Curious to know why so few women enjoy metal detecting ?....

[DetectingGodlikeOnOlympus]

OldJerseyGirl should win the prize for the correct answer. It's too hard to find places to pee for women, especially if they are coffee addicts.

 

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[Nitric]

OldJerseyGirl should win the prize for the correct answer. It's too hard to find places to pee for women, especially if they are coffee addicts.

Hey!!! I don't wanna hear that! I know one..........That......Is worse than a dude when it comes to that! Trees,behind cars, buildings etc......

Ouch,ouch, I'm getting hit again!

 

[Argentium]

The intent of my question is very simple - It is not difficult to comprehend - I don't care whether the respondents are interested
in metal detecting or not - My question is about the why /why not . I'm more interested in hearing from women who are not
interested in metal detecting - but please - can I get women to weigh in here ??

 

[Nitric]

The intent of my question is very simple - It is not difficult to comprehend - I don't care whether the respondents are interested
in metal detecting or not - My question is about the why /why not . I'm more interested in hearing from women who are not
interested in metal detecting - but please - can I get women to weigh in here ??

PSSSSTT...........Someone already told you........Don't ask for a weigh in? It's a touchy word, at least at my house it is! I mean Holy cow your ticked you can't fit the same pants from 10th grade? Your 3...... ohhh, I almost did the age thing!!! I caught it in time, Good save!!!

 

[Argentium]

Can we reset here ? So far - in response to what I thought was a serious and interesting topic , We have people offering ,
reasons having to do with : peeing , farting , guys "scratching themselves" Really

 

[Tom_in_CA]

C'mon , Can we please refrain from discourse about feminism and sexism here ? ...

You've missed the point. That IS the answer to your question. Is that there is innate differences between the sexes , beyond the plumbing. (sorry Gloria Steinem, it's a fact). Sure there's exceptions: Some men get into soap operas & shopping for shoes, and some women get into md'ing, & boxing, etc...) , but .... on the all .... men and women are hard-wired to look at things differently in life.

 

[Argentium]

Tom , I might be willing to accept that as a credible explanation if I can get some (read more than one ) women to tell me that !

( what happens to your theory if Caitlyn Jenner is into this, and Ronda Rousey is not ?)

 

[hbeaton]

I do think it comes down to word choice on this one, Argentium. Sad but true.

Here's some reasons to prefer:

Roughly three years ago to the day, on this forum, a similar thread was started by a female detectorist who titled her post "Who are the Women of Metal Detecting/Hunting?" I believe her name was mentioned under avatar (which was a picture of a pug, i'm assuming it wasn't a selfie) indicating she was female. The vast majority of responses were females who give more than a few sentences on how they got involved.

That thread here :
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/g...o-women-metal-detection-treasure-hunting.html


Why did she get so many female perspectives? Was it how she worded it? The fact she was female? Both? None? I don't necessarily think there has been a female exodus on TNET in those 3 years but then again I am speculating on that point, but running with my assumption, word choice seemed to play a factor. She simply asked for the females to basically ID themselves and their detecting habits/finds rather than ask a leading question as your original post did. Whether you meant to or not, your question kinda assumes that basically there is something wrong with the either the hobby or women's reasoning why they do or do not do it, or both, simply by word choice. The leading question you have about more females not involved in the activity = apparent lack of enjoyment by them towards that activity is seemingly a correlational event rather than causation. I am in agreement that there are probably far too few females involved in the hobby but I do not think if I sought the reasoning why they are not involved, I would not have worded it the same way.

Another way to tackle this is to assume that those women who do not detect/enjoy detecting a.) would not be on a forum of people that are into detecting (and the other activities of TNET that do not specifically revolve around swinging a metal detector) to start with b.) those who did answer your post with why they hated/did not enjoy metal detecting would not be a very representative sample as they may have just a skosh of bias. It's akin to a phone survey/internet survey on anything, those that are passionate enough to actually take time to give a response may be great folks but many towards the middle who are more apathetic (even when they may not particularly like the activity) or less likely to do so.

Having said the above, please do not assume I'm trying to put words in your mouth, I read the initial post, the subsequent posts, the few females that were kind enough respond, ask myself your question (why don't more women respond) and came up with what I typed above.

Best,
H

 

[Nitric]

Ok.....I'm going to type and she's going to tell me what to say, about the times that she does get bored or doesn't go with me!

