‘Closet Porn’ Rooted in Racist, Sexist Behavior: Loyola Doctor

News

from Catherine Donlevy

March 16, 2023 | 6:40 in the evening

If you’ve ditched cereal boxes for plain glass containers and opted for Plexiglas storage containers in your refrigerator, you may be engaging in classic, racist and sexist behavior, a Chicago professor claims.

Dr. Jenna Drenten, an associate professor of marketing at Loyola University, argued Tuesday that the recent craze for organizing kitchen and pantry spaces — a TikTok trend she called “closet porn” — imposes societal standards that the average American can’t live up to. to cope while tricking consumers into spending more money.

The “new minimalism” approach is just a thinly veiled excuse to entice people to buy more items – containers, labels and storage space – that give off the messy look of ordinary life, Drenten writes for The Conversation.

“Storing spices in coordinating glass jars and coordinating the colors of dozens of spray containers may seem trivial. But order is tied to status, and chaos is loaded with assumptions of personal responsibility and integrity,” the professor said.

“Cleanliness has historically been used as a cultural gatekeeping mechanism to reinforce status differences based on a vague understanding of ‘decency’: nice people, with nice yards, in nice houses, make for nice neighborhoods.”

“What lies beneath the surface of this anti-mess, pro-grace is a history of classic, racist and sexist social structures.”

According to Drenten’s research, the social media influencers pushing porn out of the closet are “mostly white women who demonstrate what it looks like to maintain a ‘nice’ home by creating a new status symbol: the perfectly organized, fully stocked closet.”

Even celebrities have joined the trend, spreading it even further.

Kim Kardashian showed off her massive walk-in refrigerator in 2020 — and two separate, medium-sized ones — that were filled with glass jars filled with various frozen yogurt condiments.

Last year, sister Khloe Kardashian boasted about her extravagant closet, which is filled with items on shelves from floor to ceiling. The photos show that most of the items – pasta, figs and goldfish – are kept in glass containers, while other plastic, packaged foods are put away in wicker baskets.

Drenten points out that tidy pantries have been a status symbol since the late 1800s, when only the wealthy could afford a place to hide both the food and the people who prepared it.

Over the centuries since, closets have evolved to be part of the open floor plan. Instead, how well the homeowner maintains the closet and organizes the space serves as a new marker of status.

She believes that the recent trend of “closet porn” has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, as shortages in the supply chain have grown: “Keeping things on hand has become a symbol of sustainability for those with money and space for it.”

Drenten argues that the Kardashians and other “closet porn” celebrities have set society’s standard for an ideal mother, wife or wife, but the aspiration fails for those who can’t afford the money or time to keep up.

“Closet porn, as a status symbol, relies on the promise of making everyday housework easier. But if women are largely responsible for the work required to maintain a perfectly organized closet, it’s important to ask: easier for whom? Drenten asked.