Hell's Kitchen

I never really stopped and realized until now how genderalized one of my favorite shows is. Of course, once you learn to spot these things, this tends to happen quite often. Hell's Kitchen, now in it's fifth season, is a reality TV show where the world class Chef Ramsay puts a group of aspiring head chefs through demanding challenges to whittle out one who will take head position in another outpost of Chef Ramsay's far reaching empire.

Now that I've thought about it, I realize how much Ramsay's image is portrayed as "manly". He curses, he swears, his temper flares, yet he still draws respect from millions of people. Why? He's a man who is extremely good at what he does. He shows disregard for any traces of personality that don't contribute to a command of the kitchen. And why, besides the obvious notoriety, do thousands line up every year to try and place themselves at the top with this part madman-part acclaimed culinary mastermind? Well, with all of the success and fame that constantly surrounds him, people regard him as a man who knows exactly what he's talking about. Thus, when he turns to you and shoots off a stream of his trademark profanity, you know it's you who has the problem, not him. You go and try to make yourself better to try and earn the respect of Chef Gordon Ramsay, one of the manliest of men, knowledgable, professional, and relatively unemotional.

No, Chef Ramsay is not a bodybuilding musclehead, lifting benches with women on them and throwing anchors across the beach. Yet his traditionally manly composition has had networks renewing contracts for him for years. And it shows no signs of stopping.