1. Louie Moreno
Recreation 3202: Women and Leisure
Professor Epperson
Cross-Gendered Leisure Activity Presentation: Sewing

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