[Closed] Women of the Forum

CinnamonGirl is around, she's antivaxxing on the Covid thread. ahsat and bunnyhop are around. there are a few other lady posters but there can be a somwehat misogynistic vibe at times so the low numbers is not surprisng

and I have never realised it because of the username.

I spent a long time trying to work out how to pronounce ahsat (and eventually settled on "arsehat" and wondered how that nickname had come about) and then I saw a pic of her campervan and realised it was actually Tasha backwards. (sorry). I now just read it as Tasha.

Usernames are not necessarily indicative of gender or even species for the matter.
I’m not even a real panther.

Having a thread outing all the ladies is not helpful or inclusive.

Usernames are not necessarily indicative of gender or even species for the matter.
I’m not even a real panther.

Next you'll be saying you're not called Percy either

My real name’s Louise

CinnamonGirl is around, she’s antivaxxing on the Covid thread.

a) disappointing always thought CG was rational and smart.
b) as its a Neil Young song had never assumed that CG was female.

c) I agree that outing the ladies isn't helpful.

I spent a long time trying to work out how to pronounce ahsat (and eventually settled on “arsehat”

Glad I'm not the only one.

Having a thread outing all the ladies is not helpful or inclusive.

I was trying to think of a few smartarsed comments, but actually I reckon that is a very sensible post.

Never mind the women of STW we need a list of the stealth mods. It can’t just be Drac by himself now. I know he’s got a magic iPad but even so he can’t be alone.

I’m looking at you Scotroutes 😉

Let’s not make it personal 5plus8.

Having a thread outing all the ladies is not helpful or inclusive.

CinnamonGirl is around, she’s antivaxxing on the Covid thread.

@nbt you clearly didn't read what I posted did you! I made it clear that my kids have had their childhood jabs, as have I and generally consider them to be a good thing. A few months ago I refused a flu jab (never had flu) and am refusing a Covid jab as I don't want to be part of a medical experiment. Hardly an "anti-vaxxer", whatever that is.

m

refusing a Covid jab as I don’t want to be part of a medical experiment

. Hardly an “anti-vaxxer”, whatever that is.

Er, that's the exact description of an anti-vaxxer..🤷‍♂️

drac Let’s not make it personal 5plus8.

Apologies, was flippant seeing as I had not read any of her posts about it..
(and I'm not going in there or bringing it here)
PS Drac you could do some work elsewhere as lots of insults get thrown around on here.

I’m not even a real panther.

Are you a real perch?

grum
I’m not even a real panther.
Are you a real perch?

Seems a bit fishy to me.

<deleted>

Out of interest can you take this to the covid thread?

Done.

Out of interest can you take this to the covid thread?

I’m looking at you Scotroutes 😉

As an ex-moderator I'm happy to confirm that he isn't a stealth moderator.

Or at least, wasn't. I've no idea now, of course.

I am a woman of the forum.
As others have said, not sure why it matters.
I got outed once and thought it was out or order. No big deal. Just didn't think it was his place to correct another forum member when I hadn't.
I don't really ride any more. I've gone full time doggist. I left for a while.
I've had a few arguments on here, I've reacted to people's posts rather than ignoring them or making sure I actually understand what they meant but overall I like it here.
I joined a pet forum while I was absent. Jesus wept, it made me appreciate was a lovely, warm, fuzzy place STW is - most of the time at least 🙂

I’m not even a real panther.

And yet I really am the scarlet pimpernel

I’ve gone full time doggist

I joined a pet forum

cue confused conversations all round as people try to figure out whether they are actually in the right place for the right reasons 🙂

he isn't a stealth moderator

But one poster on this thread is....

I got outed once and thought it was out or order. No big deal. Just didn’t think it was his place to correct another forum member when I hadn’t.

Oh 'eck, I mentioned it once as you were being referred to as "he" a few times in a thread. Apologies if that's the occasion you're referring to.

@bearnecessities
No worries. It is nice of you to say sorry.

Usernames are not necessarily indicative of gender or even species for the matter.

Indeed.
I ain't a haggis and not particularly fast.

But one poster on this thread is….

Oooh! It’s like Cluedo. I’m going Bearnecessities in the server room with a mechanical keyboard.

Still here, but lurking in silence (previous experiences made me reluctant to post). Still riding bikes. Still smiling.

I guess I’ve been part of STW for over 10 years now ... Nice to see some familiar names are still around

No worries.

Oh crap, it was that time then. Sorry again, really didn't intend to 'out' you as I didn't realise it was something you tried to keep private.

I am a woman of the forum.

