This article contains spoilers for the second series of The Bear.
The Michelin star chef Marco Pierre White said in 2019: “The real positive with men [in professional kitchens is] they are not as emotional, and they don’t take things personally.” While he credited women with having a better sense of smell, and for being consistent and punctual, he said: “Men can absorb pressure better in busy moments.”
I reflected a lot on this statement while researching and writing my book Hysterical: Exploding the myth of gendered emotions, about how the long history of women being perceived as “emotional” has disadvantaged them and kept them out of certain domains.
