Hi ,

I was wondering if any of the girls have typical masculine hobbies / pleasures , and how do they feel about it ?

Personally , I never enjoyed violent toys/games as a child , neither sports : watching or playing , yet I had some pleasures from car models , I don't know if it was about the cars or about scale models , nowadays scale models still fascinate me ,unrelated to cars.

Although I work as a truck driver , I didn't like to drive , and i still don't like it now ( i only have 2 more days , so it will be over ) .
As a teenager , i enjoyed some car themes ,like tuning ,  it was on of my things , to try to show masculinity and get attention . Now i am not interested in cars at all , i can appreciate /envy the life of a luxury car's owner , but i definitely don't like them .

It still bothers me though , that i didn't have a more feminine favorite toy as a child .It bothers me about what could say about my gender and also about loosing the opportunity of being more feminine now , if i wouldn't chose that job .

I am interested if any of you have something similar .

Well, I drive a truck, but I don't like it because I wanted an IT job where I could work in an office and be home everyday. I hadn't really considered how "masculine" the job is, only about 10% of our drivers are women.

As far as hobbies I like video games, computers, anime, and paintball. I would think that men are more into those things than women, but I don't care. I am me, I like what I like, I suspect had I been born properly female I would be considered very strange lol.

I mean when I was a kid I played with barbies, easy bakes ovens, alongside transformers, and erector sets. I am not so sure it really mattered much to the final outcome of who I am, since my gender identity isn't even remotely androgynous.

I do note that, after I accepted myself, some things changed:
I noticed that violence isn't nearly as appealing of a theme in video games, like I enjoy the violence with a purpose, I do like seeing the bad guy get whats coming to him, but just violence for violence's sake bothers me in a way it used to not. This has made me shift more strongly to RPGs in what I like to play.

Also, I used to not mind having an older car and replacing things myself, but I really hate getting dirty. I still appreciate the way a car from the 60-70s looks and drives but, I got rid of them and bought a Toyota Prius. Simple, reliable, carries as much cargo as I need and economical. It is likely the slowest car I have ever owned, but that just doesn't bother me anymore.

I also found myself being much more interested in on road cycling rather than off road. I now worry more about taking my mountain bike onto the trail than I actually enjoy it. Perhaps this is a reflection of my entire outlook being more cautious, which I doubt was caused by hormones or self acceptance, but maybe it could be I don't know.

I still like classic cars and bikes,metal and punk rock(go to the Rebellion punk festival every year).I did the usual guy stuff of muscle cars and bikes.As a kid I had hardly any friends so made models(war planes,tanks,army vehicles and cars(usually 50s cars and muscle cars).Now I enjoy birdwatching and wild life.
I'm not keen on driving having spent 10 years as a bus driver.

Well if you were socialized as a boy and these are the things you were supposed to like and the things your friends liked, it goes to figure you would become interested in them. It's called fitting in and everyone's doing it. I used to play with only girls when i was in first grade but somehow that stopped and I playyed with no one. Then I became BFFs with this other girl in second grade and we used to go to the bathroom togethr, until we got caught. I wasn't allowed to talk to her after that and started being treated as a criminal. And that's what I became. The bad kids started to like me cause I never told them I went to the bathroom with her cause I believed I was really a girl and something went wrong and that eventually things would get better I just told them I was kissing her. Then I was in with them. But it didn't take long for them to figure out how i'm like but they stayed friends with me but they just picked on me a lot.

But I became a witch at age 15 and at the same time liked video games and Mortal Kombat (I was always the girl) and so you can have both interests. Or whatever. My teenage friends did notice that I was always the girl and a witch so im surprised they didnt ditch me. But I'm a really cool fun nice person so maybe that's why. We were also punks and skaters. So that's more of an accepting group as opposed to jocks and whatnot. (Gawd, I ramble too much) but your interests are your interests. Do what makes ya happy, cause it can't be that bad. hhehe

sorry can't help you . I don't touch any thing masculine

I suppose modifying and repairing guitars and basses is one of those things. It's sort of an offshoot of me playing them for so long, although most people can't even set their own guitar up lol.

Playing bass is another ungirly thing I do, I suppose. There are not so many female bass players. I also play upright bass.

Playing shows at bars at least 3 or 4 times a month is another thing that isn't so girly - however I also do solo piano gigs playing classical and jazz.

The only other thing would be my interest and ownership of many guns. 4 are simply gifts or inherited (.22, .308, 20ga, 10ga), two rifles and two shotguns, but I also bought myself 3 pistols (.45, 9mm, .22) and a shotgun (12ga) since I turned 21. Gun ownership is pretty high in Alaska though, and we've got extremely relaxed gun laws - at 21 you can concealed carry with no permit, as long as you aren't a felon. I also could just shoot in my yard or even right out my windows when I lived in Ninilchik. I liked waking myself up by shooting my XD45 out my bedroom window.

