Sunday, December 03, 2006

Why should women have all the fun?

This video was sent to the SLC SnB mailing list today. To steal this line: men+fiber = awesome!

3 comments:

IvanovaKnits said...

There is an article about this phenomenon at the Island of Misfit Patterns: http://www.islandofmisfitpatterns.com/2006/07/07/i-dont-care-if-you-have-a-penis/
I think I agree with it somewhat. I thinks it's great that some guys choose to knit despite the social pressure they have to put up with. But they really shouldn't complain too much about feeling awkward at yarn stores and knitting groups. I'm a woman at a physics institute, don't forget. Do you think that the
MALE machinist lets me drill holes with the drill press even though he knows darned well that I know how to use it? That the male students believe that I know how to make a decent solder join? That my boss knows that I can haul
open a well-oiled 200 kg door at a synchrotron beamline hatch? When WE get ACTUAL equality, then they can too.

Harrumph.

Ivanova

thraceknits said...

It's not any better in CS really, but at least some people acknowledge that there needs to be lots more women in the field.

Other than doing away with all that gender stereotyping of professions and hobbies, there are a couple of reasons why I'd be happy to see more boys and men knitting: 1. it's a stress reliever and teaches concentration 2. increasing the number of knitters will help fiber-based businesses survive when knitting becomes less trendy (at least it's not a fad)

IvanovaKnits said...

I completely agree. I have encouraged my male friends to be knitters, and have succeeded once. Knitting is FUN, and is a really great creative process whether you develop your own designs or not. At least some portion of the knitter's personality goes into each FO, from pattern to fiber choice to colors. But I don't want to hear them complain about discrimination, is my point. The way I feel is 'Good for you. You're a boy. What do you think of this fiber/pattern, etc...', the same as with my female knitting friends.