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Where's all the HOT cbg ladies?!?!?!

Just kidding, I have a hot little tamale at home that keeps me happy.

It's funny, though. Every so often I'll catch a posting or a photo on here of a quite attractive female member and I find it a little jarring. I'm completely used to seeing the guys with the mutton chop sideburns and wild beards or the younger guys with tattoos running all up and down their arms but throw a lady on here and I get stopped dead in my tracks out of the sheer weirdness of it. I think it comes from the way our society is set up, where if a woman is attractive she doesn't really need to get her hands dirty in the wood shop; she can get a man to do all that for her. On an individual basis I think we all understand that there is nothing all that strange about a woman working on a band saw but when you take it up to a macro level you have a whole entertainment media set up to portray women as a bunch of helpless, vapid, catty gold diggers. It isn't so surprising that the media is like this (the media is just a stupid headless beast designed to go where the money is); what's surprising is that society itself seems to be cool with this, all the while we're all telling each other how enlightened we are.

I'm pretty good about not getting sucked into all the BS but sometimes something happens (like seeing a picture of a woman on a CBG social network) that lets me know that the stupid is starting to find a foothold in my little lizard brain. It's why stereotypes and prejudices are so damned dangerous. It's because they're so damned easy to let cultivate.

Last time you found a woman here on the Nation, was your first thought to compliment her guitar or her smoking' hotness ("Wow, nice to see such a lovely lady on the...")?

Well that's enough of that. I'm going to go fill my coffee cup and ogle the secretary a bit.

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Permalink Reply by Roosterman on September 22, 2009 at 7:24am

Interesting point Josh - it does seem to be a 'mans world' here. But it aint nothing without a woman...

And there are some great female builders on here no doubt!

I have to admit, my first thought when a young female member appears is (no names mentioned)... is it a scam of some flavour?? Unfortunatly, it usually is.

I could ramble on about equality, female plumbers and scaffolders, changing attitudes through the industrial revolution etc etc for hours, but I think it would all come back to the same point - there should be more female builders here!

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Permalink Reply by Tres Seaver on September 22, 2009 at 9:05am

Josh, a truly lizard brain closer would've been to get the secretary to bring you the coffee so you could ogle her -- there may be some hope for you yet!

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Permalink Reply by Susan Hunt on September 22, 2009 at 9:10am

I guess awareness is the first step towards enlightenment. It never occurred to me that cigar box guitars should be a man's world, although when I went to purchase my Ashton box at a cigar store in Portland, I had clearly stepped into a man cave. They resented my being in there, and snickered in my interest in CBG's. But, nobody laughs at Bonnie Raitt when she pulls out her slide. I'd like to think CBG builders and players are special people, and until somebdy calls me a chick, or tells me to ask my husband about brass trim rings, I'm sticking to that belief.

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Permalink Reply by FatDog on September 22, 2009 at 9:47am

Wait what?
There are no women on the internets. ;)

(just a programmers world meme brought on to the CBG world)

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Permalink Reply by Mortimer Snerd on September 22, 2009 at 10:47am

I think Monkeys with golf balls and 9 irons are more worthy of posting about then this. It's an Avatar, and if it is a glamor shot of a girl, chances are, she don't look that way when she wakes up in the morning, maybe curb your dreaming next time.

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Permalink Reply by Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) on September 22, 2009 at 11:06am

Easy, there, chief. Nobody is posting about someone's avatar. I just noticed this morning when I came across a female user's post that I had become temporarily derailed by my own bullshit preconceived notions. If I'm being 100% honest, I think my first thought was, "Oh, hey, look at that. A girl that builds cigar box guitars. That's odd." Following that, "I wonder if she's good looking?" And immediately after that, "Wait, what the hell does that have to do with anything???"

I thought the whole situation was ironic and a little funny and thought I might share with anyone who might be interested or who maybe had experienced the same thing at some point. It's fun to sometimes point out those things that make us stupid. It's what allows us to laugh at ourselves and serves as the first stepping stone in our quest to be a little less stupid (or a little less retarded in my case, I suppose).

