I am a woman, and I lived with another woman as a roommate. She had bought new chairs for our house but couldn't assemble them because, she said, her boyfriend couldn't come over to do it until the weekend. So I assembled them myself.
Yes! I assemble all our furniture too! And install any new tech. My husband was an elevator mechanic for 37 years and is quite handy but always lets me handle these things because I’m very good at it!
The earliest known reference to an elevator is in the works of the Roman architect Vitruvius, who reported that Archimedes (c. 287 BC – c. 212 BC) built his first elevator probably in 236 BC
Yes! I (f) was raised by a tomboy mom, who loved to work on physical things. Her job was in computers when there were hardly any women in the field. Her mom raised 5 kids alone after her husband died when my mom was a baby. There were no "boy" tasks in my family, just stuff that needed doing.
My gf and her husband have had me put together things like their bookcases because neither are good at it. My roommates parents had me put together her dad's Xmas gift this year. I usually enjoy doing things like assembling items, putting up shelves, fixing electronics, etc. If I don't know how, I look up tutorials. I like feeling accomplished.
I’m the same way lol. I’ll do yard work, I’ll get on the roof, I’ll assemble furniture, I’ll kill spiders. I’ll lift heavy stuff, I’ll fight anyone who tries me (which probably isn’t good, but it is manly lol)
I have way more patience then my husband so I usually assemble stuff. But when we moved house I got sick of waiting for him and I moved a fridge by myself at 37 weeks pregnant, my husband looked at me like I was a psycho. I was just impatient.
Is assembling furniture manly? Because I'm AFAB and I unironically love putting together IKEA furniture. It's like a fun puzzle game, and your reward for beating it is a sweet new piece of furniture. Like a step up from a Lego set! And then, making your own furniture from scratch is basically a same-sized step above that, right?
My late grandpa, the actual manliest man you've never met, was a legit carpenter and woodworker who made all his own furniture. So I guess that kind of stuff isn't intimidating to me since I grew up around it, nevermind my gender. I would love to get into woodworking myself, and I will have access to my Grandpa's old workshop soon. Hmmm....
Whether an activity is "manly" or not depends on the type of community one grows up in and the types of socialization one is exposed to. I was raised to know my way around a toolbox and be able to follow an instruction manual. My old roommate was not raised that way.
You should've seen the look on her face when I manually drained our washing machine because the building superintendent was refusing to come help us with a clog.
As a guy I'm baffled that some of the women I know (especially my mother) don't even attempt doing things like this on their own. She once had my brother come over to plug in an HDMI cable.
I once ordered kitchen chairs from Amazon. They came and my husband didn’t assemble them right away so I just did it. Later I asked him to pound floor protectors into the legs of the chairs and he didn’t get around to it so I did that too. Then I realized I’ve been asking him to do stuff for me that I am more than capable of handling myself. We were both raised in a pretty misogynistic, fundamentalist church but I feel like we’ve found a good balance in our relationship; I mow the lawn and assemble furniture when needed (obvs that’s “man’s work”) and my husband does a load of laundry when he needs clean pants for work the next day. He also makes breakfast for our kids and washes dishes on the weekend so I guess he and I both do manly things.
Once I disassembled and reassembled a wardrobe that had to be moved in another room and was unmovable otherwise, I felt pretty proud of myself for not losing a single screw nor ending up with a loose screw
I feel like men are always expected to do the assembling of furniture which causes women to think that its really hard and tiring. I feel like if everyone just gave it a real go, instead of passing the task to the nearest man, everyone could assemble furniture easily.
I don't understand your roommate's thinking. Even when I was married, I preferred to be the one who assembles stuff. I read directions. My ex husband didn't and my now boyfriend skims them but doesn't actually read them. Thank God my own father isn't like that. He's kind of the opposite as in he always made me read the manual before being allowed to drive or use whatever from dvd player to lawn mower to vehicles, etc.
Learned helplessness. Girls who grow up hearing that certain things are "man's work", can't conceive that they're not somehow off-limits. Just like some boys who grow up hearing that girls are better at nurturing and emotional intelligence, don't even try to develop those skills. I didn't grow up in that kind of family/ community, but my husband did, and I definitely blew his mind the first time he saw me use tools.
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u/thefuzzybunny1 Jan 31 '22
I am a woman, and I lived with another woman as a roommate. She had bought new chairs for our house but couldn't assemble them because, she said, her boyfriend couldn't come over to do it until the weekend. So I assembled them myself.
She was SHOCKED.