ARGH.....

[ellid]

There are times when I'm very tempted to drop the Quilt History List.

Like today.

Somehow the conversation has turned over the last few days to whether or not the suffragettes used raffle quilts to raise money for their cause, or whether they eschewed handicrafts as being unworthy of their intelligence. The answer, as in all things related to women, was "it depends on the suffragette" - Emma Willard evidently hated sewing, while Susan B. Anthony quilted - but today a woman who barely ever posts decided to "analyze what's going on in society."

This meant a long, long, badly researched screed on how feminism has ruined the family, most women don't need to work and do so only because they're selfish, handicrafts are in decline because Mommy isn't home to teach the girls (not the boys), and that feminists hate housewives. It was not what I needed to see first thing in the morning, and I ended up posting a plea that we not bash feminists, since after all without the feminist movement *no one would be discussing quilt history or anything else associated specifically with women in the first place*. I also signed myself as (feminist who was taught to sew by her mother, the only feminist in the neighborhood).

I'm sure I'm going to catch flack for this, but the sheer level of ignorance was staggering. It's what Harlan Ellison said: "Everyone is entitled to his or her *informed* opinion." This opinion wasn't informed by anything but prejudice and stereotypes, and that was what upset me so much.

ARGH.

Comments

[ladyaelfwynn.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I don't read that list.

I hate it when people think that feminists destroy the family!

I'm a feminist and a fiber artist and I'm teaching my daughter how to run a house. (I'd be teaching my son the same, if I had one.) I want the kidlet to see that women can have decent jobs and be emotionally supportive wives and moms. I want her to know that she needs to have skills that will support her, monetarily, so that she doesn't need to find a partner, male or female, to live the way she wants.

Feminism is about opening up options for women, so that options are open for men as well. As more women are in the workforce, men have the option to be stay at home dads. People, regardless of gender have the option to do the tasks they feel best suited to perform. Women aren't stuck doing housework and men aren't stuck doing car repairs, unless that's how things settle out in their specific relationship.

**sigh** Some people just don't get it.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

90% of the time the list is confined to quilt history, and that's fine. But every once in a while a group of very conservative women (all but a handful from the South) begin blathering about how feminism and liberalism have destroyed America, and I usually retreat for a few weeks because it's simply not worth it.

I haven't seen anything like this on the American Quilt Studies Group list, OTOH. I hope it stays that way!

[tx-cronopio.livejournal.com]

*runs to check year*

Yep, it's 2008. Why are we still hashing over this 1972 argument?

Sigh. Back away from the computer, dear. Go eat something good, and forget about her! xox

[ellid.livejournal.com]

Done and done. And now it's snowing like crazy, which means that eventually I'll have to clear the driveway.

*shudder*

[briony530.livejournal.com]

See, if you hadn't ruined the family with your feminist ways, you'd have a man to do that for you.

You do know that's a huge joke, right?

[ellid.livejournal.com]

Yep. ;)

[briony530.livejournal.com]

Well, we don't know each other *that* well...not sure how much I can tease you!

But I could NOT resist that...

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Aren't handicrafts seeing a resurgence? There are sure as heck a lot of quilting and knitting magazines available now...

[kaiz.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Taking a look at Etsy, and articles like the big one at the New York Times, Handmade 2.0, seems to indicate that fine arts/crafts--and women's involvement in them--is not in any way shape or form on the decline!

[ellid.livejournal.com]

And of course the people who are doing this are by and large women who were raised by women who worked for pay, and themselves work for pay. If anything, the quality of handicrafts today is higher than it's been in years because the crafters are more knowledgeable and the materials are better.

I didn't get into it with the other poster because I really did not wish to clutter the list with a counter-post unless and until I could footnote it, which would be plain rude. But I did point out that none of us would even *be* discussing quilt history, or anything done primarily by women, if it hadn't been for books like Anonymous Was A Woman or feminist artists like Judy Chicago.