That being said I have plenty of feminine interests to balance those out haha.

Quote from: ath on February 13, 2014, 11:52:23 AM
I suppose modifying and repairing guitars and basses is one of those things. It's sort of an offshoot of me playing them for so long, although most people can't even set their own guitar up lol.

Playing bass is another ungirly thing I do, I suppose. There are not so many female bass players. I also play upright bass.

Playing shows at bars at least 3 or 4 times a month is another thing that isn't so girly - however I also do solo piano gigs playing classical and jazz.

The only other thing would be my interest and ownership of many guns. 4 are simply gifts or inherited (.22, .308, 20ga, 10ga), two rifles and two shotguns, but I also bought myself 3 pistols (.45, 9mm, .22) and a shotgun (12ga) since I turned 21. Gun ownership is pretty high in Alaska though, and we've got extremely relaxed gun laws - at 21 you can concealed carry with no permit, as long as you aren't a felon. I also could just shoot in my yard or even right out my windows when I lived in Ninilchik. I liked waking myself up by shooting my XD45 out my bedroom window.

That being said I have plenty of feminine interests to balance those out haha.

I wouldn't worry about it too much, I heard Sarah Palin can field dress a moose

Quote from: ath on February 13, 2014, 11:52:23 AM
I suppose modifying and repairing guitars and basses is one of those things. It's sort of an offshoot of me playing them for so long, although most people can't even set their own guitar up lol.

Playing bass is another ungirly thing I do, I suppose. There are not so many female bass players. I also play upright bass.

Playing shows at bars at least 3 or 4 times a month is another thing that isn't so girly - however I also do solo piano gigs playing classical and jazz.

That's awesome! I LOVE jazz piano

I don't find playing music a masculine thing which is my main passion. I play acoustic and electric..So yeah besides that I love video games(recently hooked up my gamecube  )role playing, comic books, and combat sports.

If anything the reason why so many industries are still dominated by men is cause of the terrible pink and blue syndrome our society has. Thankfully more women each coming generation are entering male dominated industries.. BALANCE SHALL BE ATTAINED.. eventually  Especially in IT

I can make a list of "masculine" things that I've learned to enjoy over the years and that are a part of me. I am not ashamed of having these "masculine" traits.

I have never liked sports, except for a recent (less than 5 years) passion for watching Formula One races. I still find it boring, but I really like to watch it, I just can't tell why...

Talking about cars, althought I really don't care about sport cars, I can name most of the "normal" cars I see on the streets. I just need to give a look and I can say the brand/model/year of the car. I also care a lot about my car and I love to keep it very tidy. It is very common for me to spend a morning wahsing and cleaning it.

I also love playing videogames. I don't like shooters or terror games, but I do enjoy RPGs like Final Fantasy and MMORPGs like World of Warcraft. But...girls can also play videogames, right?

I like action and science-fiction movies! Not that I like to watch Rambo or any Chuck Norris movie, but I do like Die Hard and any Star Trek! Not many girls enjoy this kind of movies...

About music...I enjoy classical music and I love the epic ones. Marchs or anything that feels epic as an army marching to Mordor to fight aggainst Sauron! I think am a really nerdy girl lol

Quote from: stephaniec on February 13, 2014, 12:01:07 PM
I wouldn't worry about it too much, I heard Sarah Palin can field dress a moose

Never killed a moose myself but I have killed and field dressed a grizzly bear, a couple black bears, as well as several Sitka blacktail deer, and many snowshoe hares and ptarmigan. My family does lots of hunts.

Not to mention literally thousands of fish (I used to work fishing industry in the summers haha). Last summer I cleaned probably 10,000 clams. When tides are low people would bring in buckets and buckets and buckets and..... $0.50 per clam in my pocket, plus tips.

Quote from: brianna1016 on February 13, 2014, 12:40:06 PM

That's awesome! I LOVE jazz piano

Maybe later when I get home I'll post some recordings for you.

Well, I'm an ardent feminist, so I think women can enjoy anything men can and vice versa. That said, I don't really have many stereotypically masculine hobbies, and didn't before; I do play video games, but as someone else pointed out, plenty of women like the kind of RPGs I do. (I also got into playing online so I could present as female.) I like hockey and baseball, but also curling and figure skating. I do tend to like chick-lit books and fantasy, but I'm a huge sci-fi fan and do NOT tell me women can't enjoy/read/write sci-fi!

I tend to look at it as, I got to develop the hobbies I would have outside of a society that's so highly into stereotypes - the "male" ones because I didn't have people telling me girls aren't into that, and the "girly" ones in secret.

