Cortney Bramlette
AP Language
Mrs. Richards
3-21-14

Author Essay #9

The general argument made by Dave Barry in Turkeys in the Kitchen is the men are raised one way, and women are raised another. That does not mean that they are incapable of doing each others stereotyped jobs, it just means that women are born better at cooking and cleaning while men are born better at fixing cars and eating the food women cook. (Okay that might be a little sexist, but slightly true.) Dave believes that men not knowing how to do anything right in a kitchen and women knowing the in’s and out’s of every kitchen utensil dates back to the pre-feminism era and the sexism of it. When asked to cut up a turnip, this is what goes through Dave’s head. “Now to the woman, who had all the sexist Home Economics training back in the pre-feminism era, this is a very simple instruction. It is the absolute simplest thing she can think of. But to the man, who got his training in Shop Class, learning things he would never ever need to know for the rest of his life, such as how to make “dado” joints, this instruction raises many troubling questions.” It seems as though Dave almost finds it unfair that he was never taught the correct way to cut up a turnip. He goes on to say that even once he picked up a zucchini (hoping it would be the turnip he was supposed to be cutting up) his wife “much too patiently” took it from his hands and replied with “That’s all right. I’ll do it.” If he only would be taught just once what a turnip was and how to correctly cut it he would know how to help his wife in one way inside the kitchen, but that is for the women to know because they were taught that way in their sexist pre-feminism Home Economics classes. In conclusion, Dave comes to understand that yes, we are in a time where the men and women can cook and fix cars as equals, but sometimes women are