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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Orfew, post: 4777860, member: 74968&quot;][USER=110350]@DonnaML[/USER] </p><p><br /></p><p>You started a very interesting thread here and I appreciate it very much. It has called for and caused some serious thinking on the issue you have described, i.e. the dearth of female voices in numismatics. I will not bore you or anyone else here with a long diatribe on norms and the breaking of norms. If you are interested there is some great analysis out there by both adherents and critics of Emile Durkheim&#039;s notion of Anomie.</p><p><br /></p><p>Having taught in a university linguistics department for a number of years I can tell you we also explored the notion of Anomie. The context we used concerned those who speak a language foreign to those of the surrounding populations. We equated Anomie to a loss of self. That is our whole notion of who we are may change when we encounter cultures and languages foreign to us but indigenous to this around us. I tend to think this is why so many people who only speak English who visit countries overseas are made uncomfortable in the experience. We are confronted with challenges to our worldview. Some people thrive in this type of environment and others are frightened and actually threatened by it. I like nothing better than being thrown into the midst of a foreign country with a foreign language and having to survive in that new context. I like seeing how others construct themselves in their environments.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now what does this have to do with their being few female numismatists? Let me start by saying that more are needed. Different perspectives can only inject life and vigor into this hobby of ours. The problem seems to be one of norms. It has become normal for this hobby to be male dominated and there is a long history of this. This particular norm has so been ingrained that it will be quite difficult to overcome. Individual male numismatists will claim they they personally have done nothing to prevent the participation of women this they are both correct and incorrect. On one level they are correct because they personally have done nothing to discourage any individual woman from participating. However, by not challenging the norm they are complicit in the marginalization of women within this hobby.</p><p><br /></p><p>Deconstructing the norm will take time but calls for a conscious action to address the unspoken reality that the&nbsp; norm has been shaping the participation of women in this hobby (and of course in thousands of other domains) for centuries.</p><p>John Gardner had a great quote that seems appropriate here.</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;Teachers in education are like fish in water. They swim in it but they don&#039;t often look at it&quot;. </p><p><br /></p><p>I think the same goes for historically male dominant segments of society and its many roles. So while many men may say they have done nothing to discourage women in the study of numismatics or as collectors, the very fact that those who have been dominant for so long do not question the norms of the hobby means that they are perpetuating them.</p><p><br /></p><p>Donna, many thanks for your thoughts on this issue and I hope you will continue to raise this issue. i also want to thank the many posters here who have left so many interesting and thoughtful comments.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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