Friday, July 11, 2008

Gendered Expectations

So yesterday on my day off, I went to see about getting my car fixed. An exhaust pipe had cracked. I found a muffler place by our house and went to check them out. The place looks old and run down, had the typical dusty, 30-years out of date, cluttered looked that a lot of private garages have. But the guy was friendly. They got me in right away; took me back to the work area so I could see what they were talking about; and did the job quick. I sat there for about 30 minutes while they worked and the place gives off good vibes. It gets my personal A-1, 5-star, double thumbs up recommendation.

Anyway, while I'm sitting there, I'm working on a tote bag that I'm making from cut up plastic grocery bags. (I'm always prepared for a little "down" time.) Three men who saw me there--the owner, a mechanic, and a customer--all noticed what I was doing, made intelligent comments on it (for instance, they knew I was crocheting and not knitting, quilting, or whatever else people pull out of their distant memories), and all had someone they knew that "did that." They were mightily impressed with the use of plastic bags too.

The only other woman that I saw there came in when I had about 10 minutes left. She sat down beside me and tentatively said, "Are you crocheting?...is that what that's called?" And she didn't notice until one of the guys mentioned it that I was working with plastic. She told me she never really did "that stuff."

Keep up the good work, gentlemen!

-christina

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