Now you're Talking: Soap Box
Thomas M. Mitchell
From time to time this section will present thought-provoking ideas on modeling/AMA issues. Timeliness and available space are factors which may affect publication. The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and should not be construed as being those of AMA Headquarters staff or the AMA officers.
This letter is directed primarily to the male modelers and the officers of AMA, but I hope all modelers will consider the points made.
I read the letter from Joan Anastasio in the July issue of Model Aviation with a lot of interest. I have been intrigued by women modelers, on those few occasions when I have seen them, and thought it would be nice if there were more. Joan said that the AMA was concerned about the lack of women in modeling and is looking into ways to increase their participation. She said, however, it is her honest opinion that there is no quick fix — no easy solution. Although it would be nice if there were, I'm sure she is right. Indeed, I wonder if it is possible to significantly increase the number of women participants at all.
It seems to me that some sports and hobbies appeal almost equally to men and women. Examples might be golf, tennis, ceramics, and gardening. It also seems to me that some hobbies appeal almost exclusively to one sex or the other. Two examples that come to mind are modeling and quilting. (I mention quilting because my wife is a quilter and I know a little about it.) I would like to compare these two hobbies and try to gain some insight into the perceived "problem" of having only a few women modelers.
We are all aware that not many women build or fly model airplanes. If you look around at a big contest, however, you see lots of women spectators, and you see women running the registration tables, impound areas, scoring tables, etc., but few, if any, flying. They obviously must have an interest in the activities at the contest, or they wouldn't be there at all.
Have they been made to feel welcome as spectators and workers, but not as participants? My guess also is that most of these women are wives or girlfriends of the men participants and spectators. They accompany their male friends to these events, enjoy seeing the airplanes and watching the flying, and enjoy the camaraderie, but have no interest in flying themselves. Most have been exposed to the hobby for years, but few have chosen to actually participate. It is at this point that we perceive that we have a problem and start to wonder how we can get more women to participate.
Now let me digress to quilting. This is a very large and active hobby in the U.S.—fully as large and active as modeling. There are local and national guilds, analogous to our clubs and the AMA; there are local, national, and even international contests. The quilts displayed at a big contest are true works of art. Each one has taken hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of hours to complete, and the skill and expertise required to make one are every bit as much as we are required to build a Top Gun or Scale Masters winner. But almost every quilt displayed was made by a woman. Men (probably husbands of the quilters) are in attendance and help set up the exhibits, but few, if any, made any of the quilts on display. One might ask, "How can we get more men involved in quilting?"
Do we have a problem here — no women modelers, no men quilters? I don't think so. I think we simply have two hobbies that for unexplained reasons appeal almost exclusively to one sex or the other, but not to both. Furthermore, I don't think any amount of "education" is likely to change that balance. If you think some kind of promotional program might encourage significant numbers of women to become modelers, put the shoe on the other foot for a moment and try to imagine what kind of program would be required to get men (other men) to become quilters.
Do you think there is anything, or any amount of advertising, exposure, education, or whatever, that would get you to start quilting? I think not — at least not in my case. It's not that I have anything against quilting, or against a man quilting. It is simply that sewing doesn't interest me — especially if I had to give up modeling or share my limited modeling time with quilting.
So is there a solution? Probably not, if "a solution" means recruiting lots of women to modeling. If we are willing to accept quality instead of quantity, and be content with the occasional excellent woman participant like Joan Anastasio, then the answer is yes. Model Aviation should continue to publish excellent articles like Dave Garwood's soaring column in the March issue, and hopefully Model Aviation and other magazines will devote more space to those women who do participate. We should just accept women as fliers and modelers, as Joan says, not as novelties, and welcome their participation.
I suspect that the real "solution," though, is for each of us to encourage our wives and daughters to join the hobby. After all, they have more exposure to the hobby (through us), and therefore would seem the more likely potential participants than the female population in general. Programs to promote the hobby with youth (girls as well as boys) also might eventually get more women involved.
I urge the AMA not to invest large amounts of time or money in developing programs specifically to attract women to modeling. It is a nice goal to contemplate, but one which I think is unattainable, except on an individual basis. If you still do not agree with me, again try to imagine what it would take to make you a quilter.
Our recruiting funds are limited. Let's use them where they have the best chance of producing positive results. Teach your wife, your daughter, and see where that goes. Good luck, though. I've tried to interest mine in flying, but she doesn't want to share her limited quilting time with modeling.
Thomas M. Mitchell 11831 Chase Lake Dr. Houston, TX 77077
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
