Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

[GilmourD]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

I guess in the end you can't necessarily do anything to make someone interested in guitar. The best you can do is hope that you don't do something that might discourage someone with the beginning of an interest from taking it up.

That's a much better way of saying what I've been trying to say. LOL

Sent from my Moto X 2014 using Tapatalk

[Myaccount876]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

Yes, but one must also realize that we guitarists are a very tiny fraction of the population and we also tend to congregate with each other, so it seems to us that a lot more men play than really do. I honestly don't know a whole lot of guitarists outside of forums, and of those I know in person, some of them are women.

I think it's along the lines of boys not liking Barbie dolls because they're for girls. Honestly, when I was a kid, I played with my friend Melissa's Barbies. Not a single f@#% was given by me, but I realize I'm weird. I also live in the uncommon situation where my wife is the primary wage-earner, mainly because she has two masters degrees that earn her more money while I'm an uneducated doofus so I work for the self storage industry. If my wife were to make enough money I would absolutely be a stay at home dad. Now, how is that looked at by society? I'm sure some people in this thread would give me **** for it, because it's not what guys do, and no guys are interested in it, and my belief is that it's PARTLY (not entirely, as some people think I'm saying) because of what society tells people of gender roles.

As much as I have career ambitions, I would totally take the position of a stay-at-home dad down the road (if I get there). Once the kids are old enough to go to school, it's time home alone to crank the amps (assuming all house chores are done). Also, if I have kids, I would want to be involved with them; have a relationship with them from the start - but remain a parent and mentor rather than their best friend. It took a lot of work to build a relationship with my dad, because we really lost it at times, but my life is so much better having a relationship with both of my parents. I really love them.

Can anyone really tell us why there are not a lot of female guitarists? I don't think so. I don't think it really even matters. Lets just enjoy and celebrate unconditional camaraderie among all guitarists no matter what the color, race or sex of the musician is. As musicians, especially the rock musicians names and tags are often applied to us. I see no need to further segment our association. We have done that enough ourselves not only with our theories of what gear works best. But going as far as dividing metal guitarists into 50 ridiculous different genres, Djent? Really? This is what I hope to see in the future. All of us united male, female, metal and jazz under one banner called guitarists.

[formula73]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

As mentioned several times, people don't do what they don't do because they don't want to. End of story.

It doesn't matter if you're man, woman, white, black, brown, green, yellow, or any combination thereof. If you're not interested, you're not interested, and Sex And The City graphics nor handbags are going to get it done if you don't care already. Fender killed the Hello Kitty geets because they didn't sell and who wants them now? Metal dudes with a sense of humor.

It's not an untapped market; it's not a market.

That said: pickup implants.

[LesStrat]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

Silicon or saline?

How big is "too big"?

[GilmourD]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

[kramersteen]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

^^

[crguti]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

30 pages? really ?

[GuitarStv]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

Silicon or saline?

How big is "too big"?

Don't be a boob.

[DarkMatter]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

This topic is everywhere these days. I caught the end of a radio discussion where they were talking about the wage gap and the lack of women in engineering.

I'm afraid of a world in which too many people are pushed into areas they really don't fit into. This will lead to a lot of below par performance. That goes for males and females.

[DreX]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

It seems like a lot of times throughout history when people don't sufficiently understand something, they'll resort to broad, one size fits all explanations or solutions, such as "God made everything", "government is the problem" or "they hate our freedoms" or "resistance equals output", and I think the push for gender equality is largely a result of human psychology being such a crude and primitive pseudo-science at this point in time, in this case, in terms of how it differs between males and females. The nature vs. nurture debate for example ideally shouldn't be a debate, it should eventually be something that is objectively known.

[GilmourD]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

This topic is everywhere these days. I caught the end of a radio discussion where they were talking about the wage gap and the lack of women in engineering.

I'm afraid of a world in which too many people are pushed into areas they really don't fit into. This will lead to a lot of below par performance. That goes for males and females.

I agree. I don't think people should be pushed into things in which they have no interest. However, I think we do already do that by discouraging people from doing things in which they ARE interested. For instance, guys that want to be nurses get shamed and told being a nurse is a woman's job. It's better than it used to be, but there are guys that want to be nurses who go into something else because of the stigma.

