Etsy: A “Female Ghetto” For The Creative & Crafty?
Posted by: Amelia McDonell-Parry
Filed in:
style
9:30AM, Thursday June 11th 2009
Over at Double X, Sara Mosle initially sings the praises of popular online indie retailer Etsy.com, but then points out a problem. “There are virtually no male sellers on Etsy. If the site is such a great way for anyone to market handmade goods online, then why is it such a female ghetto?”
So begins her essay, “Etsy.com Peddles a False Feminist Fantasy,” is which she seeks to prove that Etsy specifically attracts women in their mid-thirties, often with children, who want to believe “that you can have a family and create hip arts and crafts from home during flexible, reasonable hours while still having a respectable, fulfilling, and remunerative career.” Mosle says there’s little proof that there’s much money to be made selling goods on Etsy—hence the absence of men, who, obviously, only pursue lucrative or purely recreational “hobbies.”
Look, the reason that women vastly outnumber men on Etsy is because it is, ultimately, a crafts site. And, like it or not, crafting, jewelry making, needlepoint, etc. are female-centric creative pursuits. The lack of male sellers is not any more complicated than that. I don’t care if “stone cutting, metallurgy, and welding” are male dominated industries—dudes, in general, just don’t sell s**t they make online. Not on Etsy, not anywhere.
Mosle peddles out plenty of statistics to support her argument that Etsy is selling a “feminist fantasy,” and while those numbers do check out, her theory is still predicated on the belief that the majority of the women who sell on Etsy are naive dreamers. That they want selling jewelry or needlepoint pillowcases to be their career (and that men would never be so unrealistic). But Mosle offers no interviews with women who actually say this is their desire, just her own analysis of message board conversations. Her stats also work against her.
“The average age of an Etsy seller, according to the site’s 2008 survey, is 35—women’s prime childrearing years. Nearly 60 percent have college degrees, and 55 percent are married. The average household income is $62,000—well above the national mean. In other words, the Etsy.com seller is often a married woman with (or about to have) young children, with a higher-than-average household income, and a good education. These should, in sum, be highly employable women. So, what are they doing, often pursuing hobbies, or working only part-time, on Etsy?”
I would argue that raising children is a full-time job and one that many women enjoy. Maybe they also enjoy pursuing their creative interests, by jewelry making or painting, in their spare time? The bonus is a site like Etsy gives them a place to make some extra dough off the hobbies they would be pursuing anyway.
Mosle admits to fantasizing about opening her own storefront on Etsy, and that she’s “not immune to the siren call that brings many women to the site.” But she says she doesn’t expect to make a living off of it—and I don’t think many of the women on Etsy expect to either. The women who do manage to make a living off the goods they sell on Etsy, likely sell in stores as well, and have used the site to build brand recognition and reach a wide market.
As for those stay-at-home moms that Mosle writes about? Etsy hasn’t pulled the wool over their eyes, they aren’t stuck in some artsy/crafty female ghetto just because they aren’t getting rich off handmade stationery. Maybe Mosle problem is that she’s pissed her own Etsy fantasy is just that—fantasy—and she doesn’t want to be alone in her disappointment.
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Jessica Wakeman
wrote on June 11 2009 @ 09:35 am: [report]
Well-delivered smackdown, Amelia!
David Lifson
wrote on June 11 2009 @ 09:50 am: [report]
Love the last sentence!
Etsy is not some magical potion that miraculously makes you rich. You have to work at it. Your products have to be stellar and unique. Your marketing has to be genuine and creative.
Most people, frankly, make over-priced crap. No, not yours, of course. Put some vintage beads on a silver thread and sell it for $40? Sure, you and the other 100,000 jewelry sellers (I made that number up).
People love Etsy because it represents an idealized fantasy that you, too, can quit your crappy 9-5 office job and make money doing what you love. What could be more compelling? It’s certainly not the platform’s fault if your aspirations don’t match up to your skills.
False feminist link-baiting, if you ask me. Not that you did.
Well done, Amelia!
Ellis
wrote on June 11 2009 @ 10:17 am: [report]
What an absurd bone to pick with Etsy. I’m glad of the retort, and I love the closing sentences!
