Are posters here HAPPIER having few men in SS Forums?

[Joel_BC]

Okay, well, good comments. Thanks. I feel better.

I won't give up. :/ Just yet, anyway.

 

[moolie]

I can't figure something out Joel. Not to be rude, or mean about it. But why is this a big concern?

Oh, because I'm puzzled. Maybe it's only a concern to me, but bear with me...

I mean - in my home, because both my wife and I now work completely from home, we share the cooking chore. She does maybe 60%, and I do maybe 40%. So I've posted a few times about preparing food. And these are on threads that women are having discussions in. And when I post, it seems to bring the thread to an end!

Well, we all kill threads here and there...

Another example... I post something with web links about re-purposing - which is something I know a lot of people here do - and I even post pictures of one of my own more ambitious projects along that line. And I get no responses. I mean, it would be great to see some of what other people (male or female) have done.

Some of us have busy days, and no photos handy, and when we do log on it doesn't immediately occur to us that we may have something to share in a particular thread. There are threads here that have been going on for years, because people keep adding to them as they find something to reply with. Give that one time--I'm sure it will grow legs

But another aspect, is that this SS site isn't fulfilling its potential as as place for SS info, if the "male arts" aren't represented here much. That's my opinion, granted. Because SS has to involve these things, too. Things like carpentry, small-engine mechanics, household electrical, plumbing, car/truck care, and all that. (I hesitate to call these "male arts", but you know what I mean... without being exclusive.) There are exceptions. For instance, I know and respect the fact that Marianne has posted a number of times about solar-energy stuff. And I know that Beekissed, for example, is interested in a lot of these sorts of things.

Well, Barred, you weren't rude to ask. And I hope I've made my attitude clear without offending anybody.

I'm female and I've: replaced the radiator in a 1983 Chevy S10 pickup, replaced the alternator in just about every vehicle we've ever owned (well, at least 3 or 4--we've had bad luck with alternators), plugged holes in car tires too many times to count, re-wired and re-plumbed large portions of our old house, hung and taped/mudded drywall, painted walls the equivalent of I don't know how many football fields, laid subfloors and flooring (vinyl, ceramic, laminate), installed doors (not the pre-hung kind), built all sorts of woodwork projects including a clock, installed kitchen cabinets and countertops--you name it, that's just off the top of my head.

I've had help or been my hubs' help-meet in some of those instances, but I have all the mad skills to do it all myself, and more should the need arise. I just don't bring it up much because it's really never occurred to me that any of that is unusual/beyond the everyday. It took us nearly 10 years to reno our old house and then we found we still didn't have enough room so we moved. Into a house that doesn't need any/much work (although we are working on some built-in bookcases in our basement family room and sundry other projects).

 

[Dawn419]

Add me to the "gender doesn't matter" list!

My mom & stepdad didn't raise my sisters and I to be girlie-girls. We grew up working in the garden (prepping the garden all the way up to canning the harvest), we helped with firewood as soon as we were old enough, if dad had a project going on whether it was carpentry or cars...we girls were involved.

Hubby is a member here (I talked him into joining) and he'd probably be logged in right now but I asked him to look into getting some things off the external hard-drive so he's sitting across the table from me cussing that he listened to my suggestion!

He works a weird schedule and doesn't have a lot of time for posting at the forum and leaves the better part of that to me, mainly because I have the time and take 99% of the pictures. He'll probably post more once we can start building our cabin.

At this point in our lives on our little homestead...after the our small clearing was accomplished with the help from family, doc_gonzo and I have continued on by ourselves. I enjoy posting about it and he's cool with that. He'll be the second one to tell you that I'm an excellent carpenter's helper (since I'm telling you first ) and he appreciates the fact that I am capable of doing projects by myself and if there's something that I need his help with, I let him know.

Getting back on track/topic...

I don't care, at all, how the gender ratio works out here!

 

[Theo]

I think we gain by having the perspective of both sexes, whether it is someone like my male coworker who sews clothes for his children, or one of my female coworkers who is a beekeeper (she's my age, 50 plus, and if she has a leaky roof, she climbs up there and fixes it). I -was- raised to be a girly girl, although I fought tooth and claw against it, so now, though I like making things, I can't drive a nail straight to save my life. My husband and I are equally inept when it comes to home repair, so we split that (I do more of the building; he does the gutters and climbs up on the roof because I have vertigo). The jobs we do together are the ones I like the best.

Hub isn't on here because, though he is frugal and so forth, talking about frugality with a bunch of strangers on the internet is a weird idea to him.

