Sexism and photography?

[dave lackey]

Recently, after admiring the works of various photographers from the Luminous Lint site, I awoke one Sunday morning thinking of people that I admire. I made a quick mental list of all the people in my life that I admire.

9 out of ten were women!

For various reasons, those nine women either contributed something very profound to me or I simply admired them because of their constant struggle against adversity.

Ruth Bernhard struck me as one of the photographers to be most admired becuase of her work in presenting the female form as a thing of beauty, without the raw, in-your-face work that we have all become too familiar with....if you have not seen her work, just google up "The Eternal Body".

So, now, I wonder...why is it that so few women frequent these forums? Is it a fear of sexism? If so, it is a shame becuase it seems that I, personally, prefer the perspective that female photographers lend to their work. It truly seems to be different to me.

 

[nyx]

Internet photography forums are mostly for gearheads...and I think women would rather do something more useful than measure and compare their...oh wait 🙂

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Yeah, exactly, there are fewer women gearheads.

I just read that Diane Arbus biography...highly recommended, although I was frustrated that the (female) author didn't give me more information on Arbus's cameras! Obviously, the lesson to take away from that is...it doesn't freaking matter.

 

[Roger Hicks]

ACTUALLY, FROM FRANCES SCHULTZ, NOT ROGER AT ALL

The main reason I avoid forums is that they are thieves of time. Time when I might take pictures , or work in the darkroom, or do some handcolouring, or embroider, or garden, or cook, or go to the Donjon for a cup of coffee and maybe some French or English conversation, or (if I can't put it off any more) clean the house.

I don't really care about the detail that many of the 'gearheads' are so passionate about. I don't want to get into political wrangles which raise my blood pressure and make me question the sanity of my fellow human beings. If there is something interesting about techniques Roger will point it out and I will happily join in the discussion.

Otherwise, I was half inclined to say, I'm too busy. But that's not exactly true. Sometimes I'm busy doing nothing at all; and besides, I hate sitting in front of a computer.

Cheers,

Frances E. Schultz (check the site!)

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Frances, your motel photos are terrific.

 

[Kevin]

... or I simply admired them because of their constant struggle against adversity.

What are you going on about, lackey?

 

[kshapero]

I was born an idiot and thats a hell of an adversity to lick. All sentient beings are welcome here. I love that word but have no idea what it means.

 

[bmattock]

So, now, I wonder...why is it that so few women frequent these forums? Is it a fear of sexism?

Fear of sexism? I kind of doubt that. Have you seen how most women on discussion forums are treated? They are sniffed, pawed at, and chased around by the men, who suddenly stop fighting over Leica accessories and start offering to send her cameras, lenses, and oh by the way, would she mind posing sometime, or taking a self-portrait that they could gaze at in the wee hours of the night? It's not fear of sexism, it's fear of virtual sexual assault. By nerds.

 

[Todd.Hanz]

ACTUALLY, FROM FRANCES SCHULTZ, NOT ROGER AT ALL

The main reason I avoid forums is that they are thieves of time. Time when I might take pictures , or work in the darkroom, or do some handcolouring, or embroider, or garden, or cook, or go to the Donjon for a cup of coffee and maybe some French or English conversation, or (if I can't put it off any more) clean the house.

I don't really care about the detail that many of the 'gearheads' are so passionate about. I don't want to get into political wrangles which raise my blood pressure and make me question the sanity of my fellow human beings. If there is something interesting about techniques Roger will point it out and I will happily join in the discussion.

Otherwise, I was half inclined to say, I'm too busy. But that's not exactly true. Sometimes I'm busy doing nothing at all; and besides, I hate sitting in front of a computer.

Cheers,

Frances E. Schultz (check the site!)

well said...nothing to add 😉

Todd

 

[RML]

Women photogs perhaps care more for shooting with than blabbing about gear. 🙂

 

[Spider67]

I rememeber when I got my first PC how me and my gf reacted:

I - learned immediately about RAMs, Accessories etc basically things that are needed when you buy a new one which happens every 2-3 years
She - knew how to use the applications like word processing and spreadsheets in no time things needed daily.

Hi Frances thanks for your input: I concur Comoputers rarely keep me in my sparetime....during my office hours RFF is like a window of my prison cell

 

[williams473]

Yeah I have to concur that the main reason is probably the female aversion to tech-talk. Most women I knew in photo school, and my good friend and mentor (a woman) have no desire to talk shop about cameras, beyond learning to use them - nor do I for that matter. I have a great respect for a finely made camera, and I love that there are gearheads to consult on sites like this when I have a technical question, but in my experience women don't get competitive and demonstrative about the machines they own. Course, that's a massive generalization, but I think if more posts were about how we FEEL about photography versus how we DO photography, a great many more women would join in.

 

[bobbyrab]

I think those of us who like cars, cameras, hi fi, whatever your passion, it often revolves around impressive numbers, 1.4 in cameras is great, not so good in cars. It's what remains of the five year old in us, all slightly autistic, but thats half the fun is it not.

 

[shadowfox]

ACTUALLY, FROM FRANCES SCHULTZ, NOT ROGER AT ALL

The main reason I avoid forums is that they are thieves of time. Time when I might take pictures , or work in the darkroom, or do some handcolouring, or embroider, or garden, or cook, or go to the Donjon for a cup of coffee and maybe some French or English conversation, or (if I can't put it off any more) clean the house.

I don't really care about the detail that many of the 'gearheads' are so passionate about. I don't want to get into political wrangles which raise my blood pressure and make me question the sanity of my fellow human beings. If there is something interesting about techniques Roger will point it out and I will happily join in the discussion.

Otherwise, I was half inclined to say, I'm too busy. But that's not exactly true. Sometimes I'm busy doing nothing at all; and besides, I hate sitting in front of a computer.

Cheers,

Frances E. Schultz (check the site!)

Just want to say hi to Frances, Hi Frances! 🙂

I learnt a lot about film and black and white from your writings also, not just Roger's. Thank you!

 

[minoltist7]

Internet photography forums are mostly for gearheads...and I think women would rather do something more useful than measure and compare their...oh wait 🙂

+1
normal people (including women and men of other professions) don't spend too much time near computer at all 🙂
it's not suprise if most of "forum talkers" are men, and profesionally - IT workers/programmers/sysadmins/etc

 

[Stephanie Brim]

One of the things that I try to avoid in a forum is a lack of a theme. I've belonged to many forums that were for nothing but general chatter and they tend to be the ones with the problems. This forum has little, if any, of those problems. It is a photography-themed board and we tend to talk about gear and, sometimes, even photography. 😉

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

I was born an idiot and thats a hell of an adversity to lick.

Hear hear!

As a male, I fight adversity taking photos all the time. 😉

Whenever I am around a nonmale that is taking photos, people stop giving me a hard time (no more "why are you taking a photo?!?" and more "ooh! that is interesting, isn't it?")

Then again, I live in the midwest U.S. 😱

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Women photogs perhaps care more for shooting with than blabbing about gear. 🙂

I wouldn't do any reverse-stereotyping in this case. im(v)ho 😉

 

[RML]

I wouldn't do any reverse-stereotyping in this case. im(v)ho 😉

I wasn't planning to figure out something that works the other way around. 🙂

 

[bean_counter]

My aunt is a successful artist in the southwest US. She signs her paintings with her initials, which spell out a man's nick-name. She remains anonymous, dealing only through trusted galleries and intermediaries; she estimates her gallery prices would decline 40-50% if anybody knew her true gender.

Who knows, maybe there are several "anonymous" women posting here.