any women here??

[bobenns]

Now this is really getting more and more interesting... but a bit scary, too.

because women seeking similar things may tend to look for it by different means, emancipation/liberation etc. that are typically anti-male oriented.

And I think perhaps many more men than women admire him for his unique personal honesty and staying true to his beliefs and ...

Do you guys know any women at all?
"anti-male oriented" things to find ourselves?
Less women admire personal honesty and truth?
Where do you live?

If you want to go looking for something to take out of context, please just help yourself to any sentence fragment.

If you don't think you understand the meaning of something someone has posted then please ask what is intended.

Nothing I have posted has been meant to apply broadly to ALL WOMEN.

THE COMMENT ORIGINALLY MADE WAS AN OBSERVATION THAT MORE MEN THAN WOMEN ARE MEMBERS OF THIS SITE.
We, some of us are trying to discuss various possibilities of why that is indeed the fact.
Perhaps CM is a role model to more men than women?

So why does this web site have more male members than female? Don't take it personally.

[bobenns]

Well, I was intending to stay gender-neutral on this site, but this chat is just too juicy to refrain from. You go, GONORTH girl!--and I'll admit I hadn't guessed your gender from reading your earlier posts. Had my fellow forum readers guessed mine? Perhaps not, since I haven't espoused a passion for shopping malls, high heels, tough guys, Sugar Daddies, and all the other stereotypical attractions that you big tough outdoorsmen seem to think are What Women Want. And, OMG, I don't hold maternal feelings toward Chris, nor a fantasy sexual attraction to the image of the man he was. Yes, Virginia, even (some) women can relate to a free spirit, a traveler, a PERSON who walks "the road not taken" (thanks, RF). Not all of us are as shallow--or as dependent on men--as some of you seem to think. Hell, maybe this forum isn't as exclusively male as you may think, either. For reasons of our own, sometimes we women like to leave gender out of the discussion--it tends to level out the playing field. My age, educational/relationship status, location, FB page? Sorry, guys, that's my business, at least for now.

Stilltrekker

Again, lets try to keep an open mind here. Nobody on this site is typical or stereotypical, male or female.
This isn't about men vs women.

Anybody care to speculate on why more men than women have joined this site?

Perhaps a straw poll. How many have read and been drawn by "The Call Of The Wild" more men than women perhaps.
Perhaps more men feel they are like Chris than women do?

My ex who often claims to hate me has often said that if she had to be stuck on a desert island with someone she would choose me simply because I am more resourceful and a better survivor than anyone she knows. Is that a male thing? I do it out of a need to provide. I get satisfaction out of providing and helping others. Does that make me a sexist and a bad person? I don't think so, my kids and grand kids all love me and love to be around me. We do things together, we have adventures, we go camping and exploring this big wonderful world together. Life is an adventure. Not a Mall. Malls are for the common, shallow, materialistic sheep. The fodder of corporations. The brainwashed masses.

Perhaps more advertising and marketing of material goods and values is directed at women? These are open questions.

[GoNorth]

Well, I was intending to stay gender-neutral on this site, but this chat is just too juicy to refrain from. You go, GONORTH girl!--and I'll admit I hadn't guessed your gender from reading your earlier posts. Had my fellow forum readers guessed mine? Perhaps not, since I haven't espoused a passion for shopping malls, high heels, tough guys, Sugar Daddies, and all the other stereotypical attractions that you big tough outdoorsmen seem to think are What Women Want. And, OMG, I don't hold maternal feelings toward Chris, nor a fantasy sexual attraction to the image of the man he was. Yes, Virginia, even (some) women can relate to a free spirit, a traveler, a PERSON who walks "the road not taken" (thanks, RF). Not all of us are as shallow--or as dependent on men--as some of you seem to think. Hell, maybe this forum isn't as exclusively male as you may think, either. For reasons of our own, sometimes we women like to leave gender out of the discussion--it tends to level out the playing field. My age, educational/relationship status, location, FB page? Sorry, guys, that's my business, at least for now.

Great post, Stilltrekker, I fully agree with you.
I would not have guessed your gender either, but honestly, I had not even thought about it before.

