Recently, I was lucky enough to get a hold of a copy of Missy Chase Lapine's new cookbook,The Sneaky Chef: How to Cheat on Your Man (In The Kitchen): Hiding Healthy Foods in Hearty Meals Any Guy Will Love. The book is a guide for women to sneak yucky health foods onto their man's plate, because men can't stay healthy unless a conniving woman tricks them into it. (Want that Vulcan Molten Chocolate Cake, Man? Prepare to stomach a few cups of pureed baby spinach leaves. Gross!) Kathleen Ryan O'Connor of The Journal News says the book "appears to have struck a cultural and medical chord." Chef Daniel Bouloud calls it "A brilliant and timely concept." An excerpt:

There is a distinctly masculine quality to chewing or gnawing on foods like meat, which accounts for the fact that when you ask most men where they want to go for dinner, they answer "a steak house." They also like to crunch, as on potato chips or hard pretzles. Alfalfa sprouts and yogurt just won't do.

A woman, on the other hand, might have just this for lunch. She tends to choose more delicate foods, which men typically call "chick foods." That is: The proverbial quiche*, salads, broccoli florets, and cottage cheese.

Throughout the book, Lapine regards men as dumb, lazy health hazards. To Lapine, men are like children---and they should be treated as such. As for the woman, her role is to care for these man-boys; by cooking "sneakily" and "cheating" on "your man" in the kitchen, women are able to imagine a sort of transgressive power over males while still staying faithful to the marriages that require them to perform all the cooking, care-giving, and whatever other bullshit wives are supposed to do. But the book is not sexist, writes Lapine:

You might wonder why I'm addressing this whole book to women. Early in the process of writing this book, someone accused me of being sexist for just that reason. It was a man, and he thought I should direct the book to either spouse who wants to cook healthier for the other. Why would I assume that the wife is cooking for the man or that creating a healthy diet falls only on her shoulders? ... How I wish he were right. But traditionally, and still today, women are usually the caregivers of the family.

Boo.

In the book's introduction, Lapine tells the stories of several women stuck in relationships with men who hate eating right. Instead of turning to Lapine's book, they should probably just listen to me. No sneaking necessary, promise! Let's take a look.

Read More "Chef Offers Menu of Gender Oppression, Cake" »

Last week, the Washington Post Magazine debuted the "XX Files," a weekly feature that will spotlight personal essays by female writers. The first piece was awesome---a story about how bullshitting can land you naked in a Finnish embassy sauna, by local poet Sandra Beasley. In an online chat today, Beasley and Washington Post Magazine editor Sandy Fernandez answered some questions about the new column.

Beyond the usual fanfare and old-middle-school-classmate appearances, the chat also featured questions from readers wondering if designating a feature specifically for women writers was a bit, well, regressive:

Falls Church, Va.: Isn't XX Files a bit of a throwback to the days when Style was the "For And About women" section? In 2008, do we really want to present women's voices as something Other---something separate from "normal" voices---to be segregated and literally put in the back of the magazine?

and

Washington, D.C.: Is it just me, or does the XX Files read a bit like those old "Women's Sections" I've read that newspapers used to have? The ghetto's updated for the times, but it's still a ghetto.

Fernandez's response: "I think there is a limiting aspect to 'ghetto' that isn't there for 'XX Files.' In the olden days, they said the Style section was a ghetto because it was the 'only' place in the paper that published women, or published on topics of interest to women. These days, we welcome women in all sections of the magazine. Except for Gene's page--that's strictly a Gene ghetto."

I think the feature's great; I'm interested in any writing about women's issues that manages to avoid "When Your Boobs Act Weird" and "The Girlfriend Habit That Will Deepen His Love" territory. What do you think: Should the Post send this feature back to the kitchen?