Where are all the women audiophiles?

[Mart68]

Of course you do get sexism especially in male dominated profession like the motor trade. One female director who had a Porsche Carrera was nicknamed 'Penelope Pitstop.'

 

[ShadowBoxer]

Listening to music instead of playing with their gear?

 

[DVDdoug]

Several years ago a Google employee posted an internal memo/essay with his ideas about why there were few women in technology. He was fired! Google's Ideological Echo Chamber.

I remember on the news they were quoting him saying that women were more likely to be neurotic than men. I don't know what that has to do with the subject, but maybe it's just a difference between sexes. The reporters were "shocked" that he would say that but after seeing it reported several times I found it curious that they didn't bring-on a psychologist or psychiatrist to refute it. They were just assuming it was "obviously false" and sexist. So I did some quick online research and apparently it's true! From my "quick research" women are more likely to be neurotic BUT men or more likely to be psychotic. The normal curves for men have a higher standard deviation. That "research" also said that that men's intelligence also has a higher standard deviation so men are more likely to be morons or geniuses.

 

[respice finem]

Probably listening to music instead of trolling an audio forum.

This might be more true than we are willing to admit

 

[Deleted member 87496]

BTW do you know of any loudspeaker designed by a woman ?

Very interesting question. No I don't. But I don't know a whole bunch. Maybe someone else does? I suppose if there is no other response other than mine, than the answer would be "no."

I think every time I've heard of some legend, scientist or designer, in the acoustic/audiophile field (Sean Olive, Floyd Toole, Andrew Jones, John Curl, etc etc), they're always male. I believe Sean is a member here...maybe he'll chime in.

 

[Deleted member 87496]

We’ve been and done this discussion before but I’ll repeat myself,

Because it’s an inherently misogynistic hobby/pastime as clearly evidenced by the likes of Jana (videographer) or Joyce (Linsoul) and others who have expressed the vile comments they regularly receive

Women have generally got better things to worry about than pontificating over audio.

Wow, is it really, misogynistic? I'm new-ish to the hobby, but I haven't come across any blatant misogynistic comments yet. Can you fill me in on the people you mentioned? If there are in fact, objectively speaking, more worthwhile things to do than discussing audio stuff, maybe we should get wise and follow suit...lol. I kind of want to live wisely, being mortal and all...thanks for the comment.

 

[Deleted member 87496]

Please let's try not to turn this into the typical thread full of sexist tropes, jokes and generalisations.

Want to know why women don't participate here and in other forums, or heavily male biased communities, just look at the threads where women are discussed.

My view - any community is always better with diverse participation - for all forms of diversity. It broadens the mind, don't you know.

100 %. Women make up slightly more than half of humanity. I'm pretty sure that the medical field has changed drastically since women were allowed/encouraged to enter medical school and become physicians. I would guess the overall average "bedside manner" of doctors has significantly improved.

 

[Deleted member 87496]

There are a lot of talented female acousticians. But of course they don't have to be audiophiles.

Top 10 Women Reshaping the World of Sound

In honour of International Women's Day, we'd like to highlight 10 amazing women, who have left an indelible mark on the industry of sound.

www.rockfon.co.uk

Seven great female acousticians on Twitter - Acoustic Bulletin

In celebration of International Women's Day, we'd like to put the spotlight on a handful of all the fabulous female acousticians out there

www.acousticbulletin.com

Then we have women in pro audio:

Women in Pro Audio: Jenny Joo

In this Women in Pro Audio interview, meet Jenny Joo (Zhu Junlin), an inspiring sound engineer for Rightway Audio Consultants in China.

www.l-acoustics.com

The Five Percent: Profiles of Women in Audio - SoundGirls.org

The Five Percent Profiles of Women in Audio

soundgirls.org

Pro audio women and/or female audio engineers don't have to be audiophiles. If by audiophiles we mean having a hobby of fixing good home hifi sound.

