In the Kitchen

I personally didn't know it was a contest but I discovered today that men have control of the breadmakers, while women maintain control of blenders and mixers (The Guardian, 5 Aug 2003). They attribute the rise in sales of breadmakers to men because they are gadget-addicted.

What's it all about? Baking bread is traditionally a male industry (read that somewhere earlier as well)? Its easy for it to be a success? Small input big rewards? I'm thinking... Big Brother. Or maybe they are all capitalist bastards trying to sell their properties (smell of baking is supposed to draw on the base instincts of the prospective buyers and make them think it is a homely house because of it). They buy them for their partners (cos they want a domestic goddess / kitchen sink kind of partner - I only know one owner of a breadmaker and hers was a gift from her boyfriend).

I dunno, whatever. They're welcome to them - we've got the blenders and mixers. I mean, how much more useful are they?

And one last thing while we're on the subject of control over inanimate objects - the most intriguing one of all is the male preserve of the remote control. I am yet to meet a man, in a partnership or otherwise, who doesn't exert total domination of this device. Even my very own boyfiend, when visiting my house, watching my TV, has to have his hand on my remote control. Extraordinary. I think its the last basition of male pride, emaciated in every other way, he has to control whats on the box. Then again maybe its their short attention spans that require them to need to watch something else during the adverts (requiring a high degree of readiness for turning over) - or perhaps thats the fear of missing out on something good, or indeed the need to be in training for the channel hopping olympics. And woe betide the woman who takes it away - high degree of discomfort, fidgeting and neurosis will ensue, until its given back (I've tried it - both with my Dad and the boyfiend - its not just a case of being able to direct which channel button needs to be pressed). (Please don't feel battered boys, you know I'm only teasing ;-)).