[DarkMatter]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

I agree. I don't think people should be pushed into things in which they have no interest. However, I think we do already do that by discouraging people from doing things in which they ARE interested. For instance, guys that want to be nurses get shamed and told being a nurse is a woman's job. It's better than it used to be, but there are guys that want to be nurses who go into something else because of the stigma.

You are absolutely right. It's the discouragement side we should be focusing on. The male nurse is a great example of flipping the gender scenario. If someone does have the desire and abilities, they should be free to pursue any path.

[DreX]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

The male nurse is a great example of flipping the gender scenario.

Not really though, "male chauvinism" still remains the root cause, as the ridicule most likely comes from men in either case, the only difference is that it would be directed at other men instead of women. If you put an end to "male chauvinism", you kill a lot of birds with one stone.

[Myaccount876]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

Don't be a boob.

What's wrong with boobs?

It seems like a lot of times throughout history when people don't sufficiently understand something, they'll resort to broad, one size fits all explanations or solutions, such as "God made everything", "government is the problem" or "they hate our freedoms" or "resistance equals output", and I think the push for gender equality is largely a result of human psychology being such a crude and primitive pseudo-science at this point in time, in this case, in terms of how it differs between males and females. The nature vs. nurture debate for example ideally shouldn't be a debate, it should eventually be something that is objectively known.

Human psychology is a science. One based on empirical and objective experiments, surveys, case studies, etc.

[DreX]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

Human psychology is a science. One based on empirical and objective experiments, surveys, case studies, etc.

I had my own reasons for coming to this conclusion, mainly that the fruits of psychology are almost entirely the result of guess work. Even if the data gathering portion of psychology is somewhat objective, the conclusions they reach and how they act on them are usually a matter of interpretation.

But then I found this article that sums it up better, so I thought I would share, since it also illuminates to the difficulty with coming to any final conclusion on the issue of gender differences:

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul/13/news/la-ol-blowback-pscyhology-science-20120713

Psychologist Timothy D. Wilson, a professor at the University of Virginia, expressed resentment in his Times Op-Ed article on Thursday over the fact that most scientists don't consider his field a real science. He casts scientists as condescending bullies:

"Once, during a meeting at my university, a biologist mentioned that he was the only faculty member present from a science department. When I corrected him, noting that I was from the Department of Psychology, he waved his hand dismissively, as if I were a Little Leaguer telling a member of the New York Yankees that I too played baseball.

"There has long been snobbery in the sciences, with the 'hard' ones (physics, chemistry, biology) considering themselves to be more legitimate than the 'soft' ones (psychology, sociology)."

The dismissive attitude scientists have toward psychologists isn't rooted in snobbery; it's rooted in intellectual frustration. It's rooted in the failure of psychologists to acknowledge that they don't have the same claim on secular truth that the hard sciences do. It's rooted in the tired exasperation that scientists feel when non-scientists try to pretend they are scientists.

That's right. Psychology isn't science.

Why can we definitively say that? Because psychology often does not meet the five basic requirements for a field to be considered scientifically rigorous: clearly defined terminology, quantifiability, highly controlled experimental conditions, reproducibility and, finally, predictability and testability.

Happiness research is a great example of why psychology isn't science. How exactly should "happiness" be defined? The meaning of that word differs from person to person and especially between cultures. What makes Americans happy doesn't necessarily make Chinese people happy. How does one measure happiness? Psychologists can't use a ruler or a microscope, so they invent an arbitrary scale. Today, personally, I'm feeling about a 3.7 out of 5. How about you?

The failure to meet the first two requirements of scientific rigor (clear terminology and quantifiability) makes it almost impossible for happiness research to meet the other three. How can an experiment be consistently reproducible or provide any useful predictions if the basic terms are vague and unquantifiable? And when exactly has there ever been a reliable prediction made about human behavior? Making useful predictions is a vital part of the scientific process, but psychology has a dismal record in this regard. Just ask a foreign policy or intelligence analyst.

To be fair, not all psychology research is equally wishy-washy. Some research is far more scientifically rigorous. And the field often yields interesting and important insights.

But to claim it is "science" is inaccurate. Actually, it's worse than that. It's an attempt to redefine science. Science, redefined, is no longer the empirical analysis of the natural world; instead, it is any topic that sprinkles a few numbers around. This is dangerous because, under such a loose definition, anything can qualify as science. And when anything qualifies as science, science can no longer claim to have a unique grasp on secular truth.

That's why scientists dismiss psychologists. They're rightfully defending their intellectual turf.