• Broadfern@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    131
    ·
    6 days ago

    Plant growing is gendered now?

    All the cishet men I’ve known who have had gardens grew all kinds of stuff, from fruits and vegetables to culinary herbs and flowers.

    Maybe I’m in a bubble but damn I feel sorry for the dudes in the OP.

    • glimse@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      42
      ·
      6 days ago

      Yeah this is weirdly sexist. I only know one person this describes because he’s growing weed (legally) in an apartment so he can’t have a outdoor garden

      Hell, I know over a dozen men with gardens and only two even grow peppers. Everyone grows tomatoes, though…

        • glimse@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          13
          ·
          6 days ago

          My old coworker told me he had only ever eaten the transparent slices of flavorlessness fast food restaurants call tomatoes until he moved from the slums to a rural town and had a fresh one. It blew his mind so much he went on to spend 15 years as a chef.

          My dad’s been growing tomatoes my whole life so I’ve been spoiled

          • boonhet@sopuli.xyz
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            7
            ·
            6 days ago

            I grew up somewhat poor, small town with no fast food, post-soviet nation. We had a garden and a greenhouse. I was a teen when I found out how flavourless tomatoes can be. Because we’d always grown our own and didn’t use them as much in the winter when they needed to be bought from the store lol

        • enkers@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          6 days ago

          I have a raised bed and just hang a loose net around the whole thing so the squirrels can’t get in. Otherwise those little buggers will take one bite out of each tomato and leave the rest for me to clean up.

            • enkers@sh.itjust.works
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              6 days ago

              The netting isn’t big enough for squirrels to get through. It’s draped down from the trellising, and pinned down to the ground. There’s no way for the squirrels to get in unless they climb up and over, and they don’t seem to be able to figure that out.

              Not sure what to do about the horn worms though.

              • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                6 days ago

                Oh, so there are also trellises of some sort. What else is there? It’s also still it quite clear how this is configured - are these frustra surrounding each plant? Because that sounds like a lot of work for each tomato.

                As for hornworms, best we’ve found is a daily sweep with a jar of soapy water for ritual executions.

                • enkers@sh.itjust.works
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  6 days ago

                  I’ll just send a picture:

                  This was before I added the netting. I use tomato clips to hold up the plants:

                  Then the netting just goes all the way around the outside hanging down from the top, and secured at the bottom with ground clips.

              • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                6 days ago

                hornworms are susceptile to parasitoids that target only them, but i dont know if you can even commerically purchase them.

        • Kellenved@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          6 days ago

          Fucking stink bugs! My plants got a little out of hand this year and I had to pluck stink bugs off them every day. Still 60+ lbs of tomatoes tho

    • TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      16
      ·
      edit-2
      6 days ago

      yes. everything is gendered for gender warriors.

      i’m cishet and i have a garden and most women i date think it means I’m secretly gay. the cat doesn’t help.

      gardening is considered feminine, or for old people. not for younger men who are supposed to be virile and dominant. they should be hunting.

      • jimmux@programming.dev
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        edit-2
        6 days ago

        Weird. Have they seen how much you can provide from a garden?

        Also, having a garden doesn’t preclude one from hunting… whatever that means in the modern era. You can only eat so much meat.

      • Broadfern@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        6 days ago

        That’s wild, I’m sorry you gotta deal with that.

        Survival skills + demonstrated empathy/care with other living beings are positives for any person. Hopefully you find someone who appreciates that. /gen

      • Pot8o@mander.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        5 days ago

        Well it looks like your garden has at least a double function - it filters out women with weird ideas about gender and sexuality 😁

      • Rothe@piefed.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        edit-2
        6 days ago

        Sure, but the OP doesn’t say “gender warriors”, it says “Western man”, which includes a whole lot more people than the tiny minority of those bigots.

        Sorry that you live in a bubble of bigots, but it is not a general or universal experience.

    • smeg@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      edit-2
      6 days ago

      Male gardeners as depicted in popular fiction:

      A real alpha male helps you carry The Ring to Mordor

    • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      6 days ago

      Same, I don’t know any dudes into gardening that care about that shit. One of them does grow peppers, but it’s because he likes peppers, not because he’s worried growing other stuff (which he also does) will make him look like a pussy.

    • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      6 days ago

      I grow several varieties of peppers from sweet bells to habaneros, tomatoes, okra, cucumbers, and mint, plus a few odds and ends that look cool at the garden center. I tend to grow plants that either produce more per dollar to grow than I can get at the store, or in the case of tomatoes, of better quality. And mint is eternal.

      I also harvest beautyberries that have sprung up wild on my property, and have recently learned that the big weird thing looming over my wood shop is a black walnut tree, so I think I’m gonna go nuts next summer.

      • absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        12
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        6 days ago

        /s maybe

        Well done; that gave me a chuckle…

        Its not gay if it your own soapy fingers right…right guys…oh fuck maybe I’m gay. No I can’t be, I hate the gays!!!

        • some closeted jock probably.
  • Getitupinyerstuffin'@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    23
    ·
    edit-2
    5 days ago

    This is some poor bull shit… when did growing anything make anyone fragile?.. get outta here with your bs. Do you just go around trying to start shit?

    Why would you make up something like that? Maybe its your own masculinity that is fragile?

    • joenforcer@midwest.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      5 days ago

      When I was young, I got made fun of for wanting to help my mom plant and tend to a garden with basil and tomatoes. It didn’t kill my love for plants but childhood cruelty sticks with you.

      • Getitupinyerstuffin'@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        4 days ago

        I had 2 older brothers and 1 younger while growing up, we lived rurally and we would have a huge garden and we were all expected to work in it. Personally, i liked it, but I didn’t always like it cuz I was a kid I guess, but I liked it enough I have my own garden now and nobody forced me.

        I was also homeschooled, so I didn’t know a lot people, but I never got made fun of for gardener.

  • TheFrirish@jlai.lu
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    23
    ·
    6 days ago

    I don’t even understand this. I haven’t heard anyone even in the alt-right say growing plants was gay

  • Zgierwoj@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    39
    ·
    6 days ago

    Cacti and carnivorous plants are super cool tho??? Especially that you get cacti cuz of how resilient they are, a great first plant, can recommend. And growing your own food/spices as well? Also Ive never seen that stereotype lmao

    • GottaHaveFaith@fedia.io
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      16
      ·
      6 days ago

      Yeah it’s kinda weird. As if anyone is growing weed because it’s manly and not because it’s awesome

  • psud@aussie.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    5 days ago

    It’s this Chinese anti-West propaganda? I wonder if it works on Chinese people since it clearly doesn’t work here

  • infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    18
    ·
    edit-2
    6 days ago

    I’ll be honest, I’ve never come across this.

    I’ve known people who aren’t too keen on growing flowers, if only because it takes up space where they could be growing something more productive.

    • fireweed@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      edit-2
      6 days ago

      Which is too bad, because including flowers in your garden (even if it’s only in the form of bolted vegetables) helps attract critters that will pollinate your “productive” plants as well as those that will help protect them from pest infestations. A balanced ecosystem lifts all boats, to mix my metaphors.

      • infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        edit-2
        6 days ago

        I refer more to growing flowers as the main event. Most people I know who garden outside use flowers in the way you described.

        I do however have one extremely “dudebro” guy friend who literally grew almost nothing but flowers for a few years, specifically to sell them to a florist :P

  • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    edit-2
    6 days ago

    You avoid growing plants because it’s emasculating.

    I avoid growing plants because I’m awful at it and it’s cruel.

    We are not the same

  • ThisOne@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    18
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    6 days ago

    Eh funny but untrue. The dudes I know who are plant people grow anything cool. Ive got a lot of weird and cool plants.

    I do grow the super hot peppers, and i like feeding ticks to my carnivorous plants tho. So its not far off.

    I also grow tomatoes, eggplants, garlic, cuces, squash, etc.

    • TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      6 days ago

      it’s true in experience. I’m a single guy. I date around. Most women I meet think gardening makes me queer. It is not considered a desirable hobby for a man. And many men who don’t garden, also think it’s queer/feminine.

      People who do garden, don’t see it that way, of course. But every garden group I’ve ever met up with was 70% women, and most of the men were not ‘manly’. I myself am not a manly guy.

      • jimmux@programming.dev
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        6 days ago

        I grew up assuming every adult should be self-sufficient, so I learnt all of cooking, cleaning, gardening, basic repairs, home maintenance, sewing, etc. I think the most likely people to have a problem with that never learnt it themselves, so they feel inadequate.

        It became an issue in my first serious relationship because she didn’t cook or clean much. She definitely never tried to nurture so much as a plant. I had no problem with that because I could, but she started to feel less feminine, and eventually turned it around on me. The guys she left me for were completely useless, but they didn’t highlight her insecurities so she was happy. At least for a short while.

        People who are confident in their identity and abilities don’t do this, and that’s who you want to find anyway, regardless of gender.

      • fireweed@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        6 days ago

        Traditionally it’s been similar to cooking:

        Farmer/chef? That’s a man’s work.

        Gardener/home cook? That’s a woman’s work.

        Fortunately we’ve got shows like the Great British Bake Off and a myriad of popular YouTube gardening and home cooking channels featuring men to help shake this up, but sadly it’s still something that’s seen as gendered by way too many folks. Still, if spicy peppers and cacti (and on the cooking side dishes like pizza) help get insecure men in the door, that’s great. But I’m with TTF: it may not be a strong stereotype, but I’ve also observed it.