Are Youtube reviews of audio gear only allowed to be presented by dudes?

[Artsfols]

How come women are not into audio like men are?
How come women are not into mountain biking like men are?
How come women are not into street racing as much as men are?
How come women are not exactly like men?

It's not biology, exactly.

There's an aura of 'nerd culture' around some aspects of audio, computer science and other disciplines that tends to make them uninviting to women, especially in high school. The good news is that more and more women are self-identifying as nerds and making the leap into technical minutiae. What we do need is to see more representation of women within nerd culture - TV shows like Big Bang Theory tend to present only men as nerds. At least, I understand that is the case; I don't watch the show. This tendency to only depict men as nerds is very wrong, I feel.

 

[Mnyb]

I think the typical subjectivist audiophile is the problem they scare away most men and probably all women from this hobby we will see more girls if this hobby becomes more sane and not about about 1000$ power cables .

 

[Digby]

It's not biology, exactly.

There's an aura of 'nerd culture' around some aspects of audio, computer science and other disciplines that tends to make them uninviting to women, especially in high school. The good news is that more and more women are self-identifying as nerds and making the leap into technical minutiae.

I don't understand, why should women need to feel invited to be nerds? They either are or aren't nerds and most nerdy boys at school would accept a nerdy girl, presuming they proved their nerd credentials and didn't expect fawning over just because they were a girl (they want more typical boys for that kind of thing, presuming they are pretty enough). By the way, why should the nerds be the ones to break down their group and its particular initiation rites? Maybe fashionable, pretty girls could make things more inviting for nerdy boys by talking about fashion, shoes and who's dating whom less and computers and comic books more....this when pigs start to fly!

By the way, I don't think anybody can just self-identify as 'x' thing as such. Nerds don't become nerds, they are born nerds - it is others, within a group and without, that will typically do the identifying. The way people speak, act, think is not a purely learned act; of course, nerds often obsessive knowledge about a particular topic is learned, but the drive to do so is not - your typical jock for some reason isn't interested in these unusual subjects, why? Genetics! (and if the, very, odd jock is interested, he doesn't ruin his social capital by admitting his love of unusual hobbies publicly. A nerd finds it hard to comprehend the idea of social capital, let alone conceive of preserving what little he may have, a jock has no such problem in both conceiving of and trying to maintain or increase his social capital/position in the pecking order).

For what is worth nerds are probably often what we would now consider autistic or at least having autistic like traits. It is no surprise that autism occurs in men something like 3 times that rate of men than women, although I wager the ratio of male to female among nerds is more like 15 or even 30 to 1 (ever been to a record or computer convention?), so I imagine there is more to it just autism alone.

 

[Anthony101]

In my opinion, the whole thing is a fraud; the success of the audiophile wire industry is based entirely on utter ignorance of the market. Never have so many been confused and misled by so few.

 

[Artsfols]

I don't understand, why should women need to feel invited to be nerds? They either are or aren't nerds and most nerdy boys at school would accept a nerdy girl, presuming they proved their nerd credentials and didn't expect fawning over just because they were a girl (they want more typical boys for that kind of thing, presuming they are pretty enough). By the way, why should the nerds be the ones to break down their group and its particular initiation rites? Maybe fashionable, pretty girls could make things more inviting for nerdy boys by talking about fashion, shoes and who's dating whom less and computers and comic books more....this when pigs start to fly!

By the way, I don't think anybody can just self-identify as 'x' thing as such. Nerds don't become nerds, they are born nerds - it is others, within a group and without, that will typically do the identifying. The way people speak, act, think is not a purely learned act; of course, nerds often obsessive knowledge about a particular topic is learned, but the drive to do so is not - your typical jock for some reason isn't interested in these unusual subjects, why? Genetics! (and if the, very, odd jock is interested, he doesn't ruin his social capital by admitting his love of unusual hobbies publicly. A nerd finds it hard to comprehend the idea of social capital, let alone conceive of preserving what little he may have, a jock has no such problem in both conceiving of and trying to maintain or increase his social capital/position in the pecking order).

For what is worth nerds are probably often what we would now consider autistic or at least having autistic like traits. It is no surprise that autism occurs in men something like 3 times that rate of men than women, although I wager the ratio of male to female among nerds is more like 15 or even 30 to 1 (ever been to a record or computer convention?), so I imagine there is more to it just autism alone.

