Is it the way these women, who look to be maybe 25-35, meaning settling into their careers, taking responsibility for raising families, or both, look to be about 12, the way they are sitting on the floor in goofy t-shirt, their hair in pigtails or bobby pins?
Is it that made up word, "papercrafting", which is trying oh-so-hard to give some kind of legitimacy to playing with markers and stickers and glue?
Is it that this new "craft tradition" (from the inside of the flyer) consists of taking pre-coordinated stickers and putting them on pre-coordinated papers, sticking a picture in the middle, maybe writing a sentence or two about it, and then saying you have created art?
Is it that society has over the past 20-40 years taken every true skill and art unique to women, knitting, sewing, cooking, and so on, and degraded them to the point where they are considered a waste of time, not worthy of the modern, liberated woman? Then when women expressed their longing for a creative outlet, they were given kindergarten craft time?
Is it that back in the horrifying olden days playing music, sketching, painting with watercolors, lace knitting, fine embroidery, cooking both plain and fancy, sewing elaborate dresses ENTIRELY BY HAND, keeping a garden, making soap and candles, preserving food as well as running a small business (yes, those farms were small businesses too, just like they would be today) knowing animal husbandry,bookkeeping, and raising AND homeschooling 2-10 children was considered AVERAGE for a woman? While today we're impressed with stickers on construction paper?
Or is it that women are resurrecting those old crafts, women bloggers and artists and authors are promoting the hell out of them, and women owned businesses are making a small fortune selling both the tools and results of them, while the major chains are devoting more and more floor space to toys for the complacent children the expect women to be?
Kee-riste, I hate being belittled.
/rant
(And before anyone points out that women work today, I used to work too. I spent 8 years teaching, 6 hours a day actually with students, 30 minutes to an hour a day prepping or repairing things, and 2 hours minimum goofing off, simply because I had to be there to collect a check. In addition to 2 hours of commute time a day. Yes, I did resent the waste of my time and energy with those 4 hours a day. When I was a bookkeeper before I was teaching, it was closer to 6 hours a day. And all I did when I was working was teach, or crunch numbers. If you work, ask yourself honestly, how much time a day do you really *need* to do your job? How many skills do you really use? Think about it.)
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