Is it true? "How Pinterest Is Killing Feminism"

[wickerwoman]

88. Being a feminist means recognising that cooking, etc. isn't a "feminine" interest.

It's a human interest that Western cultural conditioning has associated with women.

I'm sure you can find cultures where men do decorative arts and keep journals. How are Lewis and Clark's journals that different from "scrapbooking"? Why should woodcarving or scrimshaw or tattooing be "male" while knitting and gardening and doing watercolours be "female"? Many "women's interests" (like weaving, pottery, etc) used to be professions that were primarily "male".

Also, I think there's a clear distinction between hobbies and occupations, which everyone should be able to enjoy without having their feminist creds examined, and "interests" like dieting and make-up and fashion which are the result of culturally imposed patriarchal standards of beauty. So I don't think it's sad for a feminist to be into knitting or home decorating but I do think a"feminist" who spends hours every day talking about hair and make-up and shopping maybe needs to a look a bit deeper at what is driving that interest.

On edit: I do recognise the artist aspects of make-up and fashion and I think that's fine. My friend's daughter is into movie make-up and World of Wearable Art, etc. and I think that's totally compatible with feminism. I don't think that's the kind of fashion that the original article is talking about though.