But Melinda Murphy is an example of a female audiophile, though. She mostly concentrates on talking about her vinyl collection, but now and then she throws in some talk about hifi. She also goes to hifi fairs, so yes, she falls into the category of a female audiophile:
View attachment 480221View attachment 480222View attachment 480223

Melinda Murphy

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

www.youtube.com

Having said that, one tree, one Melinda, doesn't make a forest, but still.

This is great stuff, thanks for provide the links. A case of the exception proving the rule. I'm curious how Melinda sees this, and what her experience in a male-dominated hobby has been like. I would think respectful, but by comments above, I'm not sure about that.

 

[JeffS7444]

Maybe a side-effect of the societal norms ingrained in pretty much everyone from an early age? Compared with that of my sisters, my space is filled with more "gear" and far fewer creature comforts. I've got nothing against creature comforts, but I've tended not to prioritize them.

My sisters like listening to music, but are more likely to see a hifi system as being a whole lot of bother without enough upsides to make it an appealing proposition.

 

[Sir Sanders Zingmore]

If only there was a word for a when a bunch of blokes explain something on behalf of women ...

 

[DanielT]

Did not hear from her for 25 years then a couple of years back, totally out of the blue, she contacted me on Linked In. I gave her a call and after the usual preamble and catch-up, she hits me up for loudspeaker advice.

Roughly, the same thing happened to me. My ex-wife asked me, a year or so after the divorce when she was still single, what I had to say about the appropriate price for a pair of used Monitor Audio Silver 10:

....and whether I thought it was a good speaker.

Monitor Audio Silver 10 were not exactly budget speakers. Speakers with dual eight-inch bass drivers, so they weren't exactly small either, but she bought them in the end because she likes to listen to music and too small speakers have too little bass and I don't want a subwoofer, as she said.

Then the question is, when do you become an audiophile? Just because my ex-wife wants decent sound, did that make her an audiophile?
I don't think she spent a second thinking about hi-fi after that speaker purchase. It was kind of bought and done, all that was left was to listen to music.

 

[Deleted member 87496]

I assume they are listening to and enjoying music. My wife likes music, cares not one bit for any numbers or measurements or tech. What she cares about is hearing something in a well known recording that she never heard before, she cares about things sounding "like they are right there".

But I do appreciate the basic feminist question of, "what about the women?" so let me add just a touch more.

Not the well worn ground of the topic. No, shirt sizes.

If I want a dress shirt, there will be numbers for neck size and sleeve length, and likely 2-3 different cuts (tapered, straight). From the numbers I know how it will fit, no need to try anything on.

A woman's size 12? Darned near meaningless. Might be 10, or 14 in another brand.

So, I would say that one factor is that women are used to numbers NOT telling the story, men are used to numbers telling the story, in many every day life situations. This leads women to looking at sizes as a rough estimate, and what matters is how THIS garment fits THEM, not the size number.

Yeah, not a main factor, not a central one, but I wanted to offer something that likely has not been said in the umpteen other threads. And of course there ARE very quantitative oriented women out there. In my experience, they usually don't call attention to their knowledge. Which leads me to this: the proper question, in my mind, is not where are the women audiophiles. It's why don't women audiophiles participate in the audiophile community beyond very minimal numbers? To answer that, find the few that are public, and read some of the comments they get. Or just guess what those look like at times. "Not worth it" is likely the reason.

Thanks for your thoughts, very interesting. I think this disparity is found among mathematicians (e.g., only 2 women have won the Fields Prize), too. I know of popular conceptions of left brain/right brain distinctions and relation to gender. Left being analytical and associated with masculine, right being creative/emotional and associated with feminine. These are simplistic notions, for sure, and am not sure if neuroscience actually bears these out. I'd be curious to know what science's take on it is. We historically have considered men more logical and women more emotional, at least in my lifetime.

 

[Deleted member 87496]

Many women pursue technical careers only to leave due to the behavior of their male peers.