Someone must tell her to stop what she is doing as it is regarded as being a male dominated interest.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/motorsport/24873795


Competition flower arranging anyone ?

In all honesty I don't understand this at all.

Someone I used to be friends with regularly played in an all-girl clan/group/whatever-you-call-it in a few FPS games, like Call Of Duty etc. She loved it. And didn't seem bothered by it at all. One of my friends strips out and rebuilds old cars just for the heck of it. She is only happy when she's up to her elbows in grease and oil and god knows what else. Neither think it takes anything away from who they are, or even consider that it makes them any less "womanly".

I can see why it might be rebelled against as possibly symbolic of something, by some people. But I don't honestly think it is. You like what you like. You are who you are. I don't think the two are dependant on each other or that enjoying certain things is indicative of anything other than what you've been exposed to and taken an interest in while living life.

If you're a rugby-playing, beer-chugging, automobile-modding, kill-streak building, adrenaline-junkie kinda gal... more power to you. Seriously. And if you're not... more power to you, too.

Do what makes you happy. Who you are is already there, and not in question.

Quote from: Claudia_FF on February 13, 2014, 09:15:43 AM
Hi ,

I was wondering if any of the girls have typical masculine hobbies / pleasures , and how do they feel about it ?

Personally , I never enjoyed violent toys/games as a child , neither sports : watching or playing , yet I had some pleasures from car models , I don't know if it was about the cars or about scale models , nowadays scale models still fascinate me ,unrelated to cars.

Although I work as a truck driver , I didn't like to drive , and i still don't like it now ( i only have 2 more days , so it will be over ) .
As a teenager , i enjoyed some car themes ,like tuning ,  it was on of my things , to try to show masculinity and get attention . Now i am not interested in cars at all , i can appreciate /envy the life of a luxury car's owner , but i definitely don't like them .

It still bothers me though , that i didn't have a more feminine favorite toy as a child .It bothers me about what could say about my gender and also about loosing the opportunity of being more feminine now , if i wouldn't chose that job .

I am interested if any of you have something similar .

I don't subscribe to the notion that there really exist "masculine" or "feminine" hobbies.  I think that is purely a social construct.

Quote from: ath on February 13, 2014, 11:52:23 AM
I suppose modifying and repairing guitars and basses is one of those things. It's sort of an offshoot of me playing them for so long, although most people can't even set their own guitar up lol.

Playing bass is another ungirly thing I do, I suppose. There are not so many female bass players. I also play upright bass.

Playing shows at bars at least 3 or 4 times a month is another thing that isn't so girly - however I also do solo piano gigs playing classical and jazz.

I never thought of being a rocker as a guy thing. I still play and repair guitars and basses as well.  I used to be a professional luthier/guitar tech. I lost count of how many guitars and basses I have, but they always keep me busy because I'm super picky about how they play.  Haven't had a gig in ages, but I would like to get another band going after I get my home studio up and running.  I'm not looking to be a rock star or anything, but I miss playing out.  I think I would like to try an all female band next time around.

Quote from: Jamie de la Rosa on February 13, 2014, 06:57:02 PM
I don't subscribe to the notion that there really exist "masculine" or "feminine" hobbies.  I think that is purely a social construct.

It is a social construct, no doubt. Both sexes are, most of the times, equally able to perform any task. On the other hand, as something stablished by our society, there are hobbies/jobs that are hugely dominated by one gender, such as hair stylists are usually women and construction workers are normally men. Why? Gender stereotypes plus a real natuaral hability to work on that area.

Usually men are stronger, so heavy jobs are reduct of men. Of course a woman can work there, but it is much less usual and women, biologicaly speaking, don't have as much muscle mass as men, so they tend to be outperformed on this tasks.

So, sure, "masculine stuff" and "feminine stuff" are social constructs most of the times....nonetheless they are real. If you are a woman and you love to repair the engine of a car, you are breaking the rules, dissolving the stereotypes, being an exception. I'd love to see these gender stereotypes falling down, but I think our society, as it is today, will need a lot of time until those stablished "laws" can come to an end.

I don't think following sports is very masculine. Open any nfl catalogue and there's more female apparel than anything else!

I know gamer girls and car girls and tough girls and nerd girls and girly girls. It's just stuff you like to do. Your femininity is not defined by the perceived girlyness of you hobby. It's just that typical girl hobbies are so boring!

I make an excellent gingerbread. Does that offset my other hobbies?

Quote from: SuchisLife on February 14, 2014, 02:40:47 AM
Swordfighting aka Historical European Martial Arts

So, I guess fighting with two-handed steel swords counts as masculine.

Your skills in the impending zombie apocalypse will be greatly valued