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Men vs women cp growers?

Hi:

I can't help but notice that it seems like it is all men here except for a very few women. Are carnivorous plantsl more appealing to men than women for some odd reason?

I always prefer unusual plants and enjoy experimenting with different varieties. I'd love to hear from some women who love these plants!

Men: Don't get a complex! I'm just really curious about this apparent difference.
 
Moved to general forum.
 
Regular plants just seem kind of boring compared to the ones that move and eat bugs and stuff like that. I've always liked growing plants though, I just kept getting bored with the usual houseplant.

~Kyle~
 
My experience just leads me to believe that men are more likely to participate in forums and typically are more obsessive when it comes to topics. So you just have a disproportional amount of men posting compared to women.

I'm sure PFT could simply just look at their buying records and find out whether men or women are purchasing more plants.
 
Maybe my perception is wrong, but it seems like, with the exception of crafts that are more traditionally female-oriented (e.g. -- quilting), that all the serious hobbiests I know are male.

Amateur astronomy -- almost exclusively male.  The few women are mostly SOs of the men.

Homebrewing -- almost exclusively men.  Most women are there to drink.  I know of one, maybe two, women who actually brew on a regular basis. (and at least one is a lesbian, with a more typically male personality)

Carnivorous plants/orchids -- again, among the very serious, heavily dominated by men.

Beer-making could be argued to be a "guy" thing, but astronomy and (especially) CPs and orchids, I see absolutely no reason that hobby should be dominated by men; there's nothing in it to me that screams "it's a guy thing".

Most women I know are married, with kids.  Very few of them have serious hobbies.  They spend their evening and weekend hours doing kid stuff.

The men I know who are married with kids, rather than doing "kid stuff" occupy themselves with their hobby, and try to get the children interested in what they do.

Am I off base on this, or does it sound about right?
 
i guess because if a man has to grow plants, cp's are the most manly choice.
 
Scott i think you may be right, men just go all out on projects/hobbies more often then women.
 
I think the disparity here has a lot to do with the proportion of men that spend their recreational time online vs. women. Far more of my female friends are interested in my plant collection than my male friends, whether I mention CPs or not - even the horticulture majors. I think there is a pretty large amount of women growing CPs; if this were a forum for videogames, cars, or computer programming I think we'd see far less women than we do, even though those are fields with plenty of women in them (although probably not 50/50.) Many of the internet communities I frequent have been almost exclusively male - even those that don't revolve around "guy things." The only things I've seen online with higher concentrations of women users are general gardening resources, parenting forums, and, believe it or not, Star Trek games (please don't make me explain my shameful affair with Trek MU*s.) I think TF has a fairly even distribution by those standards.
~Joe
 
We like making stuff die. CPs help us do that legally.
smile.gif


Truthfully, i think we can handle the ewww ness of plants that eat bugs easier, and we find it more interesting. I don't mean to be sexist, but every girl who has seen my cp's with prey has been ewwed out.
 
  • #10
No offense,but I think those girls are kinda wimpy then.I don't think there's anything gross about it at all. I'm sure those girls eat meat(unless they're vegetarian)and they're not going ewww everytime they take a bite out of that cow or pig.~Niki~
smile.gif
 
  • #11
Greetings,

It seems that a lot of people interested in CPs are young guys. I'm sure there are a quite a few women growers plus some older guys also.


Brian
 
  • #12
I think it might be the collecting side of things. Men seem to like collecting, whereas women I think in general like the plants but have just one or two.

Maybe we like to collect to show off, show dominance or attract a female (or maybe I'm thinking of animals)
smile_n_32.gif
 
  • #13
Cockatielmother....I brought up this same topic several years ago when I noticed the rather large disparity between the sexes here and at other CP related forums and websites.

I know there are lots of male gardeners but I think in general enjoying plants seems to be thought of as a female thing. Maybe the thought of a plant killing bugs makes growing these kinds of plants more appealing to men...its not as "sissy" as raising petunias or roses. Of course I don't seeing loving plants as being a male/female thing. Its just something anyone of either sex can enjoy.

But I've always wondered why there weren't more women around.
 
  • #14
Years ago, this topic came up on Omnisterra listserver (or its predecessor). At that time, there were almost no females who posted. Gradually, over the years, more and more females have both taken to growing CPs and taken to posting their experiences on the forums.

Rather than looking at where we are currently, I like the notion that the growth in women CP growers is expanding at a healthy rate.

Also - as an observation - the growth in these forums (Terra & CPUK) may somehow help this. While the postings on Omnisterra have added some females (a few), the 'forums' may somehow provide a more receptive venue for participation because the participation here has a significant number of women/girls....
 