He's lying (does that help?) 🙂

Oooh! It’s like Cluedo. I’m going Bearnecessities in the server room with a mechanical keyboard.

Nope....go fish...!

@bearnecessities It's not something I try to keep private. I didn't think it was important and seeing as I hadn't said anything, neither should anybody else.
Lol re the second part 🙂

Still here, but lurking in silence (previous experiences made me reluctant to post). Still riding bikes. Still smiling.

First bit good, second bit is shit and you should ignore the idiots, well at least the bad kind and post. Third and fourth bits are excellent and go hand in hand 😀

There must be couple of lumberjacks on here that cut down trees, wear high heels, suspendies and a bra while riding their bikes

still visit, don't post much as I don't ride mountain bikes now really, I either run or roadie, or working. Sometimes this place is a bit "bloke-ish" but that's mostly as mountain biking is mostly men, I never really felt unwelcome, or very rarely, and lots of posters on here were/are really lovely and welcoming. The Kylie posts were a bit much, but honestly I look back at my 20 year old self and sometimes I think I was a bit of prick anyway, so you know, can't have it both ways.

I noticed recently some of the most sensitive and insightful contributors to these columns happen to be women.

I noticed recently some of the most sensitive and insightful contributors to these columns happen to be women.

For balance, though, women can also be daft....

PS Drac you could do some work elsewhere as lots of insults get thrown around on here.

@5plusn8 unless you report them I will probably not see them as I do work elsewhere not just volunteer on the forum, so unlike some users I don’t read every post or thread.

@dannyH the idea of some moderators keeping it a ‘secret’ is they don’t want to identified to avoid any problems or personal attacks, it does happen. So I strongly suggest if you do know to keep quiet not even any hints.

I will.

Although I am not massively keen on mods being 'non-declared' as that too can embolden said mod to try to draw a response from someone they disagree with.

Anyway, this place is argumentative enough without rumours and hearsay swirling around, so the topic is probably best left alone.

Nope….go fish…!

If that was supposed to be a hint pointing at Percy the Perch then I have disappointing news.

I’m not even a real perch.

If I were a mod, I’d last about a day which would be 23 hours longer than many other regular posters who would find themselves on the jaggy end of a perma-ban.

I can’t be trusted to wield executive power responsibly.

So... Best to be decent to each other on here irrelevant of user name, assumed gender or known gender basically?

Yes, I'm guilty of not always measuring up to that either but it's a good default position.

If that was supposed to be a hint pointing at Percy the Perch then I have disappointing news.

I’m not even a real perch.

Ha ha, I didn't even make that connection - that's the problem with secrets and the paranoia they can engender...

Right, time to let this sub-thread lie. No point in having a free for all bunfight over something that is not even the thread topic.

Usernames are not necessarily indicative of gender or even species

Sometimes they are.

Sometimes they are.

Not in this case because 'ape' is not a species.

My username isn't 'pedanticbastard', but perhaps it should be....

This is how a thread should be. Starting off with a certain question and within a couple of post turns into something completely the opposite, as above from women to panthers.

There are still: Esme, ebygom and others on here. However yesterday ashat posted some sensible remarks on the Dick thread and was feeling compelled to leave. I decided because of this not to post on that thread, as I knew my own thoughts would lead to the usual rubbish being spouted out and myself feeling outnumbered and wishing I hadn't posted, sigh.

within a couple of post turns into something completely the opposite, as above from women to panthers.

Classic deflection. I should probably see someone about that.

I'm not a number, I'm a free... oh bollocks.

am refusing a Covid jab as I don’t want to be part of a medical experiment.

Worth pointing out that having it does NOT make you part of a medical experiment, the technology for the mRNA vaccine has been around for roughly forty years, and was used successfully for the Ebola and MERS outbreaks, and the first SARS outbreak, IIRC. The other variety of vaccine isn’t any different to other types of vaccine, so your reluctance is entirely misplaced.

still visit, don’t post much as I don’t ride mountain bikes now really,

Good to see you haven’t abandoned us completely, emsz, I haven’t ridden my bikes for a few years now, injuring my knee coming off one of my bikes for an inexplicable reason has shaken my confidence and left me worried that coming off again could cause further damage that might require surgery or stop me working.
Looking at d3o soft armour as a way of getting back out on the bikes, but getting back to the subject, I’ve no idea of the gender of most members, except where a username might give a clue, or it gets mentioned in passing in a post - until the other day, I had no idea ThePilot was female, and honestly didn’t really care; I think the only time that it becomes relevant is when gender gets to be part of a discussion, but then only rarely.
There have certainly been instances in the past that have been referred to where certain members have made comments that have caused some other female members to leave, which should never have happened, but as with the thread about violence to women shows, there are some individuals who just can’t help themselves behaving in an abhorrent manner.

