I'm often considered to be an "old woman" - does that count ?
If there is something discouraging female posters it may easily be discouraging male posters as well and probably needs sorting.
In the US, are their many women Laser sailors and do those that there are tend to club race or go round the regattas. In France there are a few who do regattas though from my (limited) experience they are a minority. Unsure about club racing as clubs here don't seem to do the club racing thing as I experienced in the UK and assume happens in the US (sort of "Wed evening Series" and "Spring Series" over 10 Sunday mornings, etc.).
Ian
I base that assessment on the level of strife here and the hard hitting jokes.
merrily: i've been a longtime reader and post-er on TLF. i've never gotten the impression that there are non-friendly posts, comments, or threads directed at women.
Merrily, do you really think that women are uncomfortable with "hard hitting jokes," sarcasm, and the occasional argument? Isn't that type of attitude a bit Victorian? I bet if one of us evil men advanced such an opinion we would be labeled male chauvinists in an instant.
I'm not saying that these things are directed at women. Just that women, and as Deimos pointed out, some men may be uncomfortable with these things.
What is your explanation of why so few women are on TLF?
Have you ever seen or read a forum that is comprised entirely of women?
It seems to me that there are constant flare ups here.
The little tiffs we get into here are what make the forum worth hanging around on. If the posts were purely informational like Wikipedia, then this would be a boring place indeed
It seems to me that there were more women here then, at least the occasional poster, but that incident may have turned off more than two people, me and her.
It's interesting that you describe coming here as arguing on the internet. Why does TLF have to be arguing? It wasn't the first year that I was here as a member, then as a moderator. If fact, the anonymous bashing of Brody Cobb was the watershed moment in my mind in the break from civility, to the edginess of today's forum.
... I don't see argument as a negative thing. Argument is just a discussion between parties with different viewpoints.
I think you have definitely cracked it with your new picy avatar thingy.
Ian
2) There appear to be more female posters to the SailingAnarchy forums.
I like your name. Merrily - That's nice. I also really appreciate your input around here. You seem to be quite the wealth of knowledge.
My guess as to why few women post here has more to do with simple proportions.
I'm new here. Just bought my laser 2 weeks ago, but... I have been pretty actively sailing both Tasars and big boats for the past 4 years. Point blank there just aren't that many woman sailors and even fewer who feel comfortable taking the helm - including a laser. So, to augment the above post, I think it is a numbers game as well as a confidence game. 1) We need to get more women out there sailing, 2) we need to get them comfortable enough to step out and take the helm 3) we need them to realize that they can be an active part of the fleet discussions and this forum.
As soon as I have finished composing my sexist rant, I will further contribute it to this thread.
And Rebecca Mandeville AKA Laserbabee?? Anybody heard from her lately?
You, sexist, Fredders? Never! ......
I'd love to know what Laserbabee thinks.
I make 4 women, counting you, Merrily, who have now responded to this thread..
At our club, we have a women's sailing group. They sail Sunfish and prams once a week on Thursdays. They have a nice time, but very few of them would ever dream of racing in an open event against men. One example of how those who go "women's" sailing are very different from the women who race Lasers. They're just not . . . <what is it??> competitive? aggressive? They let their friends cross on port to be "nice". They never yell. They're like the people at the 4-way stop who wave you through even though it's their turn. (needless to say, I do not sail with them) So, that's a group of women sailors who might NEVER look at a forum.
Cindy: Don't you just hate that "tacking too close" thing? Some people have a panic attack if you tack within 3 boatlengths. Not just women, either. .
What we have to do is take the helm ourselves and show other women that we can do it and hopefully they will want to do it to!