My mother refuses to listen to me when I want to tell her about my knitting project because she thinks that it is too feminine and so she doesn’t care about it. She thinks that because in the recent past it has been an activity mainly done by women, it is anti-feminist. However, I, and many other people, think that knitting is a feminist activity.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, centuries ago knitting was well respected and there were prestigious knitters guilds comprised entirely of men. It only became less prestigious and well respected when it was done domestically by women. The issue is not women knitting, it’s the way the world sees women labor. I think this is true for a lot of women dominated activities/ professions.

Knitting is cool and useful. You can make entire garments out of fibers. It’s a way of artistic expression and it’s also practical. Why would I not do something I like just because it was something that women were expected to do in the past?