We Don’t All Need to be Spokeswomen
by Talya Goldfinger

Bravo TV’s Top Chef has announced its first female winner in its four seasons, Stephanie Izard. I must admit, I hate writing that sentence – not because I don’t think Stephanie deserves it (on the contrary, I supported her from the beginning), but because I don’t like attributing her win to the entire female sex. Stephanie’s victory is a win for her alone. The emphasis on Stephanie as the first female winner trivializes her achievement.

Top Chef is a reality show competition where chefs are given cooking challenges and, each week, are eliminated based on their culinary creations. The last chef standing becomes the Top Chef. Though many women made it far into the competition in past seasons, no women had ever won before now.

Is this male winning streak relevant? Not if we don’t make it significant. When the competition comes down to a few deserving chefs (both male and female), and a winner is picked based on one dish, their sex should be unimportant.

The problem is that the network and its audience played up the previous “male winning streak” and gave it significance. Before the season aired, I saw a commercial asking viewers to text in their opinion on the likelihood of a female winner. I am not sure which was more upsetting – the commercial itself, or the fact that a majority of viewers bought into the craze. They voted the situation would be unlikely.  (Obviously, they were wrong.)

The lack of a female winner almost became a joke on the network, which is both unfair to Stephanie and to women everywhere. This emphasis only helps to validate the stereotype that men are better chefs than women. It is also an injustice to Stephanie as nasty rumors are spreading about her winning only because the network wanted a female Top Chef. Though I believe this statement is untrue, it is undeniably hard to prove wrong.

As far as winners go, Stephanie is very deserving. She won multiple challenges and seemed to always do well even when not selected as the victor. I also appreciate her approach to the whole “female issue.” When asked on the reunion show if she would rather be known as “the winner” or as “the first female winner,” Stephanie replied, “I’d rather be known as the winner of Season Four. I don’t want people to think that I won because I’m a female. I see myself as a chef before I see myself as a female chef.”

Stephanie’s win is a great accomplishment for her and nothing more. Not every competition needs to be a battle between the sexes. Supporting her because she is a woman is shallow and only serves to foster unhealthy competition. If we want men and women to truly be seen as equals then we need to start with our loyalties and prejudices. We need to support people -like Stephanie- who work hard and perform well, not because of or in spite of their sex, but regardless of it.

bravo, stefanie izard, top chef