Can't tell if serious
I was seriously kidding with my post to you. Well not the fat part, but everything else about hurting my soul...I have no soul. You can't hurt it.
I wasn't intending to tell him off, I do apologize if that is how it came off. I just disagree with most points he was making and also felt bad that male home brewers are somehow seen this way at all.
Wait, you are a Ginger?
Dammit! These acronyms are too confusing. I thought a NOMB was "I can has cheezburger cat" reference.
It made more sense to me the other way.
Grammar police post, but SWMBO and i guess NOMB are initialisms not acronyms. Acronyms are initialisms that you pronounce as a word. just sayin.
What you have proven is that today's active posters on HBT disagree with my premise. The reddit discussion on this is a lot more split - with (gasp) actual women saying things like "I have seen/lived this this myself" (also, at least one who, like Hello here, disagrees).
Then, there are facebook discussions, one of which is almost at 100% of the comments agreeing that yeah, the homebrew community has some room for improvement.
Let's clap ourselves on the back here. Maybe we can get a "certified non-sexist internet site" button or the like. That doesn't mean it's not a good discussion to have.
Do note that I never singled out HBT. Being the largest homebrewing community online, I was rather hoping that this would be the best sort of place for this kind of discussion.
I don't know if I would go that far. Okay, I will say that HBT is one of the more neutral/understanding internet sites I have been on. Sure you can expect the occasional misogynistic remark, welcome to real life. Most are in good fun actually. Agreed, the brewing community is pretty male-centric. So are classic car restoration, meat smoking, grilling, hunting, etc. It is understandable that some hobbies are have a larger representation of one sex over the other. Check any sewing forum, I am fairly sure that it is more female-centric than otherwise. Not to be sexist, but generally speaking brewing is a more male hobby, especially beer brewing. That is what they are called generalizations, because generally they are true. I find this as being one of the most understanding, accepting communities I have experienced. In real life and on the net. Unless you are not legal to brew/drink because we dont want to see the place shut down.
I will say something about reddit. True, I cannot really get into it as it seems a tad too free range with a severe lack of moderation which tends to allow for more... extreme posts. Look at the community and take what it says with a grain of salt. Some communities you expect more extreme thinking/talk from, some are more moderate. That is the nice thing about here, it seems that our members are more understanding and accepting and less "OMG FU!!!!". I am not saying that reddit doesnt have a point, its just that communities seem to form around common beliefs, and the common belief here seems to be more based around the spreading of knowledge than being a boys club.
All of my experiences in life with homebrewing, telling people I brew my own, and google searches have yielded nothing but acceptance for all, and not just be gender related. Who cares what you brew, you brew. Okay, maybe there is some stigma, oftentimes joking against macrobrews andhipsters that you will find. Macro anything tends to be acceptable to poke fun at, and as for hipsters... well, that (self proclaimed) lifestyle thrives on not doing what is mainstream, and as a result doesnt care if most like how they do things. It seems that those who are more crafty and DIY are more apt to give people the benefit of the doubt.
Also, before my rambling goes on too long, historically, brewing in many cultures has been "womens work". Should we chauvinistic males ask forgiveness for intruding on women's domain?
