I don’t care if you have a penis.

I have a rant. Yes, I know, what else is new?

I have nothing against men knitting. I think its nice. Just like I think its nice that some women knit.

However, I am fed up with the whole “Wow, a man who knits! That’s so wonderful!” theme going on. The Chicago Tribune writes a story about how fabulous it is that these middle school/high school boys dare to take a knitting class. Guys show up on a knitting list, and declares that he is a man who, *gasps*, knits, and all the members run over and shower praise and wonder and attention and gushing out of all sense of proportion. Men talk about how _horrible_ it is to go into a yarn shop with the SO, and have the yarn shop employees talk to his girlfriend first. They have to have their own classes, their own forum spaces, because you know, us little women just don’t understand.

Dude. Join the club. In fact, I’m _happy_ that for the first time in your life, you have gone into a store and not been immediately served while your own SO is ignored. You want to know the number of times that I’ve gone into a computer store and had a guy talk to my boyfriend instead of me? How about car salesmen? Mechanics? And have it continue even after you make clear that _you_ are the subject matter expert, not your SO? I find it hysterical that the treatment (in fact, the much worse treatment) that women have had to deal with for, well, since we were allowed out of the house on our own causes such consternation and outrage in the heart of these men. Oh, dear, a yarn shop owner assumed he didn’t knit. The horrors.

Then, let’s talk about the women. You know, the women who gush and pet and adore the men who knit. As if the very fact that a man would knit now truly validates the time they spend on their own, knitting. As if nothing is important unless a man is doing it, and if a man is doing it, then nothing may stand in his way. These are the same women who see nothing wrong with having to sneak yarn purchases past their husbands (and even seem to think its just _hysterical_ to talk about it, or are oh so grateful that a man would “babysit” their own children to let them out of the house to go to a Stich N Bitch.

If a guy wants to knit, then cool. Go knit. It’s too bad if you have to ask for attention the first or second time you go into a yarn shop. Don’t expect me to praise you as if you just solved the Middle East crisis and stopped global warming, all in an afternoon.

(Of course, not all men are like that, blahblahblah, but still. Geez.)

This post was included in the Carnival of Knitting!

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9 Responses to “I don’t care if you have a penis.”

  1. Jessica Says:
    February 2nd, 2005 at 4:16 pm

    I was thinking the same thing. That article was pretty overtly sexist. Men like knitting more intricate things, since their bulging brains can’t handle repetative tasks, etc.
    and taking up a hobby purely to meet women/men doesn’t seem like the best idea to me.

  2. Alma Says:
    February 2nd, 2005 at 5:53 pm

    Good rant. I myself could rant on a point… Men babysitting their own children. YEAH RIGHT. They are yours. therefore, YOU need to watch them at least half of the time. And not only that, you are allready the 9 months behind that they were in your wifes baby. And I dont even have children. But that pisses me off on principle.

  3. Jen Says:
    February 2nd, 2005 at 6:07 pm

    You said it there, sister! I especially liked the mechanic example, especially as my DH has no clue about cars!

  4. lynette Says:
    February 2nd, 2005 at 6:14 pm

    Yeah! good for you, gail! on all the points.

  5. monica Says:
    February 2nd, 2005 at 9:23 pm

    Great rant!

  6. Mary Morrison Says:
    February 2nd, 2005 at 11:46 pm

    At first, I thought “Good lands, can’t we have anything for ourselves?” Of course, I know that historically, men have been knitters. It reminds me of when I dated a very nice single man who was raising his two children. People made such a big deal over it, and although I admire him too, I’d think — “What about me? I’m a single mom, and I raised two very successful kids.” That was just what I was supposed to do, though.
    Oh well…
    MEM

  7. Dianna Says:
    February 4th, 2005 at 9:46 am

    What fun! The glorification of HIStory continues… I think the idea that the husband “baby sits” is hilarious - women don’t babysit their kids, but men babysit their kids. I tell guys that babysitting is the wrong word, the right word is parenting.

  8. Sharon P Says:
    February 4th, 2005 at 1:47 pm

    It does come around every once in a while. Case in point: I’m a chick who writes computer books. As such, I attend computer conferences. My programmer female friend and I live to walk by the mens bathroom at these conferences because there is a line a mile long (kind of like the one for the ladies room at sporting events and movies) while we share the huge ladies room with maybe 20 other female attendees (out of a few hundred total attendees.) Sweet irony.

    Here’s my personal rant: I hate malls that make you walk down a long hall to get to the bathroom, only to find the mens room first and the ladies room 20 feet past that. Who designs these things!? (Yes, I know it was a male.) Think about it. Men, the beings with the more convenient bathroom, basically unzip and go. Women, the ones that need a trail map to get to the bathroom, have to get half undressed to do their business or have a 2 year old with them that is screaming that they have to go potty NOW! I have considered applying superglue to the door of mens rooms in protest, but they would probably start using the drinking fountain as a urinal!

  9. kbsalazar Says:
    February 15th, 2005 at 1:40 pm

    You said it. I’m delighted to see more knitters of any sex. I see no reason to gush over the guys. That guys are interested in the pursuit doesn’t validate my involvement. That other women chose to do so, and even worse - make the guys into pets annoys the heck out of me. Being devalued this way should bother the guys too, if they have a shred of self respect about them.

    I’ve been ignored at tech conferences, hardware stores, auto supply shops, electronics stores, and gaming stores for years. Try being a 40-something fem shopping for yourself in a computer gaming store. At best the staff assumes you’re buying a gift for a teenage male. It shouldn’t happen but it does.

    Likewise men in yarn shops. They shouldn’t be ignored, but it happens. You’re right though. In a way it’s a subtle piece of petty justice for all those years of patronization that women have had to deal with. But it’s also a sign that the struggle is not yet over. I’ve heard 20-somethings assert that the women’s movement is passe. The whole gushing over knitter-guys/ ignoring men in yarn shops thing is a data point for “No way in hell.”