 

[CheerioLounge]

We, myself and my partner J, have done all the work involved in refurbishing our cabin. Everything from electrical and plumbing to framing out a bedroom addition which is still a work in progress. We will be doing all of the drywall and finishing work ourselves. The only thing we didn't do was pour the concrete for the foundation. I've built 2 chicken coops and a run from scrap and re-purposed/recycled materials. We do all of the maintenance and most of the repairs to our vehicles. J is a fashion designer/patternmaker by trade, but he has sewn and installed everything from awnings for major Waikiki hotels to canvas boat covers and cabin enclosures and can reupholster any piece of furniture or car seat. I, on the other hand, in my working life was always in an office atmosphere managing the operations of large customer service call centers. My DIY skills were learned mostly in the last 5 or 6 years. My real interest now, and my motivation for joining SS forum, is to spend as little money as possible on food. I want to grow my own vegetables (as much as is possible in this desert climate) and raise livestock for food. I have plans for expanding my small flock of layers and adding a flock of meaties. I also want goats for milk/meat and eventually pigs. BarredBuff and PinkFox have me seriously considering rabbits as well. I also really love to cook and bake and want to learn canning and other preservation methods.

So, while I may not post in the threads about tools or the "male arts", I do read every post and truly appreciate the information. These threads are just not where my main interests take me.

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

Personally I don't really care what gender the person posting is... I tend to picture the person 'talking' in my brain, but I've been very wrong in some of my male/female assumptions so I try not to do that often

I'm female... I re-plumbed my house, installed new windows, hung drywall, put in new electrical circuits, etc... but I guess I don't really consider things like that part of my journey for self sufficiency (but really I should). I think I agree with barredbuff, it just seems like a more secondary skill that helps with the primary goal of becoming more self sufficient overall.

I think I come here more to learn about new ways to produce my own food, or raising different animals, etc. but I really should be reading more about the tools and such... mostly I lurk and just read messages anyway because I just don't feel I know enough to contribute that often.

Yup...done the same thing here, many a time. Not intentionally though. About guessing wrong gender on posters.

Anyway, I like to read about others ideas, others experiences..male and female. I was both the "mom & dad" for 15 years as a navy wife...had to learn to do it myself. sure didn't have access to any disposable income to pay people to do things.

Not only am I a professional seamstress, I also have power tools and know how to use them. I have my girlie stuff, and my tomboy stuff. I live the life of a tomboy for the most part anymore. Being out here in BFE SC, I have not many opportunities to wear my Jones New York and Donna Karans. Oh well. I love my SS life here with my SO. And our 1 acre with chickens. It's all good.

 

[Buster]

I belong to a simple living forum. And that is very similar to SS in mindset. You see a lot of the same sorts of topics discussed. There is not quite an even number of male/female members or posts (slightly more women), but it is very very close. So, I would submit the subject of the forum has little if anything to do with it. Just something about the place or tone of conversation, maybe. It's not something I can put a finger on. A forum is who participates in it.

I remember conversations like this on a Mary Hunt financial forum. She is a lot like Dave Ramsey. There were a lot of women and few men on the Hunt forum. I then discovered Ramsey and visited his site, where I would say the majority are men. Same subject, almost an identical approach to money and debt, but a complete flip on gender.

 

[ar15bob]

Im new to the forum my wife have been prepping for about five years,we raise chickens, rabbits, garden,get our hands dirty together,there is almost nothing we wont tackle,when the shummer hits the fan we sure better be willing to become knowledgeable,we get the same weird looks from people when we tell them they better start prepping, we wear our tin foil hats proudly.I look forward to the information we will recieve from this forum, and will be willing to share what we have learned also

 

[Denim Deb]

 

[sunsaver]

When i first joined ss forum, i was surprised by the warm welcome that i recieved. I thought, 'wow, these are the nicest guys ive ever chatted with!" They don't go trolling for an argument. They don't assume that i'm a "liberal" just because i have solar panels and care about the environment, and they don't try to disprove every theory or scientific idea that i come up with. Then i realized that most of the people on here are women. Gee, all this time i thought i was not very good at talking to women. Turns out they are often are more understanding, better listeners, and more enterntaining writers than most of the men that i have encountered on other forums, especially on tech forums. Tech forums often seem to be dominated by nerds who have an inherent lack of self confidence and a need to be in control. They probably have very little control in their own life, and so feel a need to be "king of the furum". I have lots of guy friends in the real world who are prepping, growing food, learning to repair farm equipment, stocking food and weapons, saving up for solar and wind power, and other traditional "male" sorts of SS activities. Most of us own our own businesses or are retired, and feel that we are in control of our own finances, security, fate, etc. I'm the only male in my social group who has any interest in chatting online. Maybe it's because i don't get out very often. I have no problem with blurring the lines between traditional roles. I know women who work on cars, watch football, drink beer, etc. I myself am an excellent cook, know how to sew, and love to grow, pick and arrange flowers. I judge people by the content of what they write online, not by their gender or ethnicity. As far as how to attract more males to this forum, i don't know how, nor do i think it particulary matters. Posting more technical or mechanical questions might attract more guys, likeable or not. If you want more guy talk, there are always plenty of male dominated forums out there. SS forum is what it is. I like it just fine. cool: