On Thu, 5 Jan 1995, Dennis Paulson wrote:
> David Wright wrote: "Re the perceived paucity of "hotshot" female birders,
>> I don't think it has
>> anything to do with birding per se. It is just one more example of males
>> becoming obsessed with a recreational activity. It might just as well be
>> golf. The real question is why are males more likely than females to
>> become obsessed with such things? I suspect the answer is more
>> sociological than biological."
>
DP> But David, how do you then explain the presence of more women than men on
> birding trips? I know many of them are retired older women, some of whom
> have lost a husband and find this a wonderful recreational activity. But
> then why aren't a lot of older women taking up golf or other obsessive
> recreational activities? Lots of older men also do birding; it's the
> younger women who are relatively scarce.

The original question [paraphrased] was "why aren't there more hotshot
female birders." My point was not that the activity itself is obsessive,
but that males are more likely to pursue purely recreational activities
(such as birding) at a level of intensity (many hours in the field, etc.) that
approaches obsession. It is the heavy investment of time, etc. that
develops talent and leads to poobah/hotshot status. I see no evidence
that males are better endowed than females in the "pure talent" department.

>
> And there are at least as many female as male grad students in zoology (but
> not on zoology faculties, yet).

A different question; here we are out of the realm of avocational recreation.

>
> Then I guess you don't think testosterone has anything to do with it.....

Only if it influences the likelihood of males to invest lots of time
in a chosen recreational pursuit. Again, my point was that this is a
general phenomenon having to do with how men and women tend to spend their
free time (and historically this commodity has not been equitably distributed
between the sexes), not something about birding in particular.

David Wright
dwright at u.washington.edu

>
> Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
> Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
> University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
> Tacoma, WA 98416