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2. History and Current Issues for sewing
A brief and early history of women and sewing started with the
colonial housewife. It was thought that since women were the weaker
sex men would only take care of the outside jobs, such as farming
and women would mostly take care of the home and to bear and
nurture children. The activity was not frequent in men, but was
only reserved for women.
The colonial farmwife actually enjoyed considerable status within
her family, because she manufactured many the things her husband
and children needed to survive and contributed to the family
fortunes (pg. 13, Collins).
One New England Quaker remembered her colonial grandmother being
busy with candle making, soap making, butter and cheese making,
spinning, weaving, dyeing, and of course all the knitting and
sewing and dressmaking and tailoring and probably the shoemaking
and the millinery for her husband and fourteen children. (pg. 14,
Collins).
The early settlements of America have developed the norms and
values that womens role were to help and support the husband and
children with light household duties.
3. History and current issues for sewing (continued)
In the 19th century, at the start of the Industrial Revolution
families started to be move to urban areas such as cities. Because
the wife had to abandon the self-sufficient lives of the country
side, many housewives stopped spinning thread and making candles,
and instead focused her considerable energies on household duties
that had been given short shrift of their old residence: nurturing
her children like tender little sprouts, cleaning, and cooking
effortful dinners (pg. 14, Collins).
In the 21st century or today, we still see of the sewing trend
among women. In my personal experience I asked my closest friends,
relatives, and classmates on who does the sewing in the family and
many of them replied their mothers or their sisters. One of male
friends said My hands are too stubby and thick to handle a needle
and thread as opposed to my mothers hands. Of course, as dresses
are still being made for women to wear, I believe there will be a
need for insight and creativity from women than in men.
4. Theories as to no changes in male and female participation
Positive Reinforcement. In operant conditioning, presenting a
positive reinforcer as the consequence of a behavior pattern, with
the result that the reinforced behavior pattern becomes more likely
to occur under similar circumstances in the future (Iljas,
2005).
The definition above provides a reason why there are no changes in
male and female participation. The society reinforces the behavior
for women to do household duties. At homes, many mothers teach
their daughters how to take care of the house and fathers may teach
their sons how to do hard work such as mowing the lawn and
carpentry. Even most males today look for a potential wife who can
cook, do the laundry, and fix torn or ripped clothes. Because some
women may know about what men want, they are reinforced to do the
behaviors that will please men.
5. Traditional ideals of sewing
I believe the factor how this activity fit the traditional ideals
for women has do with history. As noted in our readings, by means
of the The Victorian Ideal women were perceived as the weaker sex.
This was based on biological observations which showed that women
in general had narrower and smaller shoulders and broader pelvic
girdles than men. This perception was believed to make running,
throwing, striking, and climbing activities more difficult for her
than the typical man (Bowers, 1934). This ideal has shaped our
American culture in such profound ways that it can be found through
the media such as the internet. If one would search on Google
Images for the word sewing one can find feminine attributes and
pictures women of the past and of today operating a sewing machine
or with a thread and needle.
According to one source, Girls need to stay attached or connected
to their mothers to develop an appropriate sex role identity. Such
relationships is reinforced by the social environment that
encourages girls to think of themselves in relation to others.
(Walker, 2004). Such connection brings forth traditional tasks,
which in this case, sewing.
6. Why I havent participated in Sewing before and my
constraints
My mother never taught me. Growing up I was never taught by my
mother to sew, iron clothes, and do the laundry. The only things I
had to learn on my own was to iron and to laundry. Sewing was
strictly done by my mother because she believed that we would never
learn how to do it correctly. Asking her on why she never taught me
she said that she did not want us to be frustrated in making
mistakes and to be poked by the needle.
Another reason is that whenever my pockets on my shirt or pants was
torn, ripped, or worn I just bought another pair of pants or shirt.
I was lazy to fix it up my self to sewing it back up together and
it wasnt worth the time to me to do it.
My father never encouraged me to sew. He left all the work for my
mother to do while I helped him maintain the car which basic
tune-ups such as rotating the tires, changing the oil, and flushing
the transmission. I saw his point that men get down and dirty when
it comes to housework and my mother would be inside doing the clean
work.
7. Reflection on my personal learning
My basic activity in sewing included putting back a button on one
of my suit pants.
This proved challenging because this was my first time handling a
needle and thread. In addition, since I am scared of needles,
especially in the hospital when they draw my blood I was afraid
that I would get poked and bleed from it. Unfortunately, I did poke
my self with the needle which did discouraged me to go any
further.
The insight I learned is that womens activities can be more gentle
and delicate, it is something you have to take time on and dont
rush. Though times are changing, There are slowly increasing
numbers of families in which men equally share homemaking and
childcare tasks (Walker, 2004). I encouraged by this statement
because if I do decide to get married in the future, I want to help
out my wife in the future. I would do this activity again because
in the future, in times of emergency, I cannot rely on my future
wife to sew for me. At times I have to learn how to sew, put
buttons together or fix rips and tears for my children and for my
wife and my self.
8. References
Collins, Gail. When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of
American Women from 1960 to the Present. Little, Brown and Company,
2009. Print
J., Valeria, and John Robert Kelly. 21st century leisure: current
issues. Venture Pub, 2004. Print.
Iiljas, Dr. Jennifer. Inner and Outer Reality: An Invitation to
Psychology. Methodologies, 2005.
Bowers, 1934. Readings for Professor Epperson, for Quiz B.
9. Reattaching my button to my suit pants
10. The Hardest part: to get that thread in the needle
11. Proper placement of the button
12. Wrapping the thread first through one button hole
13. Out it comes through the hole
14. Repeat the process again and again
15. Process from the back
16. Tighten and then cut
17. Finished product
18. Me wearing the finished product