I keep meaning to take Double X off my Google Reader, because their posts keep annoying me. Their bloggers have issues with women who get their kids off the school bus.
Sara Mosle wrote a confusing rant about Etsy. How can anyone find a problem with this cute crafts shopping website? Well, Sara finds a way. Sometimes she's mad at the women themselves for making jewelry for spare money when the kids are at school. Sometimes she's mad at the website, which is run by men. Sometimes she thinks the whole thing would be a lot more acceptable if men did it, too. I always find it strange when feminists look down on activities done by women, but find them much hipper if men do them, too.
A few months ago, I made a promise to not waste my time responding to everything that annoyed me. I'm avoiding all bitter/jealous/angry mommy war nonsense. That's why I really should delete Double X.
But then they pointed me to the tweets of Susan Orleans about the difficulties of writing at home with when the kids are around and I refrained from deleting. I friended Orleans in Twitter, because it's good to hear how others do it. So, I kept Double X in the feeder just for that useful little tidbit.
I can actually get a lot of writing done when the kids are in school. Well, I can get work done if nobody gets sick and if there are no teacher meetings and if here are no half days or vacations and if I'm not distracted by annoying posts on Double X.
UPDATE: I'm not the only one who was ticked off by this article. Read Jezebel, this crafty blog, and another crafty blog.
Apt. 11d 
I read the Etsy article. I wished that she had talked a bit more about the effective hourly pay for crafts. Depending on the crafter and the product, it might easily be substantially sub-minimum wage. (Based on my early experience in the retail world, I expect the jewelry-makers do a lot better than that on Etsy, since retailers who sell lower-end jewelry expect at least to double their money. By using Etsy, jewelry-makers have the opportunity to cut out that middle man and keep some of that money for themselves.)
While Etsy is female-dominated, I don’t think the business issues are limited to women. As my radio guy often tells callers of both sexes, if it’s not making money, it’s a hobby, not a business. As long as the crafters are at least breaking even and know that it’s a hobby rather than a career, more power to them. Heaven knows there are a lot of hobbies that are a continual drain on family finances, rather than just being neutral.
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My husband has turned his arts-related hobby into a business. He sells photos on iStockphoto and Getty. He basically churns the profits back into buying the latest photography toys and software, but it does make a substantial amount of money.
For years we fought over the money and time he spent on his photography. I would have a minor heart attack every time a package from B&H or Adorama would show up on my doorstep. He started having them sent to his work address to save our marriage. 😉 And then there was the time issue. The reason I re-read Jane Austen’s oeuvre during our 10 days in England is because I had to have something to do while he took an extra hour at each site to shoot. And our apocryphal Big Fight story refers to the time he stayed up all night in Monument Valley trying to get photos of Hale Bopp next to the Mittens. Ah, good times, good times. 🙂
The cool thing about photography rather than crafts is that once you have a good digital image, you don’t need to do anything but sell it. But with crafting, you need to spend time on making each piece.
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I was also annoyed by the etsy article, which I read because it came up as a “in slate” article in the washington Post. And, yes, you’ve hit the hot buttons on why it annoyed me so (particularly the part about activities being hipper if they’re done by men). One of my crusades is that there can be no equality until activities loved by women (and girls) are respected as much as activities done my men (and boys). Peggy Orenstein has an article where talks about this, and points out that girls are, largely now, as a result of feminism allowed to enjoy boy things, but that boys are still limited. That’s sad for the boys, but it also devalues the things that only girls are allowed to like.
I love Etsy, as a buyer (well I don’t always love the implementation, but I like buying work directly from crafters/artists). I also like occasional crafting. I might consider trying to sell things on Etsy. But, if I did, it wouldn’t be under any delusion that I would make real money that way. I think people who think they can should be dissuaded, and the forum she describes clearly seems to do so.
Actually, when I think about it, the objection is similar to the idea that blogs are there to make money. I think these creative outlets are there for other purposes. But, of course, the democratization of creative output (writing, or crafting) will make it hard for any particular individual to make significant money. It might also make it harder for any individual to make a living wage in a creative profession, since the ability to be picked/selected to have special access to the “publication” outlet may be less valuable (journalism/galleries/shops).
I think that’s a real economic change, and I don’t know exactly how the creative professions are going to survive it, but I know they can’t put the genie back into the lamp.
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“My husband has turned his arts-related hobby into a business.”
