When Leftism Eats Itself

NC State sociologists say Michelle Obama's healthy eating program is classist and sexist

A study from three sociologists based out of North Carolina State University charges that First Lady Michelle Obama's campaign to promote healthy eating and decrease childhood obesity rates is classist and sexist in its implementation. This is because the model Obama advocates tends to put the onus of preparing healthy meals specifically on women, and also expects a level of disposable income, transportation options, and free time, which low-income families may lack.

The researchers interviewed 150 mothers and spent 250 hours observing 12 working-class and poor families as they shopped for food, cooked, and ate. They note:

In the fight to combat rising obesity rates, modern-day food gurus advocate a return to the kitchen. [...] First lady Michelle Obama has also been influential in popularizing public health messages that emphasize the role that mothers play when it comes to helping children make healthy choices. The message that good parents — and in particular, good mothers — cook for their families dovetails with increasingly intensive and unrealistic standards of "good" mothering. [Sage Journals]

The study concludes that, "this emerging standard is a tasty illusion, one that is moralistic, and rather elitist, instead of a realistic vision of cooking today."
- - Bonnie Kristian