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Why do men Prefer artistic fields more than women

Last posted Feb 09, 2016 at 02:04PM EST. Added Feb 08, 2016 at 11:46PM EST
18 posts from 13 users

i couldn't find anything about this on the internet so…

Its not a secret that creative driven fields such as animation, painting, comic writting and drawing and music are basically a sausage fest, to put it in perspective a majority of genre revolutionary albums have been dropped by men or atleast a men driven group.

Any reason why psychologically women prefer more organized less abstract jobs?

Do they in general? I haven't heard what is scientifically referred to as a "bias" in the demographics of this area. I personally thought there were more female artists than male painters to be honest, though you might have to point me in a specific direction. There are different areas of design that both men and women aim towards. The only specific area of design that I know for a fact men dominate is in Architectural Design. In music, there's a bias among male founders and instrument players, but it's about 50/50 for vocalists. Comics and drawing may also be 50/50 question mark?

I think it's mostly a social thing or by connection a social psychology thing. I am not a believer in the patriarchy as some say it exists today, I more believe the patriarchy mostly died in the West not too many years ago and some parasites are still clinging on and it also left behind a huge shell that makes certain things difficult for both genders.

It's not an issue of discrimination much anymore, more a psychological social thing where people aren't taking the jobs they would otherwise want in a truly perfect society. Like because artists have been historically seen as male, Apollo even being the god of art and masculinity and all and Athena being the goddess of wisdom and female. This kind of mentality has been in the human psyche since art itself has existed basically so it's hard to shake off. Now is it biological or not? Maybe, maybe not. All things to an extent are biological but at the same time humans are smart enough and have the capacity to shake off roles societal or biological in various circumstances.

Like think about what you see when you imagine an artist. As you said women are basically non-existent in historically creating any artistic revolution or genre. When you think about it in the media or historically or whatever you imagine white men and more recently in the last century or so just men in general since arguably job equality among minorities has equalized faster than between the genders, possibly because the expectations and roles are heavier as well as genetic inclinations more different due to dymorphism and hormones.

This is all just jumbled analysis I have no real reason as to why this is a thing. I'm just in high school after all. You'd need actual like observational studies up the ass to be able to even come close to proving anything about the history of this and the point of my post is that so many variables are involved like genes, culture, psychology, etc are at play that we may never know.

What does matter in the end I say is that people should try to not let media or experiential influences get to them too much and to push boundaries. The real straight forward and boring answer to your question is because women aren't taking these jobs, and the solution is for women to take them. There are huge opportunities for women to take these due to all kinds of affirmative action programs around. Like for STEM fields another currently underrepresented field of work for women if you're somewhