every time i see trad gender roles people being weird about fibercraft i wanna tell them
-medieval and early modern knitting guilds were full of men learning and perfecting fancy knitting techniques to impress rich clients
-in cold, wet climates like the scottish highlands knitting was done by the whole family, in fact it was the perfect activity to do while a man was out on a fishing boat or in the pasture with his sheep and cattle
-men who were away from women for a long time had to know how to knit and sew at least well enough to mend their own clothes. soldiers knitted. sailors knitted. cowboys and frontiersmen knitted. vikings probably knitted (actually they would have been doing a kind of proto knitting called nalbinding, but that’s beside the point). all those guys the far right love to treat as ultra masculine heroes were sitting around their barracks and campfires at night darning their socks and knitting themselves little hats
Roman soldiers literally spun as they walked using kickspindles
every merchant marine I know can knit a rope hammock on broomsticks in a couple hours tops.
We have literal photo evidence of shepherd men knitting on stilt stools while watching their grazing flocks. Because knitting or spinning yarn was relatively easy and portable, kept them occupied enough to avoid boredom but also left them enough attention to make sure their flocks remained safe, and resulted in something they could sell to supplement their income from the fleeces, milk, cheeses and meat of their flock.
Once the knitting guilds dissolved as economic powers (partially due to the advent of semi-mechanised knitting machines, which outsourced knitting to “unskilled” croft and cottage-dwelling families rather than restricting the industry to select trained guildsmen), knitting throughout Europe was more likely to be an activity relegated to socio-economic classes than to gender roles, especially prior to the mid-19th century when it was slowly embraced as a leisure activity by wealthy women (in much the same way that embroidery had been embraced in earlier centuries).
And sure, there’s an entire conversation to be had about how patriarchal structures have forced women to be more economically vulnerable than men throughout Western history, which therefore meant that once knitting was spread beyond the guilds’ tight regulation, a lot of women began knitting because they were poor and it was a relatively portable form of work to earn an income.
Just as there’s a conversation to be had about why various occupations and activities are devalued once enough women begin practising them - and especially once the activities are practised by “ladies of leisure”, who were seen as being especially frivolous - and why we then collectively develop amnesia about the respect our society held for that occupation or activity just a few generations earlier (think also about teaching, nursing, secretarial and administrative occupations - all previously male-dominated careers that were paid well and seen as respectable, but have been steadily devalued as more women entered the field).
But if that conversation ignores the fact that men are punished and constrained by patriarchal and socio-economic demands, that men have just as much place in the history of fibrecrafts as women, but have been erased from that history by people whose ideology demands that they never have taken part in “feminine” duties… then that conversation will be disingenuous and only half of the true conversation.
I want so badly to get back into fibercraft demonstrations/living history and be an example to little boys that anyone can enter these crafts. I’ve done some needle felt demonstrating at a few craft shows this last year and children and adults were DELIGHTED to see the level of craftmanship and the niche I work in. Because even those who had SEEN needle felting before had largely seen starter kits, and when it comes to professional grade stuff, in general cutesy and “rustic” rough style art. (My niche is… 1lb+ smooth dense felts, super detailed without being Hyper Realistic). Felting can be whatever you want it to be. You can go super cutesy, you can go gorey. Fantasy, sci fi, horor, whatever. It’s the wild west out here, the stuff in mainstream promoted videos aren’t all there is to make.
Tangentially related, one of my fondest memories is when I was knitting in a lobby while my partner got a haircut and a dad pointed me out to his son and said look! he’s knitting. boys can knit. YOU could knit.
Since then, my partner (also a guy) has taken up darning and crochet! He’s in his thirties and has only just started and is going. While I’ve been at it since I was little, you can pick these things up at any point in your life!
Break down stupid gender roles and stereotypes and keep these crafts alive and thriving.
