perhaps not since your comment doesn’t seem to indicate recognition of conservatives as important. To you “They care only about the bottom dollar.” You do realize Cato was not a man of luxury.
Shall I mention Edmond Burke? No. More than three might be too taxing for your “great paragons of scholarship.”
“I don’t see conservatives as great paragons of scholarship at all. As far as I can see conservatives do not care about Great Ideas or the Great Works.”
True or false that is not an argument.
My focus is on the penultimate ideas that have birthed the liberty and prosperity of the modern era.
Mill, Locke, Smith, not whether they are liberal or conservative ideas.
Adam Smith. John Locke, JS Mill were he liberals – often radical left of their era.
Today thay are portrayed as stodgy old conservatives.
What matters is the ideas and their merit.
Marx was brillian, He is ideas are still a disaserous failure.
Those of Locke, Mill, Smith have withstood the tests of logic, reason and time – they work.
“to attack every standard of excellence, every standard of accomplishment, every critical institution, to attack even logic itself, thought itself, not to mention creating scholarship, wealth, delivering great services – in an effort to so demoralize and induce mediocrity into all aspects of life as to collapse the society, the confidence of the society in its own values, the economy and reduce us to a state of panic and fear making us willing to surrender our values and our liberty to the left.”
Conservatives do this to themselves just fine. As far as I can tell, ignorance is preferable to being associated with intellectual thought (the terrible bastion of liberals,! *gasp*). Without an actual counterweight philosophy to the excesses of the left, the right gets dragged along behind like a petulant child who has no idea why he doesn’t wanna go along, he just doesn’t wanna. It is the conservative personality that digs in its heels rather than any opposing philosophy. It is self-inflicted to a fair extent.
Good point. Don’t be ignorant. Tempting though, as they say, ignorance is bliss
“As far as I can tell, ignorance is preferable to being associated with intellectual thought (the terrible bastion of liberals,! *gasp*).”
To clarify, it seems for far too many conservatives ignorance is preferable to being associated with intellectual thought (the terrible bastion of liberals! *gasp*).
To Andrew, yes, I agree–don’t be ignorant. 🙂
Two things are certain, change and resistance to change. The left demands change – now! And when they achieve it are they happy? Hell no, we need more change – now! The right is resistant to change, wanting to preserve aspects of life that are important to overall happiness. Digging in their heels? You betcha.
Could she please just spontaneously combust??? More stupid non-sensical stuff coming out of this toxic liberal mouth based upon an un- proven ‘theory.’
How did we get here with giving air time to people who have no common sense and pretend they matter in the world .
Tip66,
I would say they do not deserve any air time at all.
However, people like her are more and more in places of higher learning (I would now dispute that term) and influence young minds.
They need to be pointed out, called out for their absurd opinions, criticized, and then forgotten.
Funny how these marxist morons think they just put some label on something like “sexist” or “racist” and it will magically make people change. We’re wise to that cultural marxist game. It doesn’t work. Call us all your tired, worn out smear labels. We don’t care.
OK, so she’s a nasty, lazy slob that needs some money. She’s going to write a book that other nasty, lazy slobs will buy to validate they nasty, and lazy lives.
Bet she smells as bad as she looks!
All the smart and cool people are racist. It is new new in thing.
They are smart to remove unconstitutional affirmative action and other “political emulsifiers” that serve to impose bias and favoritism to the detriment of “equity” which is their absence.
Free people are free to accept or reject and like and dislike any other person, place or thing.
“Freedom and Self-Reliance” is the American thesis.
People must adapt to the outcomes of freedom.
Freedom does not adapt to people, dictatorship does.
Everything is racist. Why because some people regardless of color live like pigs. Disgusting.
Multicultural Universal Diversity = M.U.D.
58,000 dead for the benefit of dastardly parasites who deserted their fellow countrymen to enjoy the good life in the dead men’s country.
How ’bout that “free stuff,” Ong “The Courageous” Thuong?
Critical Sanitation Theory (CST)
It’s an attack on Christian values. Sort of like a communist attack on the bourgeois. No different. It’s coming from all directions.
Although many have valiantly ried for centuries, stupidity simply cannot be fixed.
You’re right, stupidity can’t be fixed, but it can be shot full of holes – that would be stupidity and stupid people.
You can’t be more offended than the supposed victim, Prof.
White professor claims being neat and clean is white supremacy, a racist way to keep down “other races” who—what? Are incapable of neatness and cleanliness?
Unfortunately, she (and people like her) are SERIOUS in their statements and beliefs, even though they are ludicrous, delusional, and border on the psychotic.
SMH
It is more a cultural/educational thing than a racial thing IMO.
I asked long ago to my mom why XYZ area of the city were littered with trash/cig butts/fast food containers.
She said, “It is because of education KT. These people are less educated and don’t know that littering is bad. Everyone else around them does it, the streets are a mess, so ‘why not’.”
In truth, it is a cultural thing. Ever see that “Your Mom does not live here” over the breakroom sink? Is it to say that your/my coworkers were low educated, people of color only? Nah. It is because people seeing a mess will add to the mess instead of doing what is right. Likewise, in unkept areas of town, people just live like the Jones and don’t care. In covenant communities, it limits this type of free-for-all behavior. Keep your curb neat or lest be fined…regardless of race.
I have just about had it with these idiotic woke ideas that liberal academics come up with. Be neat, be messy, who cares? If you don’t like what you see, look AWAY!
Look away, look away, look away, Dixie land!
Proving once more that Stupid is forever! Glad I don’t have smellivision and can’t smell the stinking nut job. I guess I am a segregationist, since I don’t mix my white and brown race, but keep them separated.
She is RIGHT ! It CERTINALY is racist ! White are nice people, with nice yards, in nice houses, make for nice neighborhoods…what else is there to say??.
Wow. People have nothing better to do than analyze such things?
It is for a payday.
The left needs to virtue signal every chance they get to keep the $ and the offense rolling in/on.
I don’t care if it’s racist. I’m civilized, and like nice things.
Hey what the heck. It’s just another way of dumbing down the roach problem. Go woke go roach.
TiT,
Go woke, go roach . . . brilliant.
Cleanliness just annoys the bacteria!!
“different ways to organize pantries. Where many see neatness, Drenten sees racism and sexism.”
So I am not considered a racist, I am mixing all my white rice with my brown rice. My rice will no longer be separate. Will they be equal?
IDK about “equal”. But I do know that’s going to be hard to cook.