Black Men Who Scrapbook
By So, I wanted to put this out there for everyone to see: hobbies don’t belong to people. Hobbies are pastimes that anyone may pick up at any time. When women game, they are not “invading” a male space. A.) Women have always been gaming. B.) People are allowed to express an interest in an activity whenever they damn well feel like it.
Though I am not a gamer, I admit to gritting my teeth whenever I see the charge that gaming is a “male space.” No, nuh-uh. Nein. Women have always gamed. When I was a kid, my friends and I were obsessed with arcades. We killed space invaders, we gobbled ghosts, we played pinball. I was playing Atari when most gamergaters were just a glimmer in some dude’s eyes. I rescued the princess a million times. (That’s Nintendo, I know, dipshits–I had it.) And even when gaming did legitimately start catering almost exclusively to guys, women were still there, still playing (if in fewer numbers). So women haven’t invaded anything. Let’s just establish that as FACT right now.
But let’s say we *had* “invaded?” SO WHAT? Who the hell cares when a person decides to try out a new hobby? I’ve always wanted to scrapbook. I don’t ‘cuz I don’t have the time, but it’s always looked like a buttload of fun to me, a great way to get people who aren’t necessarily artists to express their creativity.
If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say that most scrapbookers are white women–it’s just a guess. I’d even go so far as to say that someone who scrapbooks is pretty likely to use Pinterest. Fair enough? Now, say, for some reason a bunch of black dudes took an interest in scrapbooking and started using Pinterest to get inspiration. Here’s the thing: if I’m a white woman and I don’t like that? I can fuck right off–the hobby/site doesn’t belong to me. Scrapbooking suppliers are allowed to cater to a larger client base and Pinterest will inevitably look more like its changing demographics. In this brave new world, scrapbooking suppliers are allowed to make cool stickers and stencils and what have you that black dudes like. What won’t be allowed is whining like a pissbaby because the hobby changes slightly to look more like its participants.