why so male?

[mozzie]

I was just reading an journal article about the dominance of men in online communities (talking especially in regards to general interest forums) and i was coming here to check a few posts and its interesting to see (atleast ostensiby) that DSLRUsers largely seems to conform to the statisitical norm of being mostly male?

I had a quick browse through the members list and hard to really tell i guess male from female in some cases but from the last two weeks or so that i've been board stalking seems rathe accurate...

any ideas why?

*ps: feel free to point out that i am totally of my stats and 80% of the board is actualy fems )


Also yes its somewhat unrealated to cameras i know

[Glen]

Mozzie, blokes like technology more than women like technology. Technology is logical. Women like emotions. Great question and looking forward to seeing the answers

[Bugeyes]

my be cause we can have a chat and browse pRon at the same time

[losfp]

Think about it... DSLRUsers. Therefore, catering to users of Digital SLRs. SLRs are a bit of a tech toy, DSLRs even moreso.

On other sites that have more of an emphasis on images rather than the technology... (say, flickr for example) the ratio there is much more balanced.

On the flipside, my wife hangs out on a couple of sites... A scrapbooking site, and i-do.com.au which is all about weddings, pregnancies and babies. What do you reckon the ratio is like on those?

[Greg B]

I think that 5-10 years ago as the web became omnipresent, and there we came to see very
broad usage, chat rooms and forums and the like may have presented certain men with an
opportunity to behave badly towards women under the apparent cloak of anonimity. I suspect
that such behaviour was a disincentive for women to be as active in such communities as
they might otherwise have been.

When this forum started, there were no women for some time among our small number of
members, and as we lamented that situation, one member (with a male name etc) surprised
us all by saying that he was a woman! I reckon she was checking the place out and we passed
muster. Gary has always insisted on a civilized (although not sterile or humourless) environment
here, the mods support it and hopefully we have a place where everyone will feel comfortable.

We have had a number of women members, some quite active, and I hope that will continue.
A diverse member base will make for a much better forum than, for instance, having all anglo
saxon middle class males between 45 and 65 years old.

Otherwise, I agree with Glen that the technological side of photography will probably appeal
to more men more women.

[biggerry]

I assumed there was no female users here after there was no comments to this great line (no disrespect intended to OP)

I'll not say anymore but its really nice function to beginners and female users

[gstark]

I assumed there was no female users here

We actually have a number of them, and they are very bloody good photographers.

The fact that people don't necessarily notice them is, I think, a tribute to their skill.

[petermmc]

Maybe more males purchase dslrs than females. In my opinion, I have found men like gadgets more than females.

[aim54x]

Females seem to have more of a 'eye' for photography and i would agree with Mr Hogan (bythom.com) when he said that women that attended his workshops were much more orientated to actual picture taking rather than engaging comparatives in their gear. Taking this statement, it is not far fetched to say that a lot of the active posters are male (need to learn about the latest and greatest, put down the other camp and share the camera porn).

I apologise to anyone that I have offended in advance.

[mozzie]

so much to respond to ... so so much... ok starting up the top:

my be cause we can have a chat and browse pRon at the same time

-- ROFL --- i knew there was a perfectly valid reason!!!!

its interesting how the tech aspect keeps coming up - i have always been fascinated with the whole boy like tech more than girls do - while i guess its a very statistically well founded fact (just like girls tend to have longer hair than boys) i still wonder if thats so simply because its percieved as being meant to be that way - so because a person's a guy they are more inclined to be techy because thats just something that guys do ? I guess its the whole chicken and egg question

I will pay the

Women like emotions.

lets just say when we see a body we can see beyond just size shape and tech specs

We actually have a number of them, and they are very bloody good photographers. The fact that people don't necessarily notice them is, I think, a tribute to their skill.

--- a tad confused about that comment thought - not being noticed as female is a tribute to skill kind of is a contradition wudnt u say? why shud gender and quality of photography have any sort or ties ?


and finally

Maybe more males purchase dslrs than females.

--- hehehehe to take a very female line - its cause they are bigger than your average point and shoots - and being men ofcourse they assume size is all that matters =P

but in all this male female things ya so far i have found the forum to be full of totally awesome albeit male camrea nuts =D

[gstark]

We actually have a number of them, and they are very bloody good photographers. The fact that people don't necessarily notice them is, I think, a tribute to their skill.

--- a tad confused about that comment thought - not being noticed as female is a tribute to skill kind of is a contradition wudnt u say? why shud gender and quality of photography have any sort or ties ?

Think of that in terms of the observation you have made "that we have more male than female members". My point being that there have been posts made by people who are female, but you might not have noticed/recognised/observed that they were female.

Your inclination would therefore be to presume that they are male, and that presumption would be incorrect.

I hold that there there is no gender based difference in the skill levels, and that it is an individual thing only. There are females and males who are excellent photographers, and there are females and males (I'm in this bunch) who turn in crap.

For some reason, there seems to be more males than females involved in photography, and for some reason there seems to be more males than females involved in computing based activities (I see this professionally). The proportion of females to males on this forum comes as no surprise to me, given the prior two statements I just made.

[Bluebell]

It's an interesting topic and I suspect there are many reasons why men outnumber women on Forums.
I think one reason maybe that some women find the sometimes "robust" nature of discussion on forums somewhat intimidating.
I'm sure many female forum members would have noticed the comment linking beginners with female users, but like me, would rather let it go than challenge it.
For what it's worth, I don't think skill or talent for photography has anything to do with gender.

[petermmc]

Having looked at the responses and your comments on them, I think the question you should have asked is 'Why so few females?' instead of 'why so male?' Whatever we males write is going to be subject to close scrutiny even if we were asked for any comments. I don't think the males know why there are so many males. I just joined because it looked like a good forum. Gender didn't come into it and it doesn't now either. I think the inference of males like dslrs because they are bigger is just plain silly.

[Marvin]

 LOL I'm a female and I LOVE gadgets! They are my favourite thing ever and it annoys me when they get outdated. My hubby gets really annoyed at me spending money on gadgets and time on the internet. When we were first able to get broadband he said "Say goodbye to your mother kids".

[mozzie]

I think the inference of males like dslrs because they are bigger is just plain silly.

hahah yer i know - it was meant to be a cliched jibe - the whole boys and their toys kind of thing hehehe

[Matt. K]

We would attract more females if cameras came with frying pans built in. On the hand...you don't see many males on the ironing and house keeping forums. It all balances out in the end.

[mozzie]

i dont know extreme ironing i am sure would get guys all excited!!!!

[wendellt]

it's quite basic females would rather pick up a phone or have a conversation over coffe and creams under the sun rather than participate in a virtual conversation