The Invisible Woman

 A couple of days ago, a feminist site posted a quick little rant that used Erwan Le Corre as a segue to talk about how this whole "paleo" trend was promoting some hyper-patriarchal masculine past, comparing it to the modern Republican conservatism. It was pretty clear that the author didn't know much about the Paleolithic (her citation to how bad the Paleolithic was for women linked to the author of The Clan of the Cave Bear, which is fiction) and after significant negative feedback, the piece was pulled (but lives on thanks to the internet).

I commented that I really don't think that the Paleolithic diet/lifestyle thing is a man thing. But I think it seems that way to outsiders because that's how the media portrays it. It's the media that's selling the caveman hunter-barbarian stereotype, not the movement. 

I've experienced this first hand, but I really haven't said much about it because it brings up so many personal insecurities. After the NYtimes article I was featured in, the NY Paleo Meetup and I interacted with a large number of media outlets, both television and print. We even managed two glorious comped dinners at Takashi that were filmed for various TV programs in the US and Europe. Overall, I probably spent hours and hours talking to reporters and being filmed or photographed. But I honestly don't have much to show for it except the original article. I was cut out of almost all of the things I was involved with. 

I wasn't sure it was because I am a woman. I thought...well, you know, I'm not exactly some tall hot person. I'm a short awkward nerd. So I started inviting women I thought were gorgeous to come to these interviews. They got cut too. As for the men, well duh they featured some attractive men, but I have noticed that even men who were pretty unattractive were being featured in media. It was OK to be unattractive, as long as you had a certain feral look. I don't want to discredit all the men who were also cut. I would note that many of them, like us women, were not caveman stereotypes. 

I also don't want to criticize the various writers, videographers, and photographers, who often spent a large enough time with me that it's hard to think that they thought they were wasting it. I always got the feeling that things were getting cut by higher-ups. 

But I haven't said anything, because I didn't want to seem resentful. I've worked in male-dominated fields long enough to know that as soon as you complain, it can be seen as a weakness and used to tar and feather you as some kind of paranoid over-sensitive whiny woman.

I guess the good news is that woman in the Paleo community have gotten more and more visibility because so many of us have published books. Most of the good paleo cookbooks have female authors or co-authors. But I still think that when the media wants to do a "paleo diet" story that they are mostly going to pick someone to feature that fits that weird caveman stereotype. And that sucks, because I think this diet is really beneficial for everyone. I've seen it lead to easier pregnancies, help women with breastfeeding issues, get rid of menstrual cramps, and alleviate menopausal symptoms. And ironically, it may be that women benefit quite a bit more from meat consumption than men anyway, considering that anemia is more prevalent in women.