Are there many women here?

[neilvan]

I could be wrong but this forum seems to be a bit of a sausage-fest, short of Darr I don't many other women posting here.

I only ask because women do make up half of the human population and I like to see their work and hear their opinions on what I share...

 

[pegelli]

I can remember a few more, but they haven't been very acive lately: Cindy Flood, Maggie O and chiquita come to mind.
Would indeed be nice to get a better balance to aid diversity of shots as well as comments.

 

[Godfrey]

Darr does lovely work .. I see her posts the most. I know she works with Hasselblad and a technical camera, at least.

G

 

[JoelM]

I would really like to see more from women photographers. I have noticed that they seem to view the world very differently from men with their photographs.
Joel

 

[Knorp]

So what could be the reasons for so few women here ?

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

So what could be the reasons for so few women here ?

1. Men love to discuss (and brag about) technical details which is half of what this forum is about. The female photographers I know are mostly interested in the image.
2. Men tend to buy more equipment on a continuous basis, believing that it will a) improve their photography skills and/or b) increase their manhood. Women mostly assume that a) is not true and b) doesn't apply to them.

 

[Knorp]

1. Men love to discuss (and brag about) technical details which is half of what this forum is about. The female photographers I know are mostly interested in the image.

I can partly agree with the first part. Technical details do interest me, but I'm not sure about the bragging, but hey ...
The second part puzzles me as that would count for men as well, speaking for myself that is.

2. Men tend to buy more equipment on a continuous basis, believing that it will a) improve their photography skills and/or b) increase their manhood. Women mostly assume that a) is not true and b) doesn't apply to them.

Again I partly agree. Statement A could be true for some of us and perhaps statement B as well. But B obviously doesn't apply the women ...

Still, are these 'reasons' the real facts women massively avoid this forum ?
And if so, what could we do to improve or should we accept that this place is not for women ?

Frankly, I'd rather hear from women themselves what their opinion is of this place and more so what they are looking for in a photography forum.

 

[Godfrey]

By and large, female participation on technical forums of all kinds has been observed to be only fractional compared to male participation.
And this is a technical forum at its heart. Female participation on social networks, on the other hand, seems to be on par or greater than male participation.

I suspect it has to do with fundamental differences between male and female psychology, but I'm no psychologist.

G

 

[jdphoto]

Sexist- "attitudes and behavior toward someone based on the person's gender"
Assuming gender from a screen name is probably as silly as an analog film topic in a forum named Digital Photography Institute .

 

[neilvan]

Sexist- "attitudes and behavior toward someone based on the person's gender"
Assuming gender from a screen name is probably as silly as an analog film topic in a forum named Digital Photography Institute .

I would like to hear, in your own words, how it's "sexist". Shortsighted maybe, but "sexist"?

Please elaborate...

 

[neilvan]

Frankly, I'd rather hear from women themselves what their opinion is of this place and more so what they are looking for in a photography forum.

That's what I was hoping for...

 

[Knorp]

That's what I was hoping for...

Mmm, I don't know - by just 'hoping' we won't get any further and probably never get an answer.
So we better should actively reach out to them. But how ?
Some kind of welcome questionnaire for first time vistors perhaps or a permanent location on the home page ?

 

[JeffK]

Until the original question was even asked, I hadn’t considered there might be an imbalance in gender types in the community. I even joked above about keeping our photogear purchases secret.

A bigger question to ask is “why would it be relevant?”

Someone’s experience or opinion doesn’t have more or less merit based on their gender choice.

If we’re sure there’s a disparity, what can we do to encourage diversity?

 

[jdphoto]

I'm curious of the data that confirms women mostly participate on social forums and not technical forums? What difference does it make if someone is male or female when discussing photography and why do you need to know that? It's an offensive display of superiority to assume women don't participate in technical forums because of fundamental differences in psychology.

 

[Shashin]

You will find greater diversity gives greater variation in responses, which enriches the community. Given this is simply a private forum, it might not matter.

Certainly, there is sexism at GetDPI--I will let you work out where and how. I know that this place can get a bit much for Darr.

