Let's Spin The Wheel Of Racism Once Again...

The recent social media trend of showing off spacious, bright, clean and perfectly organized pantries is...

Oh, wait. Surely not? 

...rooted in racist, classist and sexist social structures, according to a professor from Chicago.

*deep sigh* 

Associate Professor of Marketing Jenna Drenten said she took note of a recent uptick in what she branded 'pantry porn' - when women show off their fully stocked, methodically styled home supply closets. In particular, Drenten singles out ultra-influencer celebrities like the Kardashians for proliferating the trend as they show their millions of followers their pristine storage rooms.

It takes a lot to make me side with vacuous, empty-headed celebrities, but vacuous, empty-headed wackademics do it every time...

While beautiful, neat, airy kitchens and homes have long been associated with wealth and status, dirty and unkept kitchens and houses have indicated that their owners are not responsible enough and do not have the means to take care of them. Furthermore, women, it is implied, will be the ones taking care of the elaborate pantries and the things that are cooked with their abundance of ingredients - tying them, in a way that the modern woman perhaps rejects, to the domestic sphere.

So, cleanliness and pride in appearance are all racist? Isn't that a little bit, errr, what's the word I'm looking for here? 

'Cleanliness has historically been used as a cultural gatekeeping mechanism to reinforce status distinctions based on a vague understanding of ‘niceness’: nice people, with nice yards, in nice houses, make for nice neighborhoods,' she wrote. 'What lies beneath the surface of this anti-messiness, pro-niceness stance is a history of classist, racist and sexist social structures.'

Who wants to live in a neighbourhood that's not nice and clean? I bet Jenna doesn't!