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Guest
Guest
I hope you'll find value in the information you mine from this forum, and I'm glad to hear you now feel welcome and have moved past the hazing ritual for newbies.
When this forum was first started (after the original one collapsed,) it was a much kinder and more gentle place. People were genuinely helpful and we didn't have near the amount of people who were not here to educate but were instead here to castigate.
Over the years the forum gravitated into less of a "help" venue as opposed to one for those who were "called" to proselytize their own particular political or religious point of view.
Ann is right. Women have always been discouraged from participating in this industry as well as this forum, via the way they are treated.... in both. The irony is that while women don't do "well" in this venue, they do very well in the industry.
Besides Ann and Melissa, I can't think of any other women on this forum. There may be some under assumed screen-names, but no others that have "come out."
Personally, if I were female, I would not want to be here, for the exact reasons that Ann stipulated in her post above. There are a large number of very conservative men here who believe that a woman's place is in the home, subservient to her husband, and preferably "barefoot and pregnant."
It's hard enough for a new man to come to this venue and not be belittled into leaving after asking what is put down as a "dumb" questions by the "regulars." I can't imagine the pressure that a young woman might face.
It is what it is. This is a man's venue... a man-cave if you will... the language, the attitude, and the conservative philosophy of the majority of men who basically want this to be a male-oriented venue is well established.
Personally I welcome women as well as minorities (who would have an equally difficult time here) but few come and even fewer stay... here... and in the industry as a whole.
I think women would have an easier time breaking into NASCAR than becoming accepted as "equals" in the insurance biz if this forum is any barometer.
Just my opinion and YMMV.