July 27, 2019

Straight men's fear of knitting


What a friend taught me about how we all play along to let the gender stereotypes govern our lives.

A month ago I posted a comment on my "real life" facebook account about similarities between Nordic knitting patterns and neolithic chevrons, wondering what they both expressed something about our subconscious minds.  (Yeah, I am a nerd. Deal with it ;-) )

I think it was the accompanying photo of a Norwegian sweater that made a friend add the following comment:
"So you have started knitting now?" 
I believe there was a smiley involved. I cannot remember.

That sentence got me thinking.

Friendly bullying


There are three possible interpretations:
  1. He genuinely wanted to know if I had started knitting, with no ulterior motive.
  2. He questioned my status as a real male, as I indicated an interest in womanly knitting.
  3. It was a man to man joke, where he acknowledge my "manhood", but he was teasing me for challenging the borders for proper male behavior.

If he had been a woman, I would have gone for alternative 1. But since he had shown no interest in tricotage before (or for any stereotypical "feminine" hobby for that manner), I doubt very much he was looking forward to discussing the sizes of knitting needles with me.