For almost all of recorded history, humans have lived under patriarchal rule, we’re barely a couple of decades away from when women were expected to have babies and cook meals for their men.
Give it time, my daughter is a genetic scientist working on cancer cures, so the tide is slowly turning. I believe we will see many more women become audiophiles in the near future and it’s up to their male counterparts to welcome them.

Thanks for sharing this. I guess I'm both surprised and not at the same time. It saddens me to learn that women scientists are discouraged by male peers. You have a daughter who would definitely know better than the rest of us who aren't in her position. Many thanks.

 

[Deleted member 87496]

I totally agree with you. It's a predominantly male environment with all that entails. An electric train for adults

So, if I understand you, it's about the electronic gear (electric trains) that is so alluring to audiophiles? It does seem men are more often gear heads than women, at least, in my experience.

 

[respice finem]

...I would guess the overall average "bedside manner" of doctors has significantly improved.

YMMV. There are some "women with balls" in this profession, and not really few. Helps to keep the men in check
Prior Art: Every hospital ward back in the day had a Matron = a "governing" nurse. Some still have them, without calling them so. Having one as your enemy was/is a very bad idea, even as a prof. I've personally seen a prof go, after the hospital director was forced to choose between the two.

 

[Deleted member 87496]

Back in the 1990s I had a girlfriend who did appreciate us having a quality hi-fi system although she had no interest in why it was good. Just that it was. She also had no objection to large, unfinished DIY speakers sat in the living room.

When we split up she got a turntable and speakers, and she asked me for an amp so I gave her a Kenwood receiver. She came back three months later to say 'I don't think this amp is good quality.' I realised at that point that I had created a monster.

Did not hear from her for 25 years then a couple of years back, totally out of the blue, she contacted me on Linked In. I gave her a call and after the usual preamble and catch-up, she hits me up for loudspeaker advice.

Haha, great story. Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 87496]

It's the same thing with photography; photography forums are packed with men talking about spec sheets and sensor features.
There are tons of women photographers, but they're only minimally interested in technicalities; they enjoy photography in its artistic sense.
In the same way, women enjoy music; they're not obsessed with speakers, dispersion diagrams, synads, sbirs.... They enjoy listening to the music they like, whatever it is.

Honestly, they're better than us at this; they give more importance to the important things.

This is precisely why we'd all benefit if women were more part of our community. We'd be nudged toward the most important things.

Sometimes I wonder if audio gear to us is like a pointing finger to a 6-month old infant...they look at your finger not the thing it's referencing in the distance. By 12 months, though, good news!, they are. I've been so guilty of this, I really do love the gear and poring over reviews and opinions about it.

 

[DanielT]

This is great stuff, thanks for provide the links. A case of the exception proving the rule. I'm curious how Melinda sees this, and what her experience in a male-dominated hobby has been like. I would think respectful, but by comments above, I'm not sure about that.

She sounds like any "ordinary" (male) audiophile. By that I mean that I don't think about the fact that she is a woman but about what she is actually saying.
In that video in #7, she thinks about what she would prefer at home: Magnepan 2.7i, which she liked the sound of at the hi-fi fair exhibition room :


.... or the MoFi Electronics SourcePoint 10 speakers she has now. She thinks that the Magnepan 2.7i needs bass support from a subwoofer, though.

 

[Multicore]

Wow, is it really, misogynistic? I'm new-ish to the hobby, but I haven't come across any blatant misogynistic comments yet.

It doesn't work like that. @Somafunk is right but there's no need for blatant misogynistic comments to sustain the culture and those are thankfully infrequent. It's simply that man-dominated spaces exist for historical reasons and women find it not worth the effort to join them so they continue to exist.

 

[Multicore]

These are simplistic notions, for sure, and am not sure if neuroscience actually bears these out. I'd be curious to know what science's take on it is.

There's a lot more variation within each sex then there is between them. My mother was an accomplished mathematician.