I guess I could have exercised a little self control and not posted the whole affair to begin with. Then again, others can also exercise their freedom to not click the link to begin with, as well.

Of course, I could be completely off my rocker as well. Everything is always so muddy before I've had my vodka, so it's really hard for me to say one way or the other, you know?

Mortimer Snerd said:

I think Monkeys with golf balls and 9 irons are more worthy of posting about then this. It's an Avatar, and if it is a glamor shot of a girl, chance are, she don't look that way when she wakes up in the morning, so curb your dreaming next time. I can't believe someone would post about female avatars.

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Permalink Reply by Diydc on September 22, 2009 at 11:12am

I`m starting a course for CBG`s on monday at the local community centre. There are six paticipants, 3 of which are women. The women are due to make violins (2) and a mandolin.
The 3 men are due to make guitars (2) and a bass. Says it all really.
Just because women do not tend to indulge in such internet fora, does not mean they do not exist.
rather a futile discussion in my point of view.

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Permalink Reply by Roger Martin on September 22, 2009 at 12:31pm

Fella's,I think he is 1/2 serious and 1/2 joking.And he's giving us a chance to laugh at ourselves a bit.
Most women know us guys aint hittin on much and they cut us more slack then we deserve a lot of the time lol

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on September 22, 2009 at 1:35pm

Amen bruddah.

Hey to all the Ladies out there, Cheers! We love ya being here. Great to have ya. Keep on building, playing and generally being patient with us ;-)

And... To be honest, if your avatar's are you, you ladies certainly make the Nation look real good!

Roger Martin said:

Fella's,I think he is 1/2 serious and 1/2 joking.And he's giving us a chance to laugh at ourselves a bit.
Most women know us guys aint hittin on much and they cut us more slack then we deserve a lot of the time lol

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Sprague (Knotlenny) on September 22, 2009 at 1:47pm

Hey Ben, what the hell is a "scaffolder"?

Randy Rooster (Ben) said:

Interesting point Josh - it does seem to be a 'mans world' here. But it aint nothing without a woman...

And there are some great female builders on here no doubt!

I have to admit, my first thought when a young female member appears is (no names mentioned)... is it a scam of some flavour?? Unfortunatly, it usually is.

I could ramble on about equality, female plumbers and scaffolders, changing attitudes through the industrial revolution etc etc for hours, but I think it would all come back to the same point - there should be more female builders here!

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Permalink Reply by Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) on September 22, 2009 at 5:07pm

Yahtzee!!!

Roger Martin said:

Fella's,I think he is 1/2 serious and 1/2 joking.And he's giving us a chance to laugh at ourselves a bit.
Most women know us guys aint hittin on much and they cut us more slack then we deserve a lot of the time lol

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Permalink Reply by Skeesix on September 22, 2009 at 5:36pm

You might find this funny, coming from one of those hot female CBGer's, but anyway, I've been involved with guitar playing and making for a long time. Generally, I get what I call the "female surprise factor" - hey, it's a girl, and then after I play or show something I've made - damn, she's good! Then I get extra attention because I'm unusual.

Okay, that's not funny, that's just kind of an advantage.

The funny part is, I have developed a rather "male" attitude about other females I run into in playing circles. I expect them to be a wife or girlfriend who is just hanging around and not actually involved in a show or whatever and that they won't be knowledgeable about anything - say, I am at a guitar show and want to ask a question about a guitar I'm interested in - I expect to get an answer like, I don't know, my husband is taking a break, come back later. Or I expect them not to be very good at playing (just playing chords for example and not learning how to play lead), and I am pleasantly surprised when they are. I can't remember actually running into any other female builders in person, except maybe Linda Manzer, who is a genius. Check out her multi-neck custom guitars:
http://www.manzer.com/guitars/index.php?option=com_content&view...

Anyway, I am always happy to help anyone coming up male, or female, if they even show the slightest interest in playing or building and I'm happy to see a fair number of females on here. The more, the merrier, as far as I'm concerned. I don't "get" why more females don't build things, and why they gravitate towards "feminine" instruments such as violin or flute instead of guitar or drums. There does to seem to be a growing contingent of female bass players which I only see as a positive step in the right direction.