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Pictures from March 11 Meet

Re: UT does MapArt!

Could have something to do with the tone of some of the posts here (certainly they're not prolific, but they do stand out). They aren't exactly welcoming/respectful of women.

It's not that women aren't interested in the city and development -- 1/2 of our writers at Spacing are women -- so it must be something else....
 
As someone who has been on this board for 6 - 7 months now I have found the tone of most posts here to be respectful and generally thoughtful (a few exceptions). This isn't necessarily the case at another board, which has a higher proportion of either disrespectful comments or plain silliness in some threads and in the way some people present themselves.
 
Re: UT does MapArt!

I don't know how much I buy that explanation shawnmicallef.

If female forumers want to contribute more, great; if not... I see it as their loss.
 
Re: UT does MapArt!

It's not that women aren't interested in the city and development -- 1/2 of our writers at Spacing are women -- so it must be something else....
Click to expand...

It's probably also a bit the *kind* of interest they have in the city and development. That is, a lot of the skyscraper/development geekery or style-snobbery or NIMBY-bashing hereabouts (or at least the expression thereof) might just come across as so much arid penis-waving to them...
 
Re: UT does MapArt!

There are times, not all the time, but times, it's very male locker-roomish here. In my various circles, lockerroomish talk just isn't part of it -- when it happens it's odd, and is noticable (and we aren't humourless people, and we make blue jokes too). If you're used to it, then you wouldn't notice it. And the tone here, at times, is that. It may not be the explanation as to why there are no females, but i think it's plausible. Saying it's "their loss" is one way of addressing it i suppose.

Again, it's not pervasive or anything too heavy, just a tone, at times. Enough that i think some people would be turned off.
 
Re: UT does MapArt!

I think that tone would disappear if women did participate more. Since they don't the tone can get locker roomish sometimes but certainly not as bad as elsewhere.

Also, I think construction type topics are more a male oriented thing. I stop by construction sites all the time. I always see men peering in to see what's going on. Rarely do I see women. Same reason SSC and SSP are male dominated.

Improve the cultural and social areas of this forum and I'm sure we'd see many more women particpating.
 
Re: UT does MapArt!

shawnmicallef, no doubt some comments and posts are of a locker-room variety, but those make up a minority and are mostly limited to General Discussions.

When I say it's their loss, I still believe that this forum would benefit from a wider perspective of views, but I don't see a need for us to go out of our way to attract them or to crack down on behavious here in case they are "scaring them off".

Maybe adma is on to something in that the kinds of urban development we talk about may just be more attractive to men (especially gay men it seems) for whatever reason. International skyscraper-ish forums are every bit male dominated as this one.
 
Re: UT does MapArt!

The way Jennycam disappeared and became an unperson was like a page out of 'Nineteen Eighty Four'.
 
Re: UT does MapArt!

There are times, not all the time, but times, it's very male locker-roomish here. In my various circles, lockerroomish talk just isn't part of it -- when it happens it's odd, and is noticable (and we aren't humourless people, and we make blue jokes too). If you're used to it, then you wouldn't notice it. And the tone here, at times, is that. It may not be the explanation as to why there are no females, but i think it's plausible. Saying it's "their loss" is one way of addressing it i suppose.

Again, it's not pervasive or anything too heavy, just a tone, at times. Enough that i think some people would be turned off.
Click to expand...

I agree.
 
Re: UT does MapArt!

The way Jennycam disappeared and became an unperson was like a page out of 'Nineteen Eighty Four'
Click to expand...
I like to think I played a role in that. She was a moron and a troll, and most of her posts were criticisms of me, not of anything original or constructive. So, whatever. I'm actually glad there aren't a lot of women here. I work in a female-dominated industry, in universities where women comprise the majority, and based on my experience I find a lot of them to be silly, self-absorbed and shallow. If I were to ask a lot of these women about what they think of provincial downloading, or transit policy, or urban design or anything of substance beyond what you'd find in the Style or Life section of a newspaper, their eyes would glaze over. So yes, not having to deal with them in this forum is a welcome respite.

*expecting to hear no-wonder-you-can't-keep-a-girlfriend retorts*
 
Re: UT does MapArt!

fiendish:

The posts, the unposts, the table-turning, the squirming, the accusations, the denouncements.

Jenny bit the dust.

You blew the smoke off your six shooter, slid it back in the holster, and walked off into the sunset.

( cue Ennio Morricone soundtrack ).

I was hiding under the porch. I saw it happen. I haven't spoken since.
 
Re: UT does MapArt!

Also, I think construction type topics are more a male oriented thing. I stop by construction sites all the time. I always see men peering in to see what's going on. Rarely do I see women. Same reason SSC and SSP are male dominated.
Click to expand...

Though in a funny way, the aspect which bugs a lot of us most about SSC/P--the "my city's better than your city" adolescent-geekiness--might actually make that realm *more* female-conducive, albeit in a young-tomboy sense. (I guess girls tend to outgrow their tomboy/geek stage more "naturally" than boys.)

I also find that the urban-exploration realm tends to retain more of the, er, "fairer sex"--as does psychogeography, for that matter; perhaps the common factor (esp. as opposed to a lot of UT) is the emphasis upon "seeing and discovering" as opposed to "building".

Before we over-vilify the "disrespect" part, though, keep this in mind: in practice, I have found, women have been more than admirably capable of holding their own in the realm of good, healthy on-line snark, jaundice, etc. Indeed, within a realm like this, I'd say, the more, the merrier...
 
Re: UT does MapArt!

Thinking further of the psychogeography/urban-exploration axis, I guess it's commonly supposed that gurls are put off by Corbusier/Cumbernauld archi-ego and turned on by artsy-craftsy-new-urbanist domesticity. But dig deeper. They can be just as turned on as any guy by the nooks and crannies and real/imagined tales-to-tell within even a York U-type environment.

That's why my favourite aspect of the Infiltration revolution is how it became a Ninja-Liz-cious love story. Looking at and making our way through the stuff around us is a terrific way to court, y'know...no matter where you go...
 
...In Ontario it is a highly controlled substance...
Click to expand...

you poor sods!

hoping it will be flowing freely when I eventually head over there sometime in the next 75 years :lol (edit: it's looking like September now :D ).
 
Re: UT does MapArt!

Adma> It's true -- we've had a number of romances spin off from various psychogeographic walks we've taken through Toronto, including i think now two that at common-law sort of level. Often we have more females walking than males.

But strolling through the city is inherently romantic, so it greases the wheels, i think. It's like oysters, but better for you and vegetarian.

And for the record, for what it's worth, i'm surrounded by girls who care about provincial downloading....like this one, in the comments:

spacing.ca/wire/?p=636#comments

If i recall when doing my MA our class was 2:1 female:male. Of course, some of them were into the gossip rags. But then some of the smartest guys i know right now have unhealthly obsessions with America's Next Top Model.

anecdotes anecdotes...
 
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