Fla_girl
wrote on June 11 2009 @ 10:31 am: [report]
Wow, I have to say from the snippets I read from Mosely’s article what a piece of crap. As a proud crafter (who does not sell stuff in the “female gehtto” I take her comments as an attack on women of all ages (especially younger, professional women) who love to knit, crochet, scrapbook, bead, etc.
Breaking news… women can be hip, professional and still find time to induldge in some crafty goodness. Now where did I put those knitting needles and yarn?
lilrockgoddess4u
wrote on June 11 2009 @ 10:40 am: [report]
I love Etsy!
Erin Flaherty
wrote on June 11 2009 @ 12:13 pm: [report]
argh. i love double x, but i don’t appreciate some of the female bullying going on over there. good points all around amelia. in this case, it’s mountains out of molehills.
magz
wrote on June 11 2009 @ 02:47 pm: [report]
WELL SAID AMELIA!
As a crafter, who just today clicked the button to open my store (though haven’t added anything to it yet) on Etsy, this is a ridiculous argument and fight to pick with a site and marketplace that has done nothing but empower women (and crafters).
Its sites like etsy.com and craftzine.com that have elevated crafts from something your grandma did by the fire, to a cool way to recycle and reuse in our current consumption-based culture. It’s the proud statement of “I made this” when someone gives you a compliment on a scarf or hair clip you made that really adds a little oomph of self-esteem to women who are bombarded with reasons they’re not good enough. Crafting is cool again! REJOICE!
At times, the quality of goods on Etsy are above and beyond what you can find in your local chain store. Buying products of quality and supporting local artisans/crafters in the process seems like a decent proposal to me.
Why does she care if there aren’t many men involved? Are we measuring the value of any e-commerce site based on how many men are active members? Mosie’s argument only devalues the millions of female etsy sellers and buyers. Doesn’t sound very feminist to me.
Barry
wrote on June 12 2009 @ 09:41 am: [report]
As a male seller on etsy I have to admit I’m a little disheartened over this article. For starters, the author is making just as unjustified claims about men as the previous article did about women,
“dudes, in general, just don’t sell s**t they make online. Not on Etsy, not anywhere.”
Thanks for the overly broad generalization that excludes a very active community of male craftsmen that sell on etsy.
AND ANOTHER THING, I was EXTREMELY put-off by the “advertisement” I was greeted with upon entering this site, it seems to be randomly generated so I saved a screen shot that other users can see here:
http://imgur.com/h5F8V.jpg
I cannot believe how discriminatory this is. If this graphic was about women and finished off with the line “Yes! Women DO think” there would be an uproar from the female community, yet because of my gender I’m supposed to roll over and take the abuse. If this graphic depicted ANY class but men it would not stand. If it were geared toward women, African Americans, the Jewish, or Christians there would be a tidal wave of disapproval.
Well I may be the lone voice standing up for myself but I found it extremely distasteful. Putting forth this kind of attitude taints the entire message you’re trying to send with a cloud of discrimination.
Claireific
wrote on June 17 2009 @ 12:41 pm: [report]
@Barry
I agree wholeheartedly. This article is very defensive. How can you take the fact that the XX writer used actual statistics and use it to make her seem like an uniformed, biased writer? You prefer she’d used interviews instead. You brush over the fact that she looked at a considerable amount of discussion threads that supported her opinion (which could reasonably sub for an interview). I’m sure that if she interviewed a bunch of Etsy users and used no stats, but reached the same conclusion you’d turn around and attack her for using flimsy evidence. I get that Etsy is an untouchable pinnacle of all that is hip, modern and feminine, but saying that “dudes, in general, just don’t sell s**t they make online. Not on Etsy, not anywhere” is a statement entirely unsupported by evidence (maybe men feel unwelcome in the female-dominant environment of Etsy and are thus far less present and vocal?) Writing like this makes women look whiny, thoughtless and reactionary. Think before you get huffy over someone saying something bad about your beloved Etsy and lashing out.
And it really is true that white men are the only group that it’s culturally OK to insult and chide. Are we, as women, trying to bring ourselves up by bringing men down? Sure, some men are blindingly idiotic. So are many women. Statements like “Yes, men think!” Only serve to make women look petty and vindictive. Build up, don’t tear down.