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Finland’s Hobbyhorse Girls

nytimes.com

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Re: Finland’s Hobbyhorse Girls

#21

Post by dalbasal »

blarg1 wrote: post #4

Sometimes I wonder if I'm just getting old and no longer get things, or if the world is just getting crazier.

Kids have always played wierd make-believe games.

Sometimes it starts getting more formalized and attracts slightly older kids. People usually think it's weird, then they get used to it. ...like dungeons and dragons.

Skeptical articles lean into the knee-jerk reaction that "something must be broken with society."

Ultimately, lots of stuff is wierd if you approach it from a judgemental outsider's perspective. Wtf is golf all about, for example?

Re: Finland’s Hobbyhorse Girls

#22

Post by mises »

radiorental wrote: post #19
modzu wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“If someone says we are playing, it strips away everything we made, it strips away the reality,” said Ms. Aarniomaki. it looks like playing to me as well, and not sure why the community would see that as a problem. even professional sports players know they are playing a game. an interesting and unusual perspective for sure.

I wonder if something was lost in translation, if that read " it strips away the illusion" then the component of pretending in this type of play makes sense. I guess much in the same sense that people would probably not be amused if you ran around a Comic Con telling everyone this is just make believe.

> I guess much in the same sense that people would probably not be amused if you ran around a Comic Con telling everyone this is just make believe.

And yet, this is what an outsider would think (as someone who does not go but has friends who do). Some people would call tinkering with computers "playing", though my spending years on it resulted in a career path. I don't see the issue with "playing". At some point, if you're not doing it for a pay off, that's what it is, and that's fine.

Re: Finland’s Hobbyhorse Girls

#23

Post by distances »

radiorental wrote: post #19
modzu wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“If someone says we are playing, it strips away everything we made, it strips away the reality,” said Ms. Aarniomaki. it looks like playing to me as well, and not sure why the community would see that as a problem. even professional sports players know they are playing a game. an interesting and unusual perspective for sure.

I wonder if something was lost in translation, if that read " it strips away the illusion" then the component of pretending in this type of play makes sense. I guess much in the same sense that people would probably not be amused if you ran around a Comic Con telling everyone this is just make believe.

> I wonder if something was lost in translation, if that read " it strips away the illusion" then the component of pretending in this type of play makes sense.

Yes something was lost. In Finnish there are different words for children's make-believe plays ("leikkiä") and sports/adult games ("pelata"). Your example of comic-con is spot on, I think.

Re: Finland’s Hobbyhorse Girls

#24

Post by daliusd »

ktpsns wrote: post #16

It makes me sad that this is a "celebration of girlhood" but boys are not even mentioned in this article. Why can't boys also practice hobbyhorse training?

It seems boys can, they simply don't. It seems for some reason it became girly thing in Finland (like fake eye lashes, maybe) and boys avoid it.

Citation from another article:

""" There doesn’t seem to be that many boys riding hobbyhorses?

Alisa: I think it’s quite sad, actually. It feels like boys aren’t allowed to do this thing that is considered to be a girly thing. At the same time, I think it also means we have a strong sense of feminism in this community. It’s a place for girls to do what they want. But the boys we do have are very much welcomed and included. """

http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/36050/1/h...

Re: Finland’s Hobbyhorse Girls

#25

Post by Luc »

wil421 wrote: post #17
Luc wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Computer games. Pew pew.

I think what most people find weird about the horse thing is they are kinda jumping around prancing about. If VR really took off and people were doing the movements they do in some video games I wonder if people would have the same reaction. I mean there are video games for kids with horses and other things kids like that arent AAA mainstream games.

Good point.

It seems analogous to that rhythmic gymnastics discipline where they do routines with a long ribbon attached to a stick.

Re: Finland’s Hobbyhorse Girls

#26

Post by FakeComments »

distances wrote: post #23
radiorental wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if something was lost in translation, if that read " it strips away the illusion" then the component of pretending in this type of play makes sense. I guess much in the same sense that people would probably not be amused if you ran around a Comic Con telling everyone this is just make believe.

> I wonder if something was lost in translation, if that read " it strips away the illusion" then the component of pretending in this type of play makes sense. Yes something was lost. In Finnish there are different words for children's make-believe plays ("leikkiä") and sports/adult games ("pelata"). Your example of comic-con is spot on, I think.

Given your comment about the two words in Finnish, I think the comment about comic cons has it backwards:

> “If someone says we are playing, it strips away everything we made, it strips away the reality,” said Ms. Aarniomaki.

She’s objecting to being compared to comics instead of soccer, hence “the reality” being stripped — you’re accusing what they view as akin to gymnastics as being mere fantasy.

Re: Finland’s Hobbyhorse Girls

#27

Post by Cthulhu_ »

blarg1 wrote: post #4

Sometimes I wonder if I'm just getting old and no longer get things, or if the world is just getting crazier.

Yes, the former; don't worry about it, it's perfectly natural, your parents had that phase, theirs did, etc.

Just don't be a dick about it.

Re: Finland’s Hobbyhorse Girls

#29

Post by michaelt »

modzu wrote: post #10
BurningCycles wrote: post #3

Well, it's kids playing make-believe, and in a physically active way, I'm all for it.

“If someone says we are playing, it strips away everything we made, it strips away the reality,” said Ms. Aarniomaki. it looks like playing to me as well, and not sure why the community would see that as a problem. even professional sports players know they are playing a game. an interesting and unusual perspective for sure.

  not sure why the community would see that as a problem
If someone is learning martial arts, you might see that as a demanding sport, for tough serious athletes, demanding discipline, hard work and self-control.

Or you might see it as playing at being Bruce Lee. Hiiii-Ya!

Needless to say, the former perspective implies more respect for the people doing it!

But there's not a bright line between 'serious' activities and non-serious ones - and hence, not much a sport can do to choose where on the spectrum they lie.

Re: Finland’s Hobbyhorse Girls

#30

Post by nabla9 »

blarg1 wrote: post #4

Sometimes I wonder if I'm just getting old and no longer get things, or if the world is just getting crazier.

Is it crazier than square dancing?

Square dancing, freestyle canoe [2], cosplay, cross-stitch etc. These are all activities that people do for the sake of the activity itself without any extra motivation except maybe to be able to hang around with others.

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofq_nl366VM

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