In case we forgot, Slate's lady blog Double X is back on the job to tell us how stupid we are as women. First, calling out a Jezebel writer for the intensely personal decision of whether or not to report her rape and now for being so dumb as to think that we may actually be able torun our own businesses via Bitchbuzz favorite Etsy.
While I know what Double X is doing and I'm playing right into their link-baity hands with even writing this post, it's still infuriating that this site continues to post such condescending commentary. In this particular article, the writer argues that Etsy is feeding into a "feminist fantasy" of being able to make a living off their etsy stores, work from home and take care of children.
It's a fantasy because most Etsy sellers are not making enough to sustain themselves and probably never will. However, she takes this up a notch when she starts talking about why there are so few men on the site: the reason is not because crafting is almost always taken up by women. No, the reason is because men saw how little money there is to be made on the site and then decided not to waste their time.
It's the same old -- "Women are so irrational and silly! Men are smart and logical" thinking that has perpetuated the glass ceiling for decades. And it's a complete and utter load of horse-shit.
First of all, the article appears to completely ignore that times are tough for all retailers right now, from big corporations to the tiniest of Etsy sellers.
Second, men start businesses that never make money and are doomed to failure all of the time. Does she think that they're being irrational also? Should no one start a business ever? Do we label them as failures if their start ups don't take off? No, we call them "serial entrepreneurs."
It is incredibly hard to start a business, whether you're male or female and whether you're selling crafts or web design. It is not easy, and statistically, you're going to fail. But to put it like this, to say that a site where the majority of the sellers are women, selling products to mostly women, is peddling a "fantasy" is straight up insulting.
No one would ever write an article like this about say, TechCrunch50, or the Y! Combinator, both ventures dedicated to promoting start ups. But you know, those are "real" pursuits for "real" businesses, so they're allowed to peddle fantasies to businesses that are also doomed to fail.