Women in Numismatics

No, I think you are right, Donna. I think the need for “home spun” knitting has died out. Plus I am sure there are several other economic reasons.

 

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Haha yes I can see why my statement was confusing. I was implying that, as a minority group, LGBT people make up a larger share of the lack of minorities. I don’t know why my brain decided to say it that way, it’s needlessly confusing!

So yes my intent was to say that there don’t seem to be very many LGBT people collecting ancients. Though as a G in that acronym I also know unless it’s explicitly stated it’s hard to really tell who else may be also. But I’ll wave the flag in case there are others out there like me!

 

Indeed, be who you are because everyone else is already taken.

 

I don't think that's remotely true. After all, when people talk about someone being "handy," they're almost always referring to a man! It's just that stereotypically they make different things -- as in, men whittle and make things with wood; women knit! But I think far fewer among both men and women know how to make things with their hands than was the case 100 years ago, except for the ones that do so for a living.

 

My alma mater went through a stint of begging for contributions to encourage women in STEM studies. One day I said offhandedly to my wife, "I wonder why more women don't go into STEM studies." Her answer was, "Because they don't want to." And I thought, "Pfft, that's no answer, that's almost a tautology." But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that's actually the answer: they don't want to. It's not that society forbids them anymore. They just prefer to do something else.

Why can't we all just do what we like? (Within moral and legal limits of course). If old straight white men are over-represented in numismatics, so what? Does anyone complain that we're under-represented in basketball and ballet? If we really saw each other as human beings endowed with certain unalienable rights (like choosing vocations and avocations), it wouldn't matter what gender, skin color or sexual preference we evinced.

edited

 

With a few undergrad courses in Art, Art History and History and advanced course in a master's program = Advanced degree in Numismatics or Numisology

 

I guess it would be nice for you if more women collected coins? For me I have collected coins over 40 years. The women who did collect coins I've come across where very logical and just different than the masses of women I've been around. You could say maybe more right brain thinkers. I don't mean to insult you. But your probably a small % of the gender. I have a granddaughter I hope will be a coin collector. She doses show some interest. I don't watch sport or play them any more so my hobby is my interaction with my gender. My wife has a few coins she thinks are unique and pretty I have given her but most of the coins are jewelry now. As for the talk about LGBT people. Yay a bunch of mostly older men are not going to exclude for the most part. But most likely don't understand LGBT nor do the vast amount of older women my wife and me know. We are A/C D/C minded. I have a couple gay friends but we don't talk shop. I just except there choice. So no they most likely would not collect coins ever. Forgive my spelling and punctuation. English is not my first language. I hope I did not upset you. I l read post. You are well read and intellectual.

 

No, you didn't upset me. Although I don't think of myself as particularly logical; I'm much more of an intuitive thinker than someone who goes step by step to find connections or reach a conclusion. All that really means, I suspect, is that my subconscious is doing the work, much faster than my conscious mind ever could! That was true for me as a lawyer for almost 40 years, and it's true for me in both genealogical and numismatic research.

 

This is what I was trying to say; however, you said it with more eloquence.

 

Bing, have been reading your post for some time. You all ways have intresting post. I just seldom post or log in.

 

You where a lawyer. Yes your logical and smarter than I though. I would do better reading Greek than understanding the law.

 

You're welcome, but I think once will be enough! I agree that the majority of comments have been very thoughtful and even empathetic, but there have been a few too many that I would characterize as somewhat dismissive and incurious, typified by a priori reasoning of the "things are the way they are because that's the way they are" or "because it's genetic" variety.* And never mind the one or two that have spilled over into hyperbolic political rants. Not that I don't think I'm perfectly capable of holding my own in any debate about these issues -- after all, I did argue for a living for almost four decades! -- but that's not why I'm in this forum, and I'm sure you can understand that I'm in a somewhat uncomfortable position here.

* Such arguments can sometimes be taken to ridiculous extents: I once saw someone claim that the preference of girls for pink and boys for blue was simply "natural," not realizing that a little more than 100 years ago the associations were precisely the opposite. (Blue was considered a color for girls because of its association with Mary, and pink was considered a junior version of red, which was a traditionally masculine color, perhaps because of its association with war and blood.)