I like pie. And really, what’s not to like about pie?

I’m writing this quick primer so that I may possibly reference it in future posts. I figured it’d be easier to publish it once and reference back to it than have to copy-paste it into every post I use it in.

Okay, so, pie crust. Crusts can be made out of anything; crumb crusts are common and shortbread crusts, although less common, are delicious. Here I’m going to talk about your basic pie dough, which common baking wisdom separates into two categories: mealy and flaky. Their preparations are nearly identical. In general, flaky crusts are considered to be better for fruit pies and mealy crusts better for custard or cream pies, but as long as you know what you’re doing, you can do whatever you want.

I. Texture

The texture depends on how finely you cut the fat into the flour. Using a food processor, pastry cutter, or (my personal choice) your fingers, mash the cold fat into the flour, breaking up the lumps and incorporating the flour into them. For flaky dough, stop when there are still pea-sized lumps of fat in the mixture. For mealy dough, continue to work the fat until the entire mixture resembles a very coarse flour. When baking, the fat will melt inside the layers of dough before evaporating, creating the spaces that provide for either a flaky or mealy texture. Larger pieces of fat create larger pockets, thus providing flakes.

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I write a lot of fiction, and read a good amount of it, too. So it’s hard not to think about characterization a lot.

“Is it sexist to portray women as…”

Well, there’s the thing.

“Is it sexist to portray women as…”

There it is. Plural. Implying that the broad brush is being loaded up with a hefty dose of Misogynist Mauve and poised to paint a very, very broad stroke in order to portray a large, diverse group of people.

Some women are outspoken, some are soft-spoken. Some won’t leave the house until they’re dressed to the nines, some will throw on yoga pants and a t-shirt and feel great. Some are kind, some are mean, some are athletic, some are out of shape, some can fire shotguns and some abhor weapons… and between and beyond all these extremes are millions and billions of in-betweens that describe some women, but certainly not all women, too.

So, “is it sexist to portray a woman as…”?

Maybe, maybe not. Much like men, women are quite human and may possess several positive or negative personality traits. Like a man, a woman may or may not be a good person.

You just have to watch it, because many of the women in our media – on TV, in movies – are essentially the same handful of people. Many of whom are shrill, nut-cracking, shrieking harpies. This is hardly a representative sample of all women, who, let me remind you once again, are also regular people.

So, really, when feminist thinkers are upset at the portrayal of a female character in a film or TV show or video game or even novel (hey, literature ain’t perfect either), it’s not an overreaction over one character. It’s because, more than likely, we’ve all seen that same two-dimensional female character before, submitted for our viewing/reading/whatevering pleasure, often by a man, and we’re tired of it. Male characters get to be diverse all the time, so why not females? (Yes, I am aware that we do have good examples of female characters in many forms of media, but the males are way, way ahead.)

Of course, there’s the other side, too. click to read more »