I'm gonna get in trouble, I wanna start a fight

[labellementeuse]

Unpopular feminist opinion: that some feminists enjoy knitting does not render knitting a feminist activity. Discuss.

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Comments

[caramarie]

Couldn't you say that knitting can be a reclamation of traditionally feminine arts? As opposed to the devaluing of them that has happened previously?

I mean, it doesn't have to be a feminist activity, but it could be.

Or, if a male feminist knits, isn't that a feminist activity? Because he's transgressing gender roles?

[labellementeuse]

Well, yeah, reclamation is what I've usually heard used, but reclaiming what, exactly? By being a hobbyist knitter am I really "redeeming" knitting as a cultural tradition and an art? When people see my hat are they going to suddenly realise how valuable knitting can be as a hobby? Because the class-based defences of knitting don't really work - in the first world it's now cheaper to buy than knit most of the time.

Honestly the reclamation language just strikes me as a whole lot of feminist thinking "gosh, knitting's kind of a grandma/domestic stereotype! I hope I'm not being antifeminist! Knitting must be feminist somehow!" When actually, really, my feelings are that knitting is just a hobby. I believe strongly in leisure time and in women using their leisure time on things they enjoy, and I don't think knitting has to be defended past that since it's not harmful to others or to the self, as a rule. (RSI issues aside.)

I can see men knitting in public as a feminist activity though, for the reasons you lay out.

[callie]

I also wonder if, as knitting is for most people in this country at least a hobby more than a socially necessary task (price of yarn vs cost of imported clothes) if that has removed some of the denigration it needs to be reclaimed from. Besides a bit of 'haha silly old women knitting', mostly from 15 year old boys, I haven't experienced it - and there's certainly not the level of misogyny there is attached to ideas round, say, cooking.

[labellementeuse]

Yes, I kind of agree. And then I feel conflicted about that agreement because ... I don't know, it used to be a valuable and important task especially for people with little spare money, and now that it's not we respect it more and that should be celebrated? Sigh.

Interesting re: cooking. Of course the long observation is that women are cooks and men are chefs, but I have to say that I never feel this viscerally because my father cooks about twice as often as my mother does and always has done, and my siblings are all equally so-so at cooking. (Admittedly I'm doing a lot of the cooking right now, but that's because I *like* it.) My father just made and preserved a whole lot of spaghetti sauce to get rid of our tomato glut yesterday.

I need a food icon.

[callie]

I have a similar experience to you in terms of who does the cooking (my brother is in catered halls, first year of uni, and was wild with excitement when he smuggled in a steam cooker so he could finally do his own cooking!). But I think it's less about who does it and more about who is expected to do it. Knitting may be devalued, but I think in a lot of households women being expected to cook is part and package of unreasonable expectations being made on them and outright aggressiveness/abuse.

[caramarie]

Well, it's not like I knit or know anything about how knitters feel about their knitting :D I already have enough hobbies that aggravate my OOS. (Hmm, and I don't consider playing video games a feminist activity, which is something else that has gender implications. Although discussing them can be.)

Here from metaquotes.

[jackandahat]

I am definitely not A Feminist, I have far too many issues with the way feminism deals with people of colour/trans people/disabled people. So I wouldn't call anything I do "a feminist act" because I don't like the term.

But I don't knit *because* it transgresses gender roles. I knit because it's interesting. Me knitting in public isn't a statement of "Look at me, I'm being different." it's "I'm really bored and I need to do something with my hands" or "It's eight days to Christmas and I have two hats to finish".

My understanding (and I might well be wrong) is that for something to be a feminist act it had to be on purpose, there had to be feminist intent behind it. So I think *some* guys knitting might be a feminist thing, and some women might knitting might be a feminist thing, but just the act of sitting down and knitting isn't feminist in itself.

Re: Here from metaquotes.

[caramarie]

Sorry, I meant the transgression part as a side-effect, not as a reason to knit in itself. I was probably thinking more along the lines of 'feminist repercussions' than 'feminist activity', actually, so that wasn't very clear.

Re: Here from metaquotes.

[jackandahat]

*nods* but again - I think the repercussions can depend on the intent, on if you're trying to make a statement or not.