reguess1997:allieinarden:aspiringwarriorlibrarian:marzipanandminutiae:kinkyturtle:flintandpyrite:kak
reguess1997:allieinarden:aspiringwarriorlibrarian:marzipanandminutiae:kinkyturtle:flintandpyrite:kakumei-no-tomoshibi:ravengoodwoman:flintandpyrite:Inexplicably annoyed by men writing about knitting!???????The tags on this are extraordinary:girlfriend: *does a completely harmless craft that she enjoys, creating something while she watches tv*boyfriend: “what is this anti-feminist spinster shit, i’m so alienated”this is literally why I feel like I have to apologize for sewing“sweetly oblivious old ladies” Hon I 100% guarantee to you that those old ladies are aware of you, your bloodline, your daily habits and your breakfast order and gossip about how rude you are as soon as you leave. “If you want to eavesdrop on someone, knit or sew or some sort of womanly craft. Men will act as though you are deaf and blind even when shown evidence otherwise.” - Tricksters’ Choice.I sourced this one a while back and I was really glad I did. It’s from the book Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting, an anthology in which “twenty-seven writers tell stories about how knitting healed, challenged, or helped them to grow.” The passage in question, from a story by Andre Dubus III, describes the writer’s state of mind after going through some problems with his family and having a fight with his girlfriend. Part of his difficulty is that their class disparity has recently come to the fore (his family is working-class, she was born into wealth; the “busywork” line seems a little more pointed), but mostly it’s that he feels disconnected from his roots and craves the easy connection to the past that his girlfriend’s art represents. Look at the way that even this out-of-context passage is written: his apparent contempt barely disguises his envy of her ease and skill, “her fingers working the needles and yarn without having to peek.” The entire arc is about how, finding himself compelled by her craft despite himself, he asks her to teach him to knit so that he can make a Christmas present for his aunt, and, in the process, comes to realize that there is more to knitting than the shallow ideas he read into it before he really understood it. It’s sad that a man who wrote honestly about the impact that a “womanly art” had on his life got skewered (no pun intended) on the Internet because of this contextually necessary lead-up passage in which he outlines the negative stereotypes that stood in his way and pokes fun at his own immaturity.This post is starting to go around without the context, and, while what they are saying is generally good, it’s important to know that the author’s intent was to provide the context of the ridiculous stigma he overcame.@inkoflethe @vaspider -- source link