After the recent thread where a couple of female forum users said they were fed up and off (though happily they're back 
) before it all deteriorated into the usual slanging match, I was discussing the issue of women being put off forums by some of the male dominated aspects of them with a female friend. She's a roadie by background and a regular on a couple of more road biased forums. In the last 5 years or so, she's become a regular mtber too but hasn't really got involved on mtb forums. I suggested that she give STW a go on the back of the aforementioned thread to see what she thought:
She didn't want to post herself for reasons that probably will become clear below so she asked me to post her reply
I registered and started posting a couple of quite normal questions about bike mechanic issues rather than the non-bikey stuff. I did't mention being a girl. I got a few replies, most were pretty helpful and friendly enough. In that sense it's a really good forum.I also had a read of some of the things you mentioned and that was where I was maybe put off. There were two main things I really disliked and have put me off using the Singletrackworld forum for anything that's community like instead of just about bike mechanics.
The first thing was the constant arguing. The topic where the two girls said they were leaving was really something else!! I can see the problem they had though really for me, blokes will always say stupid sexist stuff (sorry, no offense!) and that happens in the real world and I can take it though it can be annoying. For me, it's easy to ignore those sexist people as they're clearly a bit stupid or insecure. The arguing though is just crazy. The people arguing on the girls leaving topic seemed to all be blokes and as far as I could understand it seemed to be more about who could shout the loudest, be nastiest and prove that they were cleverer or more right than anything really to do with sexism or trying to make the place more welcoming for girls. I did a bit of clicking through some of the worst people's history and found that they seem to do nothing other than argue on here! That's what really puts me off, far more than some stupid sexism. (and on the "back doors" thing, I've heard it IRL and always just thought it was crude but not intended to suggest rape!!)
Second, the "sexism" thing I really disliked was the people who as soon as it was clear that a woman was posting something, tried to show how equal ops they were. The overt predators I can live with as again they're just a bit stupid but I really dislike the smarmy ones who immediately try to get on side with you because you're a girl. To me, that just sounded creepy. Over the years, I think most girls have met blokes that are like that as they think it'll make you like them. Right up to the point where you make clear you're not interested and they swing completely the other way. Really creepy as I said. There seemed to be a lot of that going on on the girls leaving topic too.
I also asked a few others of the girls I ride with and they seemed to agree generally - sexism they can live with, especially if it's not the norm but they hate the male ego arguments.
I'll be on the forum from time to time but I can't really see myself using it to discuss non-bike stuff as I'm scared that I might say the wrong thing and be torn apart for it!
So, from her POV at least, it seems that it's the arguing that puts her (and at least some other women) off, not the sexism. Food for thought maybe.
