Why is everyone gushing over Tom Daley knitting?

[EastWestWhosBest]

Man does a thing considered to be female and everyone is losing their minds over how ‘cute’ it is.

@Clymene

No, what's incredible is you holding up knitting as some kind of fatal (size 7) needle into the eye of 'toxic masculinity'.

It's a reach that even a few dropped stitches isn't going to solve.

It is though. He’s challenging traditional masculinity by taking part in something traditionally female, on tv, at the Olympics, watched by millions.

He’s still wrong for paying a surrogate. He’s not someone I like. That doesn’t change the knitting thing.

Toxic masculinity can't be that bad if it can be fought, at least in part, by a man (not known for being excessively masculine) knitting.

@ZuttZeVootEeeVro

Toxic masculinity can't be that bad if it can be fought, at least in part, by a man (not known for being excessively masculine) knitting.

What do you suggest instead?

Ah I see we are not allowed to talk about how people seek publicity to sanitise and disguise their toxic masculinity?

Its funny how many people are saying, "ooo look x isn't representative of toxic masculinity because they have a fluffy 'feminine' hobby".

It just goes to show how little it takes to disguise the oppression of women. Just get a photo of yourself doing something which defies stereotypes and boom you are a hero to woman and everyone should fawn all over you for have brave it is.

Nope. Just got a good agent.

(See all the contrived set up shit that people like Jade Goody and Katie Price have got up to, when a camera 'just happens' to be in the room.)

Ha good point.

Not RTFT.

I have found this bizarre as well. I mean ok athletes in general don't knit, sketch, etc before competing.

But the massive amount of oh wow in the media is very disproportionate. And odd.

I thought similarly about Ed Balls making a (admittedly amazing) birthday cake on a baking show. He apparently made all his kids birthday cakes and this proved what an a great father he was
While the cake was spectacular I feel if a woman had done it and said she made all her kids birthday cakes, there would have been a much more muted reaction.

[quote BeansMeansBeans]Have I got a guardian article for you...

amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/apr/10/it-was-seen-as-an-elderly-white-lady-thing-to-do-meet-the-new-generation-of-male-knitters[/quote]
That article is beyond patronising. The Guardian these days reads like a parody of itself.

@RedToothBrush

Ah I see we are not allowed to talk about how people seek publicity to sanitise and disguise their toxic masculinity?

Its funny how many people are saying, "ooo look x isn't representative of toxic masculinity because they have a fluffy 'feminine' hobby".

It just goes to show how little it takes to disguise the oppression of women. Just get a photo of yourself doing something which defies stereotypes and boom you are a hero to woman and everyone should fawn all over you for have brave it is.

Nope. Just got a good agent.

(See all the contrived set up shit that people like Jade Goody and Katie Price have got up to, when a camera 'just happens' to be in the room.)

Jane Fae (advocate of the worst kind of violent porn) often knits when on telly...

@Clymene

Tomorrow knitting in his crying women PJs

Meh. That looks like an African tribal style print. I think you might be reading too much into it.

No they're by Patrick Church @AntsInPenzance who is a gay American designer. I say gay because that's who his clothing is aimed at.

Tom Daley is not a stereotypically masculine man but a gay man. He may be stereotypically gay, and also masculine. What does masculine mean?
Good for him knitting, I say, but keep words meaningful.

Here we go again.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4317134-Tom-Daley-and-his-knitting

He's doing something unusual in front of a global audience. I mean unusual for any athlete, though I do think in most circles it's less common for men to knit than for women.

I follow his Instagram and found it endearing because he's so enthusiastic about it. He knitted a cosy for his medal, and seemed as happy about that as about the medal!

I don't know anything about him beyond the diving and the knitting, so I just saw a young guy succeeding at a sport he loves and really, really enjoying knitting. To me that is cute, and it would be if it was a female athlete too.