I have seen a couple of things online lately about the rising interest in traditionally female skills and crafts among young, middle-class women. Whether there is such a trend I do not know, but the Michael's in my neighborhood seems to be doing a good business, and I see women knitting on the Metro almost every day. Emily Matchar calls this "domestic reskilling," and notes that for some women their interest in home canning, quilting, and so on is related to environmentalism or a broader distaste for the corporate and the mass-produced. For others it is a way to reconnect with ancestors; for others just something to do. The suggestion that these activities are unfeminist or "soft" makes some of these crafty women really mad (see here and here); knitting, sewing, and canning are activities that defy ideological stereotyping, practiced by Christian conservatives, left-wing wiccans, and even the completely apolitical.
I approve, of course. In a world drowning in material things, there is "something of value about the handmade." And besides, I find it really sexy when women sew or quilt or scrapbook.
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