[Techtalk] Maker Girls

[Little Girl]

Hey there,

Miriam English wrote:

> I think most "official" makers do so as a hobby, not as their job.

Then maybe I can squeeze myself into the official hat after all!
 
> When I told her I'd forwarded her email to this list I said that I
> put together my own computers, and make all sorts of stuff from
> plastic milk cartons and coathangers and all kinds of stuff, but
> because have not *yet* built a 3D printer, I discounted myself. I'm
> now wondering if I was wrong to dismiss what I make...

It's possible. Come to think of it, I know some people who don't make
anything (including their own breakfast, lunch, or dinner!), let
alone some of the stuff you or I make.

> When I think of the extraordinary 3D objects I've seen made out of 
> basically 2D string, by knitting, sewing, and weaving it, perhaps
> women have "traditionally" always been makers, yet somehow
> generally discounted by themselves and others.

It might not even be so much discounted (in a negative sense) as just
having it taken for granted that somehow our gender predisposes us to
being automatically able to do those things, so they're not considered
extraordinary when we do. ):

> I wonder why making a spacesuit or a clean-room "bunny suit" is
> generally considered "important" and making a kids' bedtime bunny
> suit is not?

No idea, but I can bet that the child who got the bunny suit feels
that it's absolutely amazing. (:

> Entire societies flower or fall depending on the care of children
> given largely by women, so any argument of life-dependency or
> economics is merely one of scope. Heck, as I read somewhere
> recently, women make (give birth to and largely raise) the entire
> workforce. :)

Agreed! But in the interest of fairness, I'll add a shout out to the
men who are joining us in "mothering" the children. (:

-- 
Little Girl

There is no spoon.