Archaeologica.org

There – that title got your attention, didn’t it?

But I sometimes wonder if any of you have ever asked yourselves why there are so few women on this forum. Even Michelle hardly comes on to say anything.

My own opinion is that the moderators’ allowing sign-offs like DayBrown’s on the sniffing and tasting of women’s vaginas constitutes a passive aggressive stance against females. It was not so long ago that another of you had, as his picture, a stripper doing the splits in a G-string. And DayBrown’s fetid fantasmagorical musings and constant narrow minded obsession with how people had sex in history runs rampant, completely unchecked, through so many threads.

Guys, if you are going to continue in this fashion, you will end up with what you’ve practically got – a males only locker room in a frat house or cat house where few females dare, or would even want, to tread.

That’s fine, if that’s what you want. But you might be missing a lot of really useful input from women who know what they’re talking about – in fact, I’m sure that you are.

Ishtar - thanks for that post.
I personally feel if we alienate half of our potential contributors it is our loss.

Ishtar wrote:
the sniffing and tasting of women’s vaginas constitutes a passive aggressive stance against females

What is "passive aggressive" about "the sniffing and tasting of women’s vaginas"?
Peculiar (to put it mildly) it may be. But I can't see anything agressive in it. Passive or active.

Honi soît qui mal y pense.

Ishtar wrote:There – that title got your attention, didn’t it?

But I sometimes wonder if any of you have ever asked yourselves why there are so few women on this forum. Even Michelle hardly comes on to say anything.

My own opinion is that the moderators’ allowing sign-offs like DayBrown’s on the sniffing and tasting of women’s vaginas constitutes a passive aggressive stance against females. It was not so long ago that another of you had, as his picture, a stripper doing the splits in a G-string. And DayBrown’s fetid fantasmagorical musings and constant narrow minded obsession with how people had sex in history runs rampant, completely unchecked, through so many threads.

Guys, if you are going to continue in this fashion, you will end up with what you’ve practically got – a males only locker room in a frat house or cat house where few females dare, or would even want, to tread.

That’s fine, if that’s what you want. But you might be missing a lot of really useful input from women who know what they’re talking about – in fact, I’m sure that you are.

Oh yes. I hear you big time on a few of those there points. Well said.

Many message board formats have control settings which enable members to enable/disable images, avatars, signatures, etc as a matter of personal choice or necessity as they are memory hogs and can dramtically slow down page loading for people using other than cable connections.

Sadly, ours is not one of them.

Rokcet Scientist wrote:
Honi soît qui mal y pense.

There's nothing passive aggressive or peculiar about the act itself, but you've edited my sentence out of context to make it look as if I think that. I think that you're being deliberately disingenuous.

You and I both know that in most other reasonable serious-minded forums, you'd be kicked off for using that kind of language. Of course, if you want to turn this into a sex chat room, that's another matter.

Quite agree with Ishtar, there's an element of selfishness and querulousness here that surely puts people off.

I don't particularly know where this discussion is going, but I for one would enjoy more female participation on this forum. Thoughtful feedback is important, regardless of gender. The XX chromosome looks at issues differently than XY in many cases, and thankfully so!

For me, I work in a man's world by profession. However, for my first real full-time job my supervisor was an internationally respected Swedish woman with a PhD/MD. She could work any man under the table and was beyond smart. I learned early to respect the person regardless of their chromosomal makeup. If this issue is one of respect, then we all need to do a better job of keeping this forum as professional as possible even though most of us represent varying degrees of amateurism putting in our two cents.

As an outsider reading posts here I would be fascinated by the discussion and links, but at the same time turned off by some of the bickering that occurs. The only other point I can make is from Robert Fulghum:

“Play fair. Don't hit people. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.”

Its not a question of respect in that sense Cogs, as I think most here can respect a woman's intelligence and capabilities. Its a matter of social or professional respect. You wouldn't sign anything at work with a tag line containing sexual inuendo. Why not? As for "passive aggressive", I wonder how many would feel at ease if a male poster's signature made reference to a desire for anal or oral sex with other men? I think that is the point.

I agree. I can see why you found those remarks and actions sexist, and hostile.

But then they represent a very small minority here. You might also recall there were men on this board who also objected to the avatars. I hope you don't let it put you off. Unfortunately, its the nature of the cyber playground.

It seems lines of decorum are always crossed, or remarks are made that someone finds offensive. It's hard telling how many viewers/potential members are put off by political, religious, sexist/sexual remarks and many others.

I would suggest we let a member know by pmail that we find something offensive, and if they are not willing to be more sensitive, then pmailing one of the mods. I can't think of a better way to deal with these issues. They will always be with us I imagine.

Ishtar may be correct, being male I am probably unqualified to comment, but I do have a question, for her and any other interested parties.
How many females do you know with an interest in archaeology? My personal score is zero!

Digit wrote:Ishtar may be correct, being male I am probably unqualified to comment, but I do have a question, for her and any other interested parties.
How many females do you know with an interest in archaeology? My personal score is zero!

That's a laugh! Maybe you need to get out more and meet some real women.

I can name about five right now...some of them quite distinguished in their fields. But I wouldn't tell them about this discussion forum because the nature of some of the posts would disgust them.

How many females do you know with an interest in archaeology? My personal score is zero!

Oooh Dig, you just got yourself in trouble!

To begin with, Leona is an archaeologist, not to mention Michelle being heavily involved in it (she works on papers, script for the audio news, etc. all the time), and quite a few of our other females. I'm sure Ishtar will have a remark for you.

Hang in there buddy.

I'm sure Ishtar will have a remark for you.

Never mind.