Snow!

It snowed this morning! And I didn't have to go work in it! I guess there are some benefits to being unemployed.

The New Domestic Arts

The New Domestic Arts
(of no relation to The New Math)

A few years ago, I heard about an interesting trend among younger feminists- they would get together and knit, feeling free to incorporate modern commentary and urban style into their pieces.

I found it interesting mostly because I distinctly recall reading several pieces of feminist literature written in the late-60s and early-70s totally condemning 'the housewife' and all of her accoutrements. Those arguments were not without their valid points, but I feel that those legendary ladies may have overlooked some of the reasons and historical context for some of the activities in which their mothers and grandmothers engaged, during those times before the 'Summer of Love'.

Before it was commonplace for women to work outside of the home and earn a comparable wage to that of men, a woman had to survive by her wits and ingenuity. If she was fortunate enough not to marry an alcoholic, a gambler, or an overly-charitable type, she still had to face the possible realities of what might happen should her husband lose his job, become an invalid (either through a tragic outplay of genetics or a work injury), or die (again, either through bad genes or a tragic work accident). How would she survive? How would her dependent children and/or extended family (an elderly parent or relative living under her roof) survive?

Said housewife had to be creative and thrifty.

She had to make the most of whatever groceries her family could afford- from finding 100 ways to make leftover Thanksgiving turkey appealing and meal-worthy to finding creative uses for marginally food-worthy ingredients like those which are found in scrapple, souse, and hog's maw. She had to horde whatever stray monies came her way. And it would have behooved her to have some marketable or barterable skill to fall back on. Skill sets like those found in weaving, tailoring, embroidering, crocheting, knitting, basket-making, quilting, etc. These skills not only benefited her own house (she did not have to buy goods that she herself could make), but any excess could be sold at the church bazaar, grange hall, county fair, etc. Although without much economic power, women became skilled in self-sufficiency.

Even after the Great Depression and the more prosperous times that followed the end of World War II, these were still valuable skills, and a boon to women who were still able to sock away any profits for times of need.

But as the United States became a consumer economy, these skills fell by the way-side.

The most obvious reason for this change being that, after a long day of working outside of the home, only to return to manage the affairs of the home (preparing dinner, washing dishes, cleaning house, etc.) women simply did not have enough time (or were too weary!) to pursue the old arts. A dawning consumerist mentality obsessed with 'keeping up with the Jonses' also did its part to discourage women from being so resource-conscious and thrifty.

Shortly after the 'sexual revolution', the United States again found itself in financially troubled times.

And what does one find in the women's magazines of the day?

Crochet and knitting projects.

Articles on making clothes for the whole family.

Hints and tips on thriftiness and living a simpler life.

The very types of knowledge that have always served a woman in good stead.

Now, again, we find ourselves in hard times. Men and women with the necessary skills and resources are producing goods whose domestic industries have long dried up and fled to places where their production serves someone else's economy.

It is a mistake to call these skill sets a 'hobby'- they have long proved themselves to be tools of survival.