Let's break this down, and leave autism out of the discussion as it only complicates the view. In your commentary "nerds don't become nerds, they are born nerds". If you believe that, then no doubt you'd agree with me that either boys or girls may have a propensity toward identifying with various kinds of 'nerd' activities.
So my comment is that some boys and even more girls do not want to be seen as 'nerds' for one reason or another, even though they have technical ability and an affinity for technical work. This has a lot to do with how nerds are stereotyped in popular culture, IMO. The impact of this is even more unfortunate for girls than for boys, because it can affect career outcomes. When my kids were in high school, girls with ability were reluctant to embrace computer programming and math-oriented programs, although the same kind of negative aura wasn't attached to Engineering. The result is that the ratio of women in the Computer Science program I attended in the 1970s, around 30-40% I believe, hasn't increased. There are far more female engineers however. I think there were only one or two out of several thousand students back in my day.

Just an afterthought, but aside from negative stereotyping around 'nerd-ism' we're also encountering growing anti-intellectualism and anti-intelligence. I mention it only because it is rooted in similar tendencies of the tribe; if you can't run with the best, then the other option is to drag them down to your level.

 

[q3cpma]

Let's break this down, and leave autism out of the discussion as it only complicates the view. In your commentary "nerds don't become nerds, they are born nerds". If you believe that, then no doubt you'd agree with me that either boys or girls may have a propensity toward identifying with various kinds of 'nerd' activities.
So my comment is that some boys and even more girls do not want to be seen as 'nerds' for one reason or another, even though they have technical ability and an affinity for technical work. This has a lot to do with how nerds are stereotyped in popular culture, IMO. The impact of this is even more unfortunate for girls than for boys, because it can affect career outcomes. When my kids were in high school, girls with ability were reluctant to embrace computer programming and math-oriented programs, although the same kind of negative aura wasn't attached to Engineering. The result is that the ratio of women in the Computer Science program I attended in the 1970s, around 30-40% I believe, hasn't increased. There are far more female engineers however. I think there were only one or two out of several thousand students back in my day.

Just an afterthought, but aside from negative stereotyping around 'nerd-ism' we're also encountering growing anti-intellectualism and anti-intelligence. I mention it only because it is rooted in similar tendencies of the tribe; if you can't run with the best, then the other option is to drag them down to your level.

So much wishful thinking. Apply Occam's razor, and instead of inventing imaginary reasons, suppose that there are indeed differences between men and women.

PS from someone deep inside what remains of the hacker movement: no women here, and certainly not because they're somehow rejected, the whole thing is anonymous in nature.

 

[danadam]

PS from someone deep inside what remains of the hacker movement: no women here, and certainly not because they're somehow rejected, the whole thing is anonymous in nature.

Er... So how do you know that there are no women there?

 

[q3cpma]

Er... So how do you know that there are no women there?

Good question. It is anonymous in nature, as in "you can be anonymous if you want to", but it is rarely done: people often use their real name where they think it won't matter, because they just don't care.
Or people simply discuss these matters on anonymous imageboards or other depths of the internet.

 

[Anthony101]

I am listening to Karen Souza that has a voice that can make any song sound like an intimate confession. My cd play has budget RCA interconnects, and the music sounds crisp and clean, with a punchy sense of dynamism that's a joy to listen to.

 

[Artsfols]

So much wishful thinking. Apply Occam's razor, and instead of inventing imaginary reasons, suppose that there are indeed differences between men and women.

PS from someone deep inside what remains of the hacker movement: no women here, and certainly not because they're somehow rejected, the whole thing is anonymous in nature.

Of course there are biological differences. That's obvious.

But there are also many problems with the received wisdom as to what comes from biology and what is the result of cultural conditioning. For one thing, cultural, and especially religious views, tend to think in binary terms, male and female, and cluster attributes completely around those two nodes, when nature indicates a much wider range of possibilities.

It would be interesting to know what you object to in particular. You know, quote something that you think is incorrect in what I've said, instead of conveniently straw-manning phantom targets.

 

[MattHooper]

"Old woman!"

Man!

"Man, sorry..."

 

[Anthony101]

Don't be sorry; I am an old man, 53 years old, to be precise.

 

[Anthony101]

Like I said before, expensive cables are a rip-off; I have changed to the cheaper version of RCA cables, the red and white ones. The music still sounds full-bodied, warm and expressive, but it is hard not to be distracted by the enormous; talent of Lola Astanova

 

[TLEDDY]

Like I said before, expensive cables are a rip-off; I have changed to the cheaper version of RCA cables, the red and white ones. The music still sounds full-bodied, warm and expressive, but it is hard not to be distracted by the enormous; talent of Lola Astanova

I think her talents are obvious; certainly not a bust...