Kate BowlesNov 2

The maker culture on here is far from isolationist. What you do builds hope for others.

I watch people making, repairing, drawing, sewing, crafting knives and pots and short films and solutions and community and compost heaps and seed collections, and when my day begins all those actions and ideas stay with me.

Your labour of bothering to photograph it, alt text it, send updates about it, share frustrations and success, it’s just fantastic. You have no idea who’s watching and thinking: hey, maybe I could sew on a button after all.

Show threadSarah SammisNov 3
@kate The maker culture can also be full of toxic masculinity and do exactly the opposite of all the good you've listed here. I experienced that first hand for two soul crushing years.
Show threadKerr Avonsen (she/her)Nov 3
@pussreboots @kate Maker culture as distinct from Crafter or Creative culture, perhaps? I think there's a significant overlap between Maker culture and Programmer culture, which has its own pockets of toxic masculinity. As a female programmer, I've been fortunate in not having run into it a lot, but I have had my unpleasant brushes with unrepentant sexism from male programmers.
Show threadKerr Avonsen (she/her)Nov 3

@pussreboots @kate While Makers and Crafters and Creatives do overlap, what I've noticed is that Makers-as-defined-as-those-who-use-Makerspaces, and Makerspaces tend to cater to masculine-approved high-tech making, such as electronics, computer-building, woodworking, lasers, 3D printing and so on. Now, one could argue that that is because the purpose of Makerspaces is to provide access to these high-tech tools, and that is a valid point, but the result seems to be a male skew, and that makes them vulnerable to the development of toxic masculinity.

At least, that's my theory.

Show threadKerr Avonsen (she/her)Nov 3
@pussreboots @kate Has anyone else noticed the male/female split between "Hobby" stores and "Craft" stores?
Hobby stores cater to masculine-approved crafts, such as model aircraft, miniatures (whether that be RPG miniatures or wargame miniatures) model railways and so on.
Craft stores, on the other hand, cater to crafts designated as being for women and children - textile crafts, low-end kits, jewellery, polymer clay, home decorating and such like.
Show threadSarah SammisNov 3
@kerravonsen @kate Sadly both kinds of store are seriously lacking where I live.
Show threadKerr Avonsen (she/her)Nov 3
@pussreboots @kate When I was a kid, there were a lot more brick-and-mortar craft stores around. Now I do most of my craft shopping online, which, while convenient, also has its pitfalls.
Show threadSarah Sammis
@kerravonsen @kate Same (I'm in my 50s). Heck, even within my children's lifetimes (they are 19 and 23) there were more.
Nov 3 at 5:14amWeb