Rain Barrel: DO YOUR LAUNDRY

March 21, 2001

As I am composing today's entry, I am intermittently leaving my computer to attend to the laundry in the basement

(note to my sister: I am hand washing all my winter sweaters. 'Bout time, eh?)

Housework had become ... well, like dirty laundry. It's not talked about much. But if I am reading my media tea leaves correctly, I suspect that this is going to change.

Two years ago, Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House was published to a notice and acclaim not usually reserved for books on "home economics".

Last year, Barbara Ehrenreich wrote a controversial Harper's article examining the social and political ramifications of the middle class hiring poor women as maids to clean their homes.

And now this year BUST magazine is getting crafty.

from the editor's letter:
"take back the knit"

Don't get me wrong -- I dig my job, the ability to support myself, and, most of all, the freedom to make my own choices. But lately I've been rediscovering the joys of cooking, knitting, sewing, and other simple domestic activities, and the more I do, the more I realize how important these things are to a balanced, satisfying -- even fulfilling life.
And yet, I've been surprised by people's reactions to my new hobbies. When I tell them that I'm really into knitting, I can practically read the thought balloons that pop up over their heads, "Knitting? That is so lame!" Of course, had my answer be, "Oh, I've joined a female football league," these same people would probably be thinking, "Cool! That is so feminist". It's all led to ask myself why we regard traditional male activities with such reverence, but traditionally female ones with such disdain. Is it the accidental fallout of 30 years of feminist rebellion against being entrapped in the home? Is it internalized misogyny?

In my humble opinion, I think it's a little of both and as such, provides twice the reasons why "third wave" feminists should take on "womanly arts" and enjoy them on their own terms..

BUST isn't the only voice of women trying to create a home life that reflects their beliefs and to try to resist the siren's call of Martha Stewart. Zines like HipMamma have done so for a while now.

And way back in 1997, the Queen of Zines Pagan Kennedy published the (sadly disappointing) "Pagan Kennedy's Living: the handbook for maturing hipsters"

It's tempting to call all of this a trend or a fad (remember "cocooning"?) but I suspect that this homeward introspection naturally hits when people who get to the age when the prospect of staying begins to be more enjoyable than the thought of going out on the town.

Another proof that this cannot possibly be a hip new fad is that I find myself smack dab in the middle of it which automatically negates this trend of any "coolness".

Check out my knitting below!


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