[GoNorth]

If you want to go looking for something to take out of context, please just help yourself to any sentence fragment.

If you don't think you understand the meaning of something someone has posted then please ask what is intended.

Nothing I have posted has been meant to apply broadly to ALL WOMEN.

Hey, cool down! I didn't mean to attack you, my post was partly ironic (see smilies) and just an answer to some prejudices which seemed quite strange to me. Of course, no one ever wrote about "all" women (nor "all" men).

THE COMMENT ORIGINALLY MADE WAS AN OBSERVATION THAT MORE MEN THAN WOMEN ARE MEMBERS OF THIS SITE.

Right, that was the initial question.

We, some of us are trying to discuss various possibilities of why that is indeed the fact.

And that's what we're still doing.

[GoNorth]

Anybody care to speculate on why more men than women have joined this site?

Well, first of all, it seems that finally there are more women here than first expected - even though probably still less than men.

Perhaps more men feel they are like Chris than women do?

Maybe. And IF this is true: There might be a simple explanantion: perhaps because Chris was a man himself?
But if you really want to find out exactly why more men than women (or more young than old or more American than other people and so on) write on this forum, you have to take into consideration a lot of other things, such as: who tends more to write about these things in an internet forum and why?

Perhaps more advertising and marketing of material goods and values is directed at women?

I really don't think so. I mean, I rarely pay attention to advertising, but from the things I perceive from time to time, it seems to me that these things are directed to both genders.

The difference lies in the degree to which we let these things influence our personal development.

All in all, it's a very complex thing. But the discussion is quite interesting.

[bobenns]

I'm glad that more women are present than was originally suspected. I tend to prefer balance in most things.

It would be interesting to know if there is a difference in the % of men or women that prefer an alternative lifestyle, alternative to the mainstream commercial lifestyle.

Some years ago I belonged to a community food Co-op in Vancouver. It was pretty neat. Members were mostly Hippie types, artists, musicians, laid back folk. To be a member you joined as a house, everyone in your house put in a number of hours every month or so of volunteer work. There were very many members and it worked quite well. We bought all our food through the co-op at amazing low wholesale prices. I lived in a co-op house at the time where everyone shared responsibility for cooking, cleaning etc. We ate very well for very little. It was definitely an alternative to the mainstream. I've never seen one quite like it and I understand it still exists now decades later. There was about as many women as men in the co-op. Lots of singles and couples, some families, some kids.

[chipette]

Oh yes there are ! The reason a lot of women don't become wilderness gypsies is a safety issue' sad but true, not because they don't want to and believe it or not we don't all want to understand men.

[GoNorth]

The reason a lot of women don't become wilderness gypsies is a safety issue' sad but true,

Exactly!

[stilltrekker]

It would be interesting to know if there is a difference in the % of men or women that prefer an alternative lifestyle, alternative to the mainstream commercial lifestyle.

Now that, I think, is an interesting question to pose. Of course, we have to start with the definition of "alternative lifestyle". . . groups that come to my mind (for folks possibly still alive) are the beat generation, 60's hippies/Woodstockers, those living in communal farms & households such as Bob described, artists/craftspeople, writers/poets/musicians, expats and wanderers, 2nd generation hippies, Deadheads/Phishheads/jamband groupies, environmentalists, organic gardeners, vegetarians/vegans. . .and many more that haven't yet come to mind. . . I'd hazard to say that, overall, it's pretty equally balanced M/F, but some sub-groups might be more heavily male-dominated (expats, for example) while others might be more female (such as those devoted to home births and breast-feeding). I often think back to our original roles--I mean ALL the way back, to earliest mankind--and envision First Woman tending the fire while she nurses the baby and chews the mammoth hide to cure it while First Man ventures forth in the hunt. There are some basic biological differences between male and female, but modern life has leveled out many of the possible psychological differences. Take this forum as a perfect example; until "revealing" ourselves, who would even know which of us is male and which female?

[stilltrekker]

Kind of ironic that this turned into a bit of a cat fight...

You can add me to the list of women here. First-time posting, too. *friendly wave*

Welcome, lauriejennifer!!!