I'm not Randall Graves

So this conversation came up with the yarn group I hang out with and it is a big pet peeve of mine. It's not from anyone in my group, but something out there in the world. It is doing crafts and yarn work and saying that "you are taking it back" and it is "empowering to reclaim it" Grr arrg. Taking it back, sounds as plausible as a person "keeping it real". My first thought is always taking it back from where, and when I said this a friend said taking it back from bored, sad, lonely 50's housewives. The thing is though, for me, it is bizarre to think of taking something back from these women. This is for two reasons. One: what if they truly enjoyed working in these mediums, then me taking it back, is in fact taking away from time honored arts and traditions. And two: if these women were burying their needs and desires in crafting projects, I don't want to take all those cranky feelings back. From everything I've read, and what I know from familial experiences the lot of the 50's housewife was much better or much worse than we can or want to comprehend, so taking it back from them is at best a silly trumped up idea, or a disservice to what they were actually doing. My grandmother crocheted, it's partly why I chose crochet. I'm not taking anything back from a woman who had a hobby that gave her a great deal of pleasure for more than 30 years. So be warned, start talking to me about taking it back, and I'll just answer I'm not Randall Graves, I'm not going to try and take anything back.

(Oh and if you don't get the reference, you need to go out and rent more Kevin Smith movies).