She says.....I get frustrated when I don't find something. .....I get bored and would rather look around visually for stuff, in creeks, woods,weeds....Building Nails, and junk don't excite her. ......She loves it, but there is only so many hours you can walk in circles swearing at the machine,ground,headphones and what ever excuses us guys come up with. .......And best of all....... She doesn't go when I'm being an a_______-!

Ok! There's your list! Starting to sound like some of it is getting blamed on me? HMMM Maybe, that's something us guys should think about! JKG!

 

[Msbeepbeep]

The women here detect, you would have to ask the ones who don't why they don't. Beyond they don't find it interesting or don't want to get dirty, some don't like fishing.
Maybe the guys who's wives and girlfriends don't, could help you better answer that.

 

[MrMikeJackie]

Your initial question really cannot be answered on here. You want the lady's to respond but, those ladies on here that do reply, detect. Just like us men. Therefore their reasons for liking this hobby would be the same as ours. Those ladies whom you are looking for a response from aren't on this forum, as they don't metal detect. How can they respond?
Maybe we can all ask our wives/girlfriends what they think and then reply? My wife stated the following " seems like too much work, you come home cranky when you don't find anything, when you do find something interesting-I don't"

 

[Plumbata]

Ladies I'm looking for your input here - ( guys not so much !)

Whelp, in order to suit my agenda I'm now following Caitlyn Gender's unassailable example and identifying as a woman today.

Now that my input is considered valid, I'd like to bring your attention to additional psychological realities beyond those addressed at the outset: Along the "People-to-Object" dimension, women on average are more likely to pursue People-oriented or organic interests and careers, whereas men are more likely to pursue Object-oriented or mechanical interests and careers, and this tendency occurs cross-culturally. Men tend to be more competitive and domineering; women more collaborative, cooperative, and interested in strengthening social relationships. Obviously the quest for coins and trinkets is more object-oriented than person/relationship oriented, and friendly ribbing of friends stuck pulling zincolns after you pull a seated likely satisfies the competition aspect.

Seriously, if you want actual, statistically significant and scientifically relevant reasons for the MD'ing "gender-gap" then take a gander at some Psychology/Sociology publications. Anecdotes won't cut it if you're looking for a solid etiological basis for the differences.

 

[Argentium]

Wow , All of a sudden I'm getting some really thoughtful and insightful responses - Thank You ! I was aware that in asking this question ,
that I would not be getting responses from women who have zero relationship to MDing . What I am hoping for is input from those
Ladies who are into MDing (clearly they speak to their girlfriends ) , also the wives of guys who are into it and their friends .

hbeaton - You are correct - there is a tone in the way I asked the question that comes off as though something is a bit wrong with
those who aren't completely jacked about this . I mentioned a while ago that I should probably re title my post in a way that would
engage female readers . Your response is masterful thank you ! I will indeed go back and read that link that you provided on this
topic.

 

[hbeaton]

Thanks for the shout out, Argentium. For a moment, rereading my own words I wondered whether a single salient point was made in the maze of what if's!! Glad you were able to glean something from it.

I think plumbata's psychological commentary to this topic actually makes sense in the gender gap analysis of men = object oriented/mechanical and female = people oriented/organic processes in terms of careers and hobbies. If it is true that, generally speaking, women are more "collaborative, cooperative, and interested in strengthening social relationships" then it really should be no surprise that a thread on a seemingly male dominated hobby forum that asks about more women input that was started by a woman got an overwhelmingly female response (and not just because she was specifically asking for female only input).

As a strange corollary to this discussion and assumptive of hindsight, IF the woman three years ago had worded her initial post in the exact same fashion as you did here, would she have received the same type/quantity/quality of responses? Would they have been as rosy and uplifting depending on her initial tone? Probably so because as it was mentioned earlier, people WANT to be on this forum generally because they are actively involved in the activities listed rather than simply trolling to argue. If she were to engage female readers even in a leading sort of way about the lack of female input, hence calling out active but possibly silent female members, I bet she would get a lot of female responses and may be a few might be catty. I should think the ball rolls both ways on collaboration and social constructs when it comes to women....hell, I'd make some popcorn to watch a cat fight on here...

-H

 

[Plumbata]

Good point regarding the potential for the wording to be perceived somewhat negatively by women, thus discouraging active engagement with the question. If collaboration and consensus-building is more important to the average woman, then the suggestion from Argentium that "so few enjoy metal detecting" from the outset would not encourage participation in the informal study, as the conclusion (or implied consensus) is that female detectorists are atypical and that would be contradicted by any requested female participation. Maybe it's a bit of a stretch but I've seen comparable social situations play-out like this.

