in the old days (pre- 1900) girls and boys were trained to perfect a skill - mason - when they were abled. girls would knit or sew or crochet or embroider; more intelligent women would be musical or do something academic like paint but it was not preferred. boys would be craftsmen, work with wood or study etc. men *could* be academic so there was more of an outlet for them to DOCUMENT their skills and discoveries in canon - writing, academia, master works etc. skilled craftsmen formed the middle class this way, hence "freemason" - they were self-trained and had a moveable occupation. the idea behind having something to do with your hands was rooted in the proof of work concept: you might zone out in a meditative state and work in the astral, but you had something to show for the time spent off "working". women who were idle were considered a threat, crazy, or lazy - doing handiwork or housework or some sort of task was a cover for ability. men formed skilled labour and had hobbies like flora and fauna collections, "studies" and "curios" in the victorian age especially - they gathered things like talismans too in order to show their pathways to what they discovered. victorian collections were a lot like blocks or filing cabinets: they only made sense to the cryptographic gatherer unless here was a useful catalogue which was comprehensible to someone else. darwin was interesting because of that.

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