Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Man Handled

Oh, media, I love you and your search to make sense of our weird and wonderful world. First, there's this guy in England who's been knitting a tube since the late 80s. I shit you not.

So, what exactly do you do with 17 miles of i-cord? And frankly, has the "i" in i-cord ever been more apt? Actually it's spool knitting, which is apparently known as "French knitting" in England. (Always blaming the French...) All joking aside, he is one of us: "I just sit and watch the telly and do the knitting , it comes naturally to me and I find it calms me down" (emphasis added).

This Boston Globe article {via Craft Gossip} focuses on boys doing girl stuff, like cooking and reading in groups and knitting. Oh, my!

Don't worry, an expert on gender roles has told them, "Since men are marrying later, they tend to like hobbies and organizations that either include women or have the potential to lead them to women." So it's still about sex. Phew. I was worried there for a moment. (Seriously, you called a professor of mass communications? You couldn't talk to a real gender studies professor?)

"There is another reason men are turning to traditions previously seen as more feminine. They don’t care about that stigma, especially men who have already settled down into family life*." You think? And I'm pretty sure the gender studies professor would have given you a better quote about that than some market researcher.

*In some ways I think this is supposed to be code for "they're not gay." Thank heavens that is changing. 
 Soon, "family" won't be code for anything. Oh, happy day. See also this quote, "All men. All married." Funnily enough, there are complaints in the comments about the Globe's "gay agenda." Whatever you do, whatever you do, do not read the comments. 

4 comments:

Annie said...

Are you serious? The comments are the best part! Or did I miss the sarcasm?

Southpaw Stitcher said...

Thank you so much for the best laugh that I've had in quite a while! Love your acerbic wit!

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

Love the article. My favourite quote was how the Vietnam war caused the downfall of the Masons!! Every cloud has a silver lining I guess.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Annie about the comments. Does anyone else find it strange that some people get so worked up about men knitting?