The Elephant (not) in the Room

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Dan- said:
After quite some time because I’m a little slow, I realized that this is a forum for incels who don’t or can’t cook (sorry exceptions who prove the rule, but it’s true), who can’t sharpen (edge following? W-tf), and for gun nuts who also fetishize kitchen knife-shaped objects. Also idiots who fall for influence campaigns on gas stoves.

This forum is not friendly toward women. Maybe they don’t care. I don’t know, but I do know that my wife was convinced of the value of good knives when her apples didn’t brown after cutting. Focusing on benefits rather than sperging on things would likely help. Women cook. Women don’t fetishize knives.

It’s really a shame because there are some really good (mostly dudes) who know their stuff and are helpful and it gets buried in all the rest.

Still better than Reddit though.
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Man. I've got some *opinions* about the Instagram brainrotters around here who jerkoff and overpay for unfinished, underground, chonky mediumworklaserponys made by dudes who picked up a belt grinder during Covid, but *damn* you just sent it lol.

"Women don't fetishize knives."

Women, like all people, don't enjoy being painted with a broad brush and having their tastes and interests dictated by their genitals either. 😂
 
Vertigo said:
Man. I've got some *opinions* about the Instagram brainrotters around here who jerkoff and overpay for unfinished, underground, chonky mediumworklaserponys made by dudes who picked up a belt grinder during Covid, but *damn* you just sent it lol.

"Women don't fetishize knives."

Women, like all people, don't enjoy being painted with a broad brush and having their tastes and interests dictated by their genitals either. 😂
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Stop pussyfooting* around and tell us what you really think.

*to anyone who complains this might be in bad taste, my one response is “have cleaner feet”
 
Barmoley said:
I believe the forum is apathetic to gender, all that are interested in kitchen knives are welcomed.
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'welcome' and 'feel welcome' are different things. just because no one is directly harassing women doesn't mean that women feel welcome

there is a good amount of causal sexism around here, and you don't need to go further than this thread to find it. to me what's even worse is the random jarring sexualization that pops up occasionally - guys will talk about how a sexy knife reminds them of features of a woman's body, or how a knife performs and launch into purple prose about its similarities to former lovers

some people, mostly women, feel unwelcome because of this culture of saying whatever crude or sexist thought pops into your mind. if that culture changed to accommodate them, then some people, mostly men, would feel unwelcome because they can't say anything they want

you can't please both of them, you have to choose. and this forum has very clearly chosen permissiveness over prudence, for better or worse

i'm not even saying things should change. communities decide their own values collectively, and this community has made its priorities clear again and again. just don't pretend this place is welcoming to women
 
Unless it's an S-grind or a coke-bottle handle I think I'd prefer my knives and women to be dissimilar...

Would love to see the jokes on a female handle-making forum though. :D
 
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Women may not collect knives, but they do collect shoes, handbags and dresses. At least my "Bag For Life" does.

When I came back from Japan with £3k of knives, at least when I got questioned as to how much I spent, I could point out that they did cost less than her unworn shoe collection!

Met a girl (late 20's) the other week, she collects trainers, doesnt wear them, they are just placed around her flat artisticly. Different strokes for different folks.
 
When you upload a video to YouTube, you have to answer "is this content made for kids?".

If there were a mandatory checkbox for each post or comment, "this is gender-neutral content", we could present a filtered version of KKF with less of an atmosphere of a gentlemen's club. I wonder if any forums do this, or if KKF's current forum software could support this.

It would, at any rate, encourage more mindfulness on that front.
 
mengwong said:
It would, at any rate, encourage more mindfulness on that front.
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No, it would only encourage mindless checking of the box and frustration about having to check the damn box every post you make.

Also, not to be a smart-ass. But then I'm also going to make the case for having checkboxes for every region and ethnicity because clearly the overrepresentation of Americans on this forum is proof of its hostility towards non-Americans.
 
Making the forum less sexist in its underlying culture, and increasing the number of female members here are two separate (but related) issues.

Existing members can actively contribute to the former, but I don’t really see how it’s possible to force the latter to happen. This is basically the same point @spaceconvoy makes about the difference between making sure female members are welcomed, and making sure there is a culture here where they are going to feel welcome.

Fwiw I think the character assassination of the ‘average’ member is actively unhelpful, as it allows anyone who isn’t an incel or gun nut or whatever to feel like they don’t need to engage in some potentially uncomfortable self-reflection on their own blind spots. And it’s those blind spots that perpetuate a pervasive culture of underlying sexism far more than anything else.

I have seen members call discriminatory language out and hope people would say the same about me, but frankly I’m not sure what else can be done on a public forum beyond asking the mods to consider updating the content guidelines and more strictly moderating sexist/discriminatory language.

If they could ban pineapple on pizza chat whilst they’re at it, that would be an added bonus. I will compromise and allow the banning of water recipe discussions amongst the coffee nerds too.
 
'Gun nut' culture is real though and substantiated by clear socioeconomic status, educational, and gender divides. I suspect it's real with knife enthusiasts, too, but lacks the clear demarcation so is much harder to study. I say this while looking at my sporting clay trophies and Ashi collection, lol. Agree that the pejoratives, explicit or implied, are not so helpful to the conversation.
 
It is really fascinating and appalling how disrespectful and belittling some of you are to women. Some of you who claim that you want to make the forum more friendly to women are the worst offenders. I grew up and am surrounded by strong, independent women that don’t need and would not stand for men trying to tell them what they should be interested in or claim that they can’t handle some comments on a forum. If they get offended they can and do deal with it themselves and don’t need men to save them. How disrespectful can some of you be to imagine that they are not here because they can’t handle themselves. They are not here because this is not a topic that interests them, it is that simple. If they cared about knives they would be all over this place most likely running it. All they care about is that I suggest some knives out of which they will pick and that the knives stay sharp. This is not because as a man I have some innate ability, but simply because they know this is what I am interested in and it is more efficient to ask me than to do all the research. My men friends do the same they are also not here. Many of the both sexes are amazing cooks and none of them care about knives for just knives or sharpening them, but very much appreciate a sharp comfortable knife. Maybe some of you need to start actually seeing that women are as or more capable than men and stop pretending and virtue signaling.
 
I have to keep checking the title to see what this thread is (supposed to be) about.

The merde is deep.
 
azn_knives_4l said:
Uh... gun nuts are real and have different socioeconomic, educational, and gender distribution relative to the population at large. Does that help?

Edit: Not sure what you consider adequate sources but here you go. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/13/key-facts-about-americans-and-guns/#:~:text=40% of men say they,or urban areas (20%).
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Yeah because "gun nut" isn't derogatory. I prefer self-reliant, Constitutionalist. That's my adequate source. :)
 
HumbleHomeCook said:
Yeah because "gun nut" isn't derogatory. I prefer self-reliant, Constitutionalist. That's my adequate source. :)
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Sure, lol. I put it in quotes because others used the term in this thread. Again, I'm a champion clay target shooter. Lmk your preference and we'll go with it.
 
HumbleHomeCook said:
Doesn't change the context of your post.
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What do you read as the context of my post? Many gun owners refer to themselves proudly as 'gun nuts' and I provided the statistics to substantiate the cultural division. Do you take issue with the factually correct content? Why specifically respond to me when others in this thread have also used this term? Would you prefer gun enthusiast?
 
I live in the DC area. Plenty of 'gun nuts' in the City that like to shoot each other, as well as shoot random people.

The 'gun nuts' in the 'burbs here large only kill paper targets and clay pigeons.

I don't think they are the same demographic.
 
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