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 threadSarah SammisNov 3
@kerravonsen @kate You don't need to explain this to me. I lived through such a mostly male (but not entirely) group of makers systematically sabotage a local art gallery. Now... not all of the male makers were awful (I am still friends with one). Not all of the makers were men. Not all of the older artists were female (though many were). What ended up happening was a toxic merger of the old elite white artists with the somewhat younger mostly male tech makers to guarantee that anyone not white, not straight and not younger than about 40 would be welcome at the space. Even if that meant losing funding and possibly going bankrupt. The first has happened. Not sure about the second.
Show threadKerr Avonsen (she/her)Nov 3
@pussreboots @kate How horrible.
Show threadKate Bowles
@kerravonsen @pussreboots I’m also curious about makers-as-in-makerspace. I observed one being set up, and as an outsider to the process I did have some thoughts about the way “but there will also be sewing machines!” was explained to me in relation to a space that was predominantly proselytised in terms of 3D printing. My feeling is that repair cafes have established this balance in less toxic ways.
Nov 3 at 10:07amWeb
Show threadKerr Avonsen (she/her)Nov 3
@kate @pussreboots Repair cafes? Not something I've come across.
Show threadKate BowlesNov 3

@kerravonsen @pussreboots

There are a few Repair Cafes on here, and others will post about local events. I’m not sure where they sprang up but here’s a starter for Europe at least:

https://www.repaircafe.org/en/

I feel that the repair cafe movement might have been more gender inclusive than some makerspace cultures but as you say, people are people.

The other equivalent community might be the community garden movement.

#repaircafes #repaircafe

Repair Café - Fix Your Broken Items

Repair Café is here to help you fix your broken items. Join our community of skilled volunteers and get your belongings repaired in a sustainable way.

Repaircafe
Show threadSarah SammisNov 3

@kate @kerravonsen The makerspace I was directly associated with did have sewing machines along with the 3D printer and the cricut machine. The cricut and sewing machines were by far the most popular equipment but tended to bring in women and younger cosplayers, two categories of people the men who set up the space were outright hostile to.

I don't personally know how to use a sewing machine. I did have a go at the cricut and that was fun but ultimately not my thing. I wanted to learn how to make the files that the 3D printer uses. I never got a change to do that or use the machine.

(In my 20s I used to do 3D modeling as a hobby)