However, the problem is not one of inclusion, but exclusion. This can simply not be a place that is welcoming to women. And yes, it is a psychological and social problem. When you have a bias in demographics, there is usually a reason--it is simply not random.

 

[Godfrey]

I'm curious of the data that confirms women mostly participate on social forums and not technical forums? What difference does it make if someone is male or female when discussing photography and why do you need to know that? It's an offensive display of superiority to assume women don't participate in technical forums because of fundamental differences in psychology.

It isn't an assumption and I don't make assumptions or inferences based upon it. It was industry data that was available to me during the years when I was a technical writer in the tech business and worked on projects that had to evaluate who was reading the documentation, who was discussing the things we were documenting on technical forums, and who was doing their discussions and research on social networking sites. We needed to know where the audience was and what the mix of that audience was so that we could provide documentation that addressed their needs.

Why the data indicate that this is so I do not know, but since it is well accepted that male and female psychology differs, I conjectured that it might have something to do with that. However, not being a psychologist, I don't know the truth of it—which is why I put in the disclaimer.

If you want to get haughty and consider my conjecture offensive, well, there's nothing I can do about that. I do participate in quite a few photographic discussion forums other than this one, and what I do find is that the ones which are less technically oriented—more concerned with the showing of photographs and discussion of same from an intention/aesthetic point of view—seem to have a greater level of participation by female photographers. I really, really enjoy those discussions, btw, far more than I do many of the so-called discussions on many of these more technically oriented forums.

G

 

[jdphoto]

The seemingly fraternal bias that comes from this opening thread is misleading because how does one know what gender someone is? The ambiguity of screen names and avatars is not what I would call empirical evidence of a male dominated forum. Whether that be the case or not, Someone's aptitude or capacity to participate in a photography forum should not be categorized by ones definition of social and cultural roles.

 

[Knorp]

C'mon guys (or LHBTIQAPC): you know the drill ...

 

[Shashin]

The seemingly fraternal bias that comes from this opening thread is misleading because how does one know what gender someone is? The ambiguity of screen names and avatars is not what I would call empirical evidence of a male dominated forum. Whether that be the case or not, Someone's aptitude or capacity to participate in a photography forum should not be categorized by ones definition of social and cultural roles.

There is very little ambiguity about the demographics of this forum. Even in this thread: not only do account name indicate men, so do signatures. There is even one image. No, we do not have to define ourselves by social or cultural roles, but because these roles exist shows these roles are not random either. It doe snot make it right, but neither is following these roles wrong. There is also psychology that biases behavior. While it is nice to think human beings are a kind of tabula rasa, a blank slate, the reality is we are highly predictable and our behaviors tend to conform.

Now, perhaps you feel there is no need to discuss whether GetDPI is a good place for different kinds of people. I think it is a good question. The hard part of this is a solution. There is certainly no gender parity here and I find that is our loss. I really appreciate contributions from photographers such as Darr.

 

[rayyan]

Maybe they find photography boring. This site more so!
They might have other things to.

In my experience, as a child and parent of medical doctors, i find the statement that women are not interested in technical details to be very
presumptuous.
While I, get lost, when my children are having discussions on medical topics within their respective specialities. Sometimes my daughter
gives a detailed explanation to my two doctor sons on pathology and the DNA bio pathology of proteins in bone marrow tissue.
Lenses I understand. But listening to them in civil but heated discussions....i quickly start reading easy topics...GetDPI.com!

Or again, my daughter in law who received her doctorate in Nuclear Medical Physics in Canada. Talking maths to her and oncology treatment
seems like watching Alien Contact again.

And all of them belong to more international forums than you could throw a stick at. Not mentioning all their female colleagues when they
meet for dinner at our house!

Want to know the intricate angular running, hiking, climbing differences between shoes? Ask Ayesha!
The technical discussions she has on forums related to her interests. And how about consumptions of protein as a ratio of body mass to elevation!

This forum has, in addition to the absence of women being members here ( doubt if they r using aliases ), most of world's ethnicity non existent or way under represented.

That surely doesn't mean that, for example, the Japanese are not interested in technical discussions!