"Cast Off - Diversity wars are raging in the knitting world'

[AncientLights]

I've kept the title from the article in the print version of The Spectator 28 Sept, as I can't improve on it.

It's the most astonishing piece - well, astonishing and yet horribly familiar to us here. I'll summarise as it's not the done thing to do a big c&p job and would also be a kick in the financial teeth of the Speccy, who have done so much, via James Kirkup, to publicise the illogicality of the trans movement.

There is a knitter called Nathan Taylor whose online name is 'Sockmatician' - he sounds an interesting character, shall I say. Sockmatician seems to have cause huge offence (and here I will quote as it's so bonkers) by posting 'a poem on Instagram about 'diversknitty' in which he boasted it was a year since he had founded this hashtag, and asked that people use it kindly, rather than attacking one another'. Seems Taylor was committing violence against Bipoc (black & indigenous people of colour, it says here) by telling them how to make their arguments about inclusion, tone policing from a white man - utterly unacceptable.

The war started & raged on. Sockmatation has MH problems, was hospitalised, messages from his husband held no sway. Things got really bad with the yarn festival: yarn producers & other knitting personalities (who knew?) couldn't believe Sockmatition hadn't been uninvited, someone was glad she hadn't been able to attend after all as she'd have been unable to teach her session knowing he was down the hall. Unsupported allegations online about an assault. His patterns have been dropped from two books, one of which was the first official Harry Potter knitting book - the cover was reshot to remove Sockmatition's work. His business has suffered a 75% drop in sales.

There's a similar story about a Kate Davies who is based in the Scottish Highlands. She wouldn't join in denouncing people for their 'transgressions', so she's been attacked, too.

I read it thinking it must be an allegory but have come to the conclusion it's genuine. It is total, stark-staring madness and I can only keep saying to myself and to anyone else who will listen 'How on earth have we come to this?'

ok as someone who actually followed this in real time as a knitter - that Spectator article is a superficial representation of the whole debacle. He WAS tone policing, and comments like "How can so much anger & self-righteousness exist in these people without exploding?" are crass in my opinion, many of the PoC who have been involved in the drama are pissed off with good cause. I think saying to PoC - oh you're just so angry and self righteous, why can't you just be quiet, is pretty dire. The Karen Templer incident calling India a 'different planet' was overblown imo but, more widely, I don't see what you're going to get out of wading into this issue you obviously don't know the context of.

wintersnowdrop really, what a delicious irony!

I witnessed the dreadful attack on KD, a thoughtful, extremely gifted writer and designer whose work has often examined the influences of colonialism, capitalism and patriarchy on the history of craft and clothing. She is a lovely person, a star of knitting and I suspect some jealousy on the part of her fellow designers. The knitting designer alluded to upthread was a friend of hers before she turned on her. I agree that this person's blog has become a grim hymnsheet of performative wokeness. So dull.

I also think the patronising tone of the OP re. crafts is ironic on a feminist board. Knitting = silly past-time for gentle old women who couldn't possibly be interested in politics. And if you really think Ravelry saying it will no longer host pro-trump propaganda is an issue then really... just, what.

These boards are embarrassing, truly.

Similar has happened in the breastfeeding world with the Lactnet/Lactworld Facebook group for professionals. A particularly heady mix of identity politics cultiness combined with American ignorance of the rest of the world, American cultural imperialism and entitlement. The irony that the Americans are oblivious of the privilege they hold is not lost on anyone else. I think that most people have just sighed and decided not to engage.

These boards are embarrassing, truly.

Oh god, the irony! And you just called someone else patronising 😂 and criticised another person for tone policing 😂

There is an odd comment on one of the Quillette pieces by Tom Barr, who describes himself as a representative of Kate Davies Designs.

I am writing to state our opposition to the author’s position, and to the despicable sentiments and views that underly this piece. As a lifelong socialist, whose feminism has always had an intersectional dimension, as well as someone who stands in firm solidarity and allyship with BIPOC, fully supporting the long-overdue and necessary conversations about diversity that have been taking place in the knitting and craft industries, Kate is appalled to have been mentioned by this author, and on this platform. While Kate refused to endorse the tone of some of the necessary conversation as it took place on Instagram – purely because of the rather toxic combination of public shaming and self-interest that engagement on that platform seems to promote – she fully supports the right of those who attacked her to attack her in the context of the bigger picture of the much-needed and important debates about diversity and representation that were taking place...we are particularly appalled that the author of this piece (and Quilette’s editorial team) failed to show Kate the kindness and respect of contacting her before mentioning her here. And I restate that if our consent had been sought to be included in this piece, we would certainly not have given it...We conclude by restating – in the strongest terms possible – our opposition to this article, its author, your platform, and everything you stand for.

The article was sympathetic to Kate Davies, so I don't understand why he is so upset about it.

The Tom Barr comment is one of the last comments on this article.
quillette.com/2019/06/07/instagrams-diversity-wars-revisited/

Tom is her DH I think? Her response to being attacked was to shut it all down and refuse to engage (including cancelling appearances at large shows). I can see why she wouldn’t want it brought up again tbh, but in the wider context of what is happening then pieces like the Quillette one and others are important. So, I feel sorry if she just wants it all to go away, but stating the bare facts of what happened is ok imo.

Am I really old fashioned in thinking hobbies like knitting or sewing or painting or whittling are supposed to be fun and relaxing? This woke fever just sucked the fun right out

Yy SnuggyBuggy and the ironic thing is that yarn and fabric crafts have roots in so many cultures and is a truly diverse thing in itself, so it’s a huge shame there is such division right now.
As someone upthread said, and as said elsewhere, Follow The Money. Instant exposure for those who whip up these storms and they are not the sections of the community who need that exposure, by their own woke standards or anyone else’s.

We're only a step away from a Cultural Revolution complete with Red Guards.

@CatelynStark I think we must be in the same fabric group!!

Some well meaning if naive woman will ask a question about race, or cultural appropriation etc, that clearly comes from a place of wanting to understand better and avoid offending anyone. And there will then be a total pile on and people hectoring her and telling her to (simultaneously) educate herself/stay in her lane/speak up for those facing whatever ism is being discussed, followed by a string of PayPal links and "you owe so-and-so money for wasting their time and hurting them" 😨 And if she dates to say she feels upset by the response, well god help her - fury will rain down, accusations of "weaponising white tears"... It's quite scary!

There's very little... what's the word, assumption of good intent? There's this constant presumption that everyone is out to get everyone else.

Reading in the comments in the Quillette articles some very good points made about how the “fun police” and authoritarianism used to come from the conservative/right and is now coming from the left.
Apparently it has infiltrated (!) the fish-keeping world😂.

It’s all about looking good, appearing to be morally superior

The assumption of good faith is a fundamental principal of many online communities, such as Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Assume_good_faith

Seems to have gotten trampled underfoot in the race for woke cookies

Even if a woke person has a point somewhere I just want to tell them to fuck off for being woke. It's actually a pretty poor way to educate and change people's views as it just alienates them.

Same here Snuggy. And it’s not about a desire for change it’s about making them look good, that’s all.

“Outrage has become a recreational pass time” very true

Honestly I’m not surprised they don’t want to be associated with the articles. It’s a right wing magazine and association with it and the content will no doubt have a negative impact on their business after already having had major issues. I wouldn’t want to have anything to do with anything Toby Young is involved with either

I’m sure they just want everyone to stop talking about it considering the damage already done to them.

I’ve already said this on another thread but citing news and opinion pieces from right wing publications / websites is making matters worse. No wonder GC feminism is being linked to the right wing. It makes me very uncomfortable as I would never willingly align myself to these publications. We have to remember why the far right are jumping on these issues - it’s certainly not the same reasons I have an issue, and our general outlook is not the same.

I agree with the right wing media on some issues and disagree on others. Similarly with the left wing media. The idea that we should only get information from one source and agree wholeheartedly results in polarisation of opinions. I think this is the root of the problem, not the solution.

I've been following the whole thing since Karen Templer's article and my opinions have been swinging wildly.

I can see similarites to feminists who are tone policed for pointing out facts and stats and told they should ask nicely for things and not make men feel bad when it's pointed out that most magazines and patterns are made by and modelled by white women.

I'm dubious about the motives of some of the Instagram vloggers and personalities who are usually white and making a thing of attacking other white designers for not following a script they deem acceptable.

On a separate note, reading the blurb for Nathan Taylor's book it comes across that he firmly believes in manly maths brains that are ideal for knitting

followed by a string of PayPal links and "you owe so-and-so money for wasting their time and hurting them

jesus. how bum clenchingly embarassing

the 'white tears' thing makes me clutch my forehead. the answer to the damage caused by inaccurate stereotyping is not to do more inaccurate stereotyping.

I’ve already said this on another thread but citing news and opinion pieces from right wing publications / websites is making matters worse. No wonder GC feminism is being linked to the right wing

DON'T READ THAT

DON'T LOOK OVER THERE

DON'T INFECT YOUR BRAIN WITH A VARIETY OF OPINIONS

Thing is Deathgrip why is right wing morally bad and left wing morally good? To me that is the typical black and white thinking of identity politics. The idea that a person is all bad or all good when we are multi-layered humans with a personality.
I have some views that would be considered right wing, some that would be considered left wing, others centre and I am allowed to express all of those views provided I don’t fall foul of the law.

Wow. I use Ravelry often and follow lots of Instagram knitting accounts, am not far away from Yarndale and know quite a few people who go to it, and I had no idea all this was going on. I'd never heard of Kate Davies either, but have just ordered one of her books from her lovely website. The idea that some of this woke persecution might actually be being carried out with the intention of monetary gain makes it somehow even more abhorrent.

Oh shit I've read both those Quillette articles, does that mean I'm now infected with alt-right....

I’d like to credit anyone trying to unpick all this with the intelligence to see the potential bias in any journalistic piece about it.