Listening to: U2 mix (War, The Joshua Tree, Rattle and Hum, Achtung Baby)
I've noticed that a lot of ladies who sew, at least ladies in my general age range*, have taken to calling themselves "sewists". Occasionally, they call themselves "sewers", but that looks funny in print and hasn't caught on as much. (Model horse enthusiasts call themselves "showers", because they show their models, but that also looks funny in print, doesn't it?)
Personally, I am OK with calling myself a seamstress.
At least, my reservations about calling myself a seamstress have to do with personal limitations, and not gender-tagging. Basically, I'm not sure that I can sew well enough to have earned the title of "seamstress." I don't mind that "seamstress" automatically means I'm female, or that it's a term that recalls a time when there were about three respectable professions for women. Being a seamstress was a skilled and decent job, and a lot of women rescued their families' economic situations with a needle and thread; I'm not going to turn my back on it now.
I also think it's interesting that so many "sewists" might then freely describe themselves as "fashionistas". Why isn't "fashionista" as loaded a term as "seamstress"? I come from a family of decided non-fashionistas, who would consider the term "fashionista" to imply that a woman cared about clothes at the expense of other, more substantial, interests. Possibly to the point of financial imprudence. Not very flattering. (I'm not saying that I think of it that way, because I could definitely pitch my tent in the fashionista camp, I'm just trying to demonstrate that the same word can have very different connotations to different people.)
Is it because empowered young women have reclaimed the term "fashionista"? Why not, then, "seamstress"?
*"my general age range" means, in my book, "too old to be my kid, and too young to be my parent."
I've noticed that a lot of ladies who sew, at least ladies in my general age range*, have taken to calling themselves "sewists". Occasionally, they call themselves "sewers", but that looks funny in print and hasn't caught on as much. (Model horse enthusiasts call themselves "showers", because they show their models, but that also looks funny in print, doesn't it?)
Personally, I am OK with calling myself a seamstress.
At least, my reservations about calling myself a seamstress have to do with personal limitations, and not gender-tagging. Basically, I'm not sure that I can sew well enough to have earned the title of "seamstress." I don't mind that "seamstress" automatically means I'm female, or that it's a term that recalls a time when there were about three respectable professions for women. Being a seamstress was a skilled and decent job, and a lot of women rescued their families' economic situations with a needle and thread; I'm not going to turn my back on it now.
I also think it's interesting that so many "sewists" might then freely describe themselves as "fashionistas". Why isn't "fashionista" as loaded a term as "seamstress"? I come from a family of decided non-fashionistas, who would consider the term "fashionista" to imply that a woman cared about clothes at the expense of other, more substantial, interests. Possibly to the point of financial imprudence. Not very flattering. (I'm not saying that I think of it that way, because I could definitely pitch my tent in the fashionista camp, I'm just trying to demonstrate that the same word can have very different connotations to different people.)
Is it because empowered young women have reclaimed the term "fashionista"? Why not, then, "seamstress"?
*"my general age range" means, in my book, "too old to be my kid, and too young to be my parent."
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