baronmagdalene:

thepeacockangel:

baronmagdalene:

thepeacockangel:

Also like taking obsessive care of a lawn is masculine but gardening is feminine? So like grass is the plant it’s manly to take care of? WHY?  WHY IS GRASS MANLY?

It used to be a class issue.  A lawn is saying “look at how wealthy I am, I don’t have to grow my own crops!  Look at how much work/money I put into something that serves no purpose!”  Flowers were a part of this too.  But a garden of edibles says “I need to supplement my diet with my own land.  Woe is me.”

The differentiation between a lawn as masculine and a flower garden as feminine came later.  Makeup is feminine, frilly clothing is feminine, bright color is feminine. Plainness became masculine – suits, simple haircuts, plain shoes. The gender differentiation came later, and was partly based upon, class differentiation

And I think that must have something to do with the switch from Feudal to Capitalist economies, the division of aesthetic labor is a capitalist thing and I want to know why.

yup that’s a huge part of it.  Remember when yards first became commonplace and the gender shifts happening at that time: post-WWII.

Also, keep in mind that “higher level” gardening is EXTREMELY masculine.  Bonsai, for one.  

Indeed I’m also having a conversation about this on facebook and like I think that it’s worth noting that beauty which is elevated, expressive and not “personal” is masculine (”fine art” as masculine vs “crafts” which are feminine) is masculine but that beauty when it is not divorced from its purpose of making the lives of those around you more pleasant (including personal physical beauty) is feminine… and that that division is a capitalist one and that’s interesting because it shows up in multiple places and ALSO coincides with the idea of beauty as frivolous and feminine and divorced from purpose, as impractical, where in pre-capitalist society form and function were inseparably linked, any object you had was decorative and decorated.  Armor and weapons were showy and fashionable and the idea of beauty as non-functional wasn’t really a thing and only really in the 18th century with the true coming into its own of capitalism do you start to really  see the push against that.