CleanTok's 'pantry porn' trend slammed as sexist and classist by professor: '[It's] a new status symbol'

Everyone loves a good decluttering video — it’s half the reason why #CleanTok has such an avid following. But while beautifully styled kitchens, hyper-organized fridges and immaculately clean homes are becoming increasingly popular on TikTok and Instagram, experts are questioning whether the trend is actually more problematic than inspirational.

According to Jenna Drenten, an associate professor of marketing at Loyola University Chicago, it’s definitely problematic. In a new essay penned for TodayOnline.com, Drenten accuses the “pantry porn” phenomenon of becoming “yet another status symbol of the rich” that leaves the average viewer feeling like their own homes are messy, chaotic and somehow not living up to their full potential if they’re not aesthetically pleasing.

“Pantry porn is a mashup of infotainment, how-to, lifestyle content and ASMR, a form of sound-driven content intended to relax viewers,” writes Drenten, who adds that it’s been helped along by an entire cottage industry that’s emerged in the last 10 years around decluttering, minimalism and simple living.

But the pantry porn trend seems to have moved things in a slightly different direction than its predecessor, the Marie Kondo-inspired minimalist movement. Now, the message doesn’t seem to be “less stuff equals less mess and stress.” Instead, Drenten says the message we’re sending consumers is about having more: “more containers, more labels, more storage space.”

This is what compels many of us to obsessively add to our Amazon carts more than we typically might— from pretty glass cylinders that display our fruits to soda-can organizers that will show off our arsenal of San Pellegrino.

“What lies beneath the surface of this anti-messiness, pro-niceness stance is a history of classist, racist and sexist social structures,” Drenten notes.

“In my research, influencers who produce pantry porn are predominantly white women who demonstrate what it looks like to maintain a ‘nice’ home by creating a new status symbol: The perfectly organized, fully stocked pantry,” the professor continues. “Perhaps it’s not surprising that pantry porn found its foothold during the Covid-19 pandemic, when shortages in the supply chain surged. Keeping stuff on hand became a symbol of resilience for those with the money and space to do so.”

The unspoken pressure of all of this, says Drenten, is undeniable — especially when it comes to women.

After all, keeping that fridge or pantry fully stocked — and perfectly organized — at all times takes work. And that work inevitably falls on the woman, wife or mother of the household, who’s been told via TikTok or Instagram that an immaculate fridge or pantry is somehow a sign of her worth.

As a result, Drenten says that online pantry porn “sets the aspirational standard for becoming an ideal mom, ideal wife and ideal woman,” whether we realize it or not. Not only are we now judged for whether or not we work outside the home, but our domestic prowess must also be top-notch at all times.

Are the pull-out bins in our fridge filled with fruit and veggies that are starting to turn? “Congratulations, you have failed at adulthood,” a voice in our head tells us.

Is our pantry a jumbled mess of things shoved in haphazardly or way past their expiration?

“Clearly, you need to get your life together — STAT,” we think.

The pantry porn trend also tells women that buying store-bought boxes of snacks and leaving them in their original packaging is also not good enough.

“They must neatly place the grab-and-go snacks into a fully stocked pantry that rivals a boutique corner store,” writes Drenten.

It’s not just lifestyle influencers who make us feel this way, either. So do celebs like the Kardashians, who have literally taken us inside their homes to show us how perfectly organized it all is. (Of course, it’s never mentioned just how much full-time help they have in order to keep these pantries, fridges and kitchens spotless around the clock.)

For the average-, middle- or lower-income family, achieving this image of near-perfection around the clock isn’t just exhausting: It’s completely unrealistic. So why do we buy into it so much?

“Pantry porn, as a status symbol, relies on the promise of making daily domestic work easier,” Drenten concludes in her essay. “But if women are largely responsible for the work required to maintain the perfectly organized pantry, it’s critical to ask: Easier for whom?”

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