Book Review: Queering the Subversive Stitch

I was absolutely thrilled to receive a review copy of Joseph McBrinn's new book, Queering the Subversive Stitch: Men & the Culture of Needlework, published by Bloomsbury.

McBrinn excavates the history of needlework, embroidery, knitting, and other textile arts in Western cultures, seeking evidence of male practitioners. In antiquity, garment work and needlecrafts were not so starkly gendered as they became under Victorian societal judgements. 

No one will be surprised that this book illuminates how hypermasculine sensibilities have conflated needlecrafts and fiber arts with femininity to the detriment of both female and male artists/artisans working in the medium. Scholarly, well-researched, academic in tone--read it if you want to get pissed off and cross-stitch a bunch of revolutionary samplers. 

Queering the Subversive Stitch features full-color illustrations of embroidery examples, photographs, and more.