I have a very similar story to Wendy’s. I was ticked off by all the time and money my husband was spending on programming and getting electronic gadgets, up until the day I noticed that he was getting up to $1,000 a month in royalty checks for his software. Those happy days are fading away (the PDA systems he used to program for are being superseded), but while it lasted, it helped pay off our debts and kick-start our savings. And this for an activity that he would have done for free. Oh, and as bj points out, it helps a lot when you don’t have to craft every single widget each time, but can sell many copies of a widget you created months ago.
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I love Etsy, if for no other reason than I feel like I’m giving my money and business to a small independent business rather than, say, Macy’s. I have a wonderful pendant of Seshat (Egyptian Goddess of writing and libraries) that I could never find anywhere else.
I read the article and, honestly, it sounds like more sniffiness towards things traditionally associated with “the feminine.” Like Oprah, romance novels, cats, and scrapbooking. Feh.
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“Those happy days are fading away (the PDA systems he used to program for are being superseded), but while it lasted, it helped pay off our debts and kick-start our savings. ”
But, shouldn’t he start making iPhone Apps?
And, is Jezebel always unreadable, or am I really old, and don’t know how people talk anymore?
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Speaking of hobbies and moms working in odd hours…
My friend, Margie, has a daughter with Celiac disease. She spent a ton of time baking foods that her daughter could eat and came up with a great recipe for crackers. She’s starting a business selling gluten-free cheese crackers. Her products are in some special stores in Long Island. She asked me to do her website. Using the skills that I’ve gotten from this hobby, I made her a website. A friend of hers who is starting a new business as a small business consultant liked my work so much that she’s hiring me to do two more websites.
Jezebel is unreadable.
I love Etsy, too, but haven’t bought anything yet. I’m going to send my hubby a link to it though. My birthday is coming up.
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If we all started ignoring the bitter/jealous/angry mommy war nonsense, they’d lose their incentive to publish it. The mommy wars are only useful to the media in so much as they garner eyeballs.
Tomorrow I’m meeting a friend for coffee. She’s just quit her (part-time, mommy-hours) job because she’s decided to try to make it as a writer through blogging. I’m going to advise her to do it if she loves it, but to keep in mind that, even if she’s successful, a part-time job bagging groceries would bring in more income with a lot less effort.
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“But, shouldn’t he start making iPhone Apps?”
He’s moved on to amateur astronomy, which doesn’t offer the same income opportunities, but is a lifelong dream of his. We have beautiful dark skies within a short drive of our home in Texas, and a very strong local amateur astronomy community.
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Isn’t the entire idea of a part time, creative, make your own hours, be your own boss job that pays the bills kind of a fantasy in general? I hardly see that as exclusive to etsy or to women (although women I know seem to indulge in the fantasy a bit more for a host of reasons which is another discussion all together). But weather it’s blogging, or web design, or photography, or making furniture, or making surfboards, or crafting jewelry…for the vast, vast majority of people who engage in it it isn’t going to be terribly lucrative. I have two male friends, one an artist and one a furniture maker who are extremely talented. I mean, really, really, really talented. Both have been featured in national magazines and mentioned on big time design blogs and shown their wares at hoity toity design shows and galleries…and both of them have day jobs. One works in a bike shop and the other works for a contractor installing kitchen cabinets. It’s damn hard to make a living as an artist or craftsman, period.
I happen to love etsy. I buy something at least once a month, everything from a hand made sling for a baby shower gift to prints for my house to a vintage lamp last week. I tend to gravitate towards the higher volume sellers. I assume that some of them are the minority who are making pretty decent money off their efforts. The reason that the majority of crafters on etsy will never have a chance at making real money on etsy is that they either aren’t good enough, or don’t dedicate enough time and effort to marketing. It’s never easy to build a business, crafting or otherwise, but that is hardly etsy’s fault.
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what I meant to add in addition to this “and both of them have day jobs…” is that what these men do isn’t really any different than the female artisans at etsy…except that for the etsy sellers that Mosel seems to have issues with, the day job is taking care of their family. That’s the part that she seems to object to. If these women were toiling away at a
“real” job and crafting for etsy on the weekend that would somehow be a more male approach and therefor okay?
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Oh, I had the same reaction to the article slamming the women who get their kids off the bus. I get my kids off the bus because it is the one minute of the day when I can sit on my front porch and just enjoy a single moment of complete solitude. I have about 10 minutes in between the time I get home from work and the time they get home from school. Weather permitting, I just sit on the front steps and just be. It’s my favorite time of the day. And my kids are still at an age at which they are thrilled to see me sitting there each day, when the bus pulls up. Win-win, I say.
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“Sometimes she thinks the whole thing would be a lot more acceptable if men did it, too. I always find it strange when feminists look down on activities done by women, but find them much hipper if men do them, too.”
I find that strange too. And also just plain misogynist.
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