Not quite parallel, but I've wondered why a disproportionate number of White folk collect coins, antiques, detect, dig bottles, or engage in similar hobbies. I see some Asians here and there, but it's mostly dominated by those of European ancestry. I'd suspect that it has something to do with one's perception of cultural and historical affinity with the items or artifacts but figure more is at play.

 

[Tnmountains]

Good point regarding the potential for the wording to be perceived somewhat negatively by women, thus discouraging active engagement with the question. If collaboration and consensus-building is more important to the average woman, then the suggestion from Argentium that "so few enjoy metal detecting" from the outset would not encourage participation in the informal study, as the conclusion (or implied consensus) is that female detectorists are atypical and that would be contradicted by any requested female participation. Maybe it's a bit of a stretch but I've seen comparable social situations play-out like this.

Not quite parallel, but I've wondered why a disproportionate number of White folk collect coins, antiques, detect, dig bottles, or engage in similar hobbies. I see some Asians here and there, but it's mostly dominated by those of European ancestry. I'd suspect that it has something to do with one's perception of cultural and historical affinity with the items or artifacts but figure more is at play.

I think as people stated a lot of it has to do with genetics. A hunter likes to hunt and he wants a large animal he can show off to his peers and seek status. I have seen many women with the same skills in detecting or artifact hunting that are very good yet they do not feel the need to show off.

One might consider advertising and how would it appeal to women. If you watch the survival shows and see that many women do as well as the men it becomes interesting to other women and they participate and show interest. I think marketing it is key. Maybe a show will come along with a woman metal detector and other women will see it as interesting and give it a try.

Look how fast the pink hand guns caught on or shooting ranges or even women shooting Bows.

What I do know is that women here that do post relics and artifacts are awesome! They are as good as anyone.

 

[ivan salis]

you go out in heat ,bugs and snakes metal detecting an find stuff / get "stuff" for me to inspect , hunter man ...I stay home in A/C with bon bons watching TV ... I .sort out what I want from your finds when you get back... women smart ,,,

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Tom , I might be willing to accept that as a credible explanation if I can get some (read more than one ) women to tell me that !....

It will be difficult to get women to tell you that. Unless they are of the more-conservative-bent. Most women will just say "I'm just not into that" , but will not outright say: "Because there is innate differences between the sexes". (ie.: strengths, weaknesses, hobbies, sports, etc...) Even my wife (despite supposedly being conservative) will fight tooth & nail to deny that there's differences. Because TO ADMIT THIS starts down a slippery slope.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... I see some Asians here and there, but it's mostly dominated by those of European ancestry. I'd suspect that it has something to do with one's perception of cultural and historical affinity with the items or artifacts but figure more is at play.

Interesting observation. Where I'm at (30 minutes from Pebble Beach) are a few of the world's top rated golf course tourist destinations. So we get tourists from all over the world, including Asian countries (Japan, China, etc....). And when I hunt the beach there, I will get occasional Asian tourists come up to me, totally baffled, as to what I'm doing (they've never seen such a device). When I explain to them, they are still equally baffled as to why anyone would bother doing such an odd hobby.

And I finally met an American who's worked in Japan for the last 30 yrs. (as a company rep. at their satellite offices there). He got into the hobby there, to hit the beaches in Japan. And the only other persons he's ever bumped into , (albeit only 2) that detect there, are European descent, like himself. The native folks just don't get why anyone would do such a thing. I just wrote it off to "It hasn't caught on there yet". Till I read your post, and thought maybe it is something ingrained in the culture itself ?

 

[Plumbata]

I just wrote it off to "It hasn't caught on there yet". Till I read your post, and thought maybe it is something ingrained in the culture itself ?

I'd guess that in addition to cultural differences there is an element of evolutionarily dictated survival strategies partially responsible for the drive to collect scarce or rare items. During the period of privation and resource scarcity during the last Ice Age, some say that ancestral Northern Europeans experienced a population bottleneck which selected for individuals who needed to collaborate in a high-trust and merit-based social environment, and presumably selected for individuals who could recognize and had a drive to hoard valuable resources which would aid in their group's survival, with the creative ADHD "hunter" trait being of particular value. Instead of living in a land of plenty, they needed to make wise use of materials when narrow windows of opportunity were made available, and plan-ahead for hard times. Through both cultural reinforcement and a more ancient evolved disposition, perhaps "collecting" in the general sense is a manifestation of instinctive apprehension about real or imagined future difficulties that was selected for and developed many thousands of years ago.