It all comes together

If the NYT letters to the editor are any indication, two seemingly ridiculous things are on (certain) American's minds these days: Harvard's president and skinny French women. Which of course leads me to wonder if some underlying theme unites the two, if there's some undercurrent of the elite American psyche that has been awoken from a post-Pilates nap.

I would argue that there is, in fact, a cross-kerfuffle connection: Gender differences really are at the heart of both of these debates. How gender relates to the Summers mess is obvious. But it's also quite clear that no one seems to give a damn whether French men are thinner or fatter than American men. Nope, the Giuliano philosophy is, like every women's magazine, about how to get a man. In Giuliano's book, and in high-end women's magazines, it's not just how to get any man, but about how to get a classy one. The woman who takes Giuliano's message seriously won't think, gee, isn't she a great role model for women everywhere, capitalizing on this gimmick and making herself a ton of money. Instead, a Giuliano-follower will turn her focus away from quick and less-than-exciting meals that permit her to get as much done during the day as possible and will return to the idea that she must cook for her family and stay thin for her husband. For many women, staying thin isn't impossible, it's just time-consuming. 80-hour work-weeks do not permit the slow-cooking of coq au vin and day-long trips to the nearest farmer's market.

Now, I for one would rather cook (or, better yet, eat) delicious French meals than work 80 hour weeks as a scientist. But that's just me, and, just as there should be no barriers to women in science, there should be no barriers to my access to fine French food. Damn, I'm sleepy...Coherence will have to wait, at the very least until tomorrow, when I've finished what may well be the last lab report I ever have to do, ever.