@CountZero Women are pilots too, you know!
Seriously, I am not meaning to have a go at you, it's just sexism is so deeply engrained in our society, it's going to take enormous change from both (all?) genders if we are ever going to change things. We are brought up to think that pilots are men and air stewards women. I suppose in old English that would be air hostesses. Interesting that we differentiate between air stewards and air stewardesses but there's no such thing as a pilotess. It's just presumed pilots are men. It could be argued it's an equality thing as there is no reason to attach a gender to the job title and hopefully in the long term we will not automatically and unconsciously assume that pilots are men and cabin crew women or gay men. But for now we are all guilty of doing it all the time.
It's like the surgeon experiment. Here if anyone doesn't know it:
https://www.workingvoices.com/insights/we-are-all-sexist-how-unconscious-bias-drives-inequality/

Perhaps it was nothing to do with my username. My username on the pet forum I joined was a mixture of my name and my dog's name and I was referred to as he there too. Don't know why. Perhaps it's what I say. I didn't correct it as it as I didn't think it was important.

Yep still here, putting up with you lot ;-P And yep it’s Tasha. I’m dyslexic so my name backwards fits my brain at times!

I have ‘outed’ myself at numerous times. Not because gender matters the vast majority of the time, but it does come into things such as bike fit etc (though I am tall enough to ride ‘men’s’ bikes). And I do get a bit annoyed being called fella/he in that the assumed norm is always blokes ride bikes. Even get that on the trails - often an ‘alright lads’ from another group. My mates normally leave me to reply and say ‘yeah fine thanks’, and people do a double take (thankfully the number of woman riders has hugely increased to when I started 15 yrs ago). But to be honest, as an Associate Prof in a STEM subject, much like ThePilot, this is day to day life.

However yesterday ashat posted some sensible remarks on the Dick thread and was feeling compelled to leave. I decided because of this not to post on that thread, as I knew my own thoughts would lead to the usual rubbish being spouted out and myself feeling outnumbered and wishing I hadn’t posted, sigh.

I’m sorry you felt like this. Ok gender did come into that thread, but it was my own personal experience, irrespective of gender, that lead my to step away. I normally try and follow Tracys lead of not getting involved in the stress on here, but I caught myself up there and I just didn’t need it - personally. It totally up to you what you talk about.

The vast majority of the time I enjoy it here - just as a mountain biker. Though I really wished I hadn’t started reading Scotroutes thread about Zwift chaffing ;-P

@ahsat I'm not really a pilot! When I joined I had a Scott Pilot bar/stem combo to sell hence the name 🙂

Damn. I fell into the same trap....
Equally you could well have been a pilot 😉

There is a lot more women’s riding networks these days - eg a very large and active FB group. As a result I think despite the huge increase in female riders, for many STW isn’t the space they would then choose to frequent. Due to the recent growth in female riders, a lot are quite novice and they value friendly spaces to ask questions that on here would sometimes get some very mixed responses! And a woman’s saddle thread is very different...

I'm of the opposite opinion of most of the posters it seems!

While it makes no material difference knowing if you are male or female, I do find that from a personal view it helps me to know who I'm talking to and adds some context to views etc.

That being said, if you don't want to tell anyone whether you're male/female/nonbinary etc then thats totally your choice.

Redmex, this...

There must be couple of lumberjacks on here that cut down trees, wear high heels, suspendies and a bra while riding their bikes

needs more applause!

@ Angallis Arvensis

And yet I really am the scarlet pimpernel

That's a relief I thought you were Gavin Henson

Even get that on the trails – often an ‘alright lads’ from another group.

As an aside, we regularly get a "hello boys", "alright boys" and similar when riding. I'm 62 and one of my regular riding mates is 65.

I thought my Zwift thread title was explanatory enough 😊

I may well have outed a female member of the forum in the past if I've seen someone referring to them with masculine pronouns. I was doing it out of politeness, clarity. It hadn't really occurred to me that was a problem, but every day is a school day.

On the subject of gender stereotyping . . . I remember hearing a tale, about a child growing up in the 1980s:
"Mummy, could a man be prime minister one day?"

@crazyjenkins01
To me, that approach risks attaching far too much importance to gender and seeing men as one group and women as another. A white, privileged man and likely to have far more shared experience and similar views to that of a white, privileged woman, than he is a man of colour who works two jobs trying to provide for his kids.

My wife rides a lot and gets her "community" through womens Facebook riding groups - she's not really up for the mostly non-riding arguments on here

Edit - she does enjoy reading the mag though