  • #15
I think a lot has to do with the boys being unconsciously steered toward science things as well as what would be considered "gross". In contrast, there is a tendency for girls to be steered toward more gentile hobbies and interests. For the gals who don't fit the stereotypes too well and are naturally gifted in science and have the propensity to be "tomboys", this hobby and the like will attract more of them. Notice I used general termnology. We are all different. Not all the guys are sadists and not all the gals are "boys in girl's bodies".
 
  • #16
I also think that there are plenty of women on the forums, but they lurk more than post. Some of the topics are more male-oriented (no offense to anyone) so I simply don't bother responding. For instance, I happen to be a true-blue video gamer, but would rather discuss that on a video game forum instead of this one. Or, if I see topics about why guys should or shouldn't leave the toilet seat up, I'd rather duke it out in person
smile_n_32.gif
 
  • #17
[b said:
Quote[/b] (wickedthistle @ July 07 2005,7:15)]I also think that there are plenty of women on the forums, but they lurk more than post. Some of the topics are more male-oriented (no offense to anyone) so I simply don't bother responding. For instance, I happen to be a true-blue video gamer, but would rather discuss that on a video game forum instead of this one. Or, if I see topics about why guys should or shouldn't leave the toilet seat up, I'd rather duke it out in person
smile_n_32.gif
Put yer dukes up, girl! Dem's fightin' woids!

Toilet seat topic
 
  • #18
Ooooh, not likely that you're going to fly all the way over here to duke it out. Tell ya what, first one to have a sandersonii 'blue' flower wins the fight! LOL
 
  • #19
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Brian_W @ July 07 2005,2:59)].... plus some older guys also.
I'm not old! My packaging has just been slightly rumpled by years of use!
 
  • #20
Oh my wickedthistle... tee he...low blow
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Tell ya what, first one to have a sandersonii 'blue' flower wins the fight! LOL
Anxiously awaiting a comeback from the opposition.

Hey cockatielmother... I'm a wimpy girl and I love CPs. I must admit that I recently went exploring in and around a quaking bog/small lake/coniferous woodland and I most certainly won't be doing that again any time soon.  I'll leave exploration to those more qualified (and more agile) than me. I was beyond freaked out when my leg got sucked down to above my knee and I lost a sandal and then the tree I grabbed on to in desperation leaned under my weight. What a horrible feeling that I have no desire to experience again. I was just mentioning this to Brooks and he knew exactly what I was describing but he didn't chastize or condemn me in favor of suggesting I not go out alone next time. Bottom line, I don't care how many S. purpurea are back there any longer as I can live vicariously through photos of people who visit these types of areas and share. Nope, quaking bogs are not for this CP loving wimp unless there is a boardwalk. Think I better stick to growing CPs, germinating seed, and viewing photos of these ecosystems taken by others.

Yes, there does exist a disproportionately high number of males in this hobby/obsession however I've not seen any gender cliques manifested since joining. If anything, I feel as comfortable here as I do going out to breakfast and yakking with my girlfriends once a week. Seems to me as if all the members here are gender blind and I really like that. Perhaps stereotyping is at the root of the imbalance. Maybe some women feel this is one big male bonding session. Another thought, I am an unapologetic carnivore and find absolutely nothing unnatural about plants eating “meat” given the nutrient deficient environments in which they evolved however I do have a few female friends who raised their eyebrows when I showed them my babies as if girls aren't supposed to want to grow plants like that. Who knows, maybe plants that eat “meat” make some women uncomfortable. Their loss.

Personally, I love flora and fauna that is indigenous to the United States and that would include many temperate CPs so learning how to care for them was a natural progression. I also love volunteering with kids and have found that they really get excited about flora that eats fauna as opposed to vice versa. Hand a child a pot of daisies and all the boys are immediately turned off. Hand them a sundew to take home and care for and by gosh by golly you’ve got the attention of both the boys and girls. What a wonderful way to turn kids on to one facet of the sciences while exposing them to conservation. Think about it, if you share your love for carnivorous plants as well as your love for the natural communities in which they occur, you are priming children to be receptive to the very complex environmental issues they will confront as they mature.  I've found that when I'm at work, I can stop in and peek at what's going on over here when there is a lull in activity which is a better stress breaker than hanging out at the water fountain exchanging pleasantries. I've also found that when I'm at home I can multitask by overseeing homework at the kitchen table as well as scrubbing a toilet here and there while doing a load of laundry while fiddling with my CPs and popping in at Terra. When I take the kids to swimming lessons and soccer practices... I can while away the hours waiting for them at Terra on line from a wireless laptop. Sure beats hanging out with Moms whining about their husbands/kids and swapping coupons. I may be a wimp but I'm not a fru fru female and I totally enjoy this hobby.
 
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