… Gynocentric Mis-statement and Efficient Reality
(c) 2019, Davd
Now and then, here and there, I recall hearing or reading scornful references to “a Guy House” — meaning a house occupied by men and no women, where proper standards of decor and decorum were not being kept. I have seen pictures that purport to illustrate (or exaggerate) the phenomenon; for instance: A motorcycle in the sitting room, beer cans for Christmas tree ornaments, and mixing pancake batter with an electric drill.
The pictures seem to represent parodies of male interests (not that women never drink beer — my sister did) — superimposed on houses designed to be operated by “a housewife” or in more pretentious words “the Lady1 of the house”. The best description of these comical pictures might be something like “Exaggerated masculine lifestyle imposed on houses designed to be sold to women.”, or “Parody-grade Guy Behaviour in Gal-purposed settings.” A real “Guy House” would be designed and built to accommodate guy interests and activities.
Do real “Guy Houses” even exist? Yes.
In the form of monastic households, at least, they do; and associated to US and a few Canadian universities, there are “fraternities”. Those two examples are nearly always big houses, with say, one, two, three or more dozen men living in them. They nearly always are kept in good order… of a sort no sensible observer would call “feminine” and few would credit to an interior decorator.
“Guys” living alone seldom have houses, just cabins or small apartments; because that’s the amount of that kind of space we need.
“Guys” living two or three in one house, seem to be what those who scorn “Guy houses” have in mind; and herewith, an educated guess why. Most houses and apartments are designed more for women than for men. (Which is one of several indicators that if patriarchy was ever normal below the Ruling Class in pre-industrial Europe2, and perhaps in early colonial North America; it was gone as of the separation of men’s work from their homes and then the rise of the suburbs.)
A true “man’s house” would have to be one designed and built for a man or group of men to live in. Monasteries and student fraternities would qualify, and the few I’ve seen have been well kept, though not necessarily according to any scheme of decor that would have a name (or a female following.)
Housing for single men usually is of a size and layout that gets the name “cabin” rather than “house”. The examples I remember best were built, occupied, and owned by bachelor “Finlanders” near Thunder Bay3. They tended to be sturdy, warmly heated in winter, clean, but not decorated. The example i recall most clearly, because i dropped in there often for coffee in the afternoon, was that of my neighbour Timo (not his actual name), just outside the Thunder Bay city limits.
It was a three-room cabin of perhaps 600 square feet, and the walls and floors were varnished pine.. as was most of the furniture. The front room was basically a place to leave one’s coat and boots (Finns don’t wear the same footgear outside and indoors). The kitchen was his social space and took up almost exactly half the cabin’s floor area. It contained the usual wood-fired cookstove, cupboards, and sink; and a trestle table–pine of course–with two pine benches, one on either side. At that table we spent tens of hours talking, coffee and sokerikorppu4 between us.
The cooking space and cupboards were fairly small in extent; but Timo was not a hobby cook, not a winemaker, he didn’t need much room for spices or many kinds of cereal. He favoured the hearty long-keeping Finnish breads, fish and meat, apples and oranges, porridge, potatoes, now and then rice or pea soup. For those, there was room, including a freezer for fish and game and the odd bit of store meat.
Like many bachelor Finlanders, Timo had a workshop that was nearly as large as his cabin, a woodshed in addition, a sauna, and i think a car-garage; and in these he kept the “stuff” that clutters houses designed for couples or for women and their children, when occupied by single men [and when also lacking such outbuildings]. He had a collection of photographs, perhaps 200 of them; but these were kept in a sturdy cardboard box under a kitchen bench or his bed, somewhere like that; and taken out only for actual examination. Nearly every single woman’s apartment or house that i have seen has had many photographs on display; but few single men have had.
I did see flowers on Timo’s table in season, but the only bought ones were occasional mid-winter hyacinths, in a small pot, for the pleasant scent.
There were small rugs on the floors, near the doors, in the kitchen which was his social space, and in his bedroom. These rugs were easy for 70-75 year old Timo to carry outside to the “beating frame” which is part of Finnish culture, beat clean, and carry back after he had swept the floors. It didn’t take him long to “clean house”; so he did it at least thrice a week–it might have been daily.
His closets were small, one in the entry room and one in his bedroom. He had plenty of work clothes, underwear and socks, a few items of “nicer” clothing, but no “outfits” of the sort some women keep by the dozens.
From Timo’s example, and the stereotype, combined; i’d infer that men put into women’s housing tend to occupy it clumsily and “messily”; while men who build their own homes tend to keep them clean but in a quite different, simpler, more functional style than North American women have favoured in the three generations since World War II.
Another indication, methinks, that men’s5 lifestyles make more sense and less expense.
Notes:
1. Lady is properly a title of nobility. A very, very small fraction of all the Alpha women of North American households are actually Ladies. The next time some woman claims the privilege to go ahead of you in queue with “Ladies First”, you may properly demand to see proof of her noble title. (I didn’t say the demand would be welcomed.)
2. Even in the Ruling Classes it was qualified, e.g Elizabeth I and Victoria, Reginae. Native America had both patriarchy and matriarchy, as most people interested in Native cultures know.
3. One bachelor man near Port Alberni built a garage with a small apartment above his pickup truck, and lived there for 15 years until his death.
4. The Lakehead-Finnish equivalent of Maria biscuits–a generic, tasty enough mild sweet to go with coffee.
5… designed and built by men for our own use.
