>> But maybe I am too theoretical in this. Did the men lifting the
>> "man"holes enjoy the lifting ? Did you and the other women
>> enjoy lifting them ? I suppose to a certain point increasing
>> your strength was healthy.
when i dropped out of college for a few years ('73-'75), i spent my summers working as a 'laborer' (i'm pretty sure thats what the union card said) in the heavy construction business in Florida (oceanside high-rises .. watching the waterspouts on the atlantic while working)
i was in a small group (of men) that was given the heavy lifting and carrying tasks. my group leader was an ex-semi-pro football player, i had played in high school, and the other guy was also 'stocky'. we constantly made a game out of the lifting tasks. who could carry 8x12x14' stringers single-handedly, how many pieces of 4x8 plywood could we carry at a time, how few hammer blows to sink a 16 penny nail into the 'jacks'.
macho?
sure. but also a way to give meaning to and have fun in real grueling work in 95 degree humid summer weather. and boy was i healthy at the end of those summers.
i was told the group leader, Randy, was a militant union activist: rolled cars over during a strike, etc. everyone from laborers on up to the carpenters and site foremen respected him... one time i tried this 'hey, what do unions really do for you guys anyway?' routine on him, and he grabbed me by the neck and said, 'les, les, les, sit down over here boy and let me tell you something' ... and i got my first 'stickin with the union' lecture, right there on the job.
randy was later promoted to a carpenter's foreman. (he was also the only person outside my immediate family who TOLD ME to go back and finish college.)
i also recall a woman carpenter on the job one summer. she NEVER got shit from anyone in our crew, ever. i never heard a disparaging remark about her at all, though the 'guys' had no problem sometimes taunting the girls down on the beaches in front of our worksites...
anyway, i shudder to think how Randy and the rest of the crew are making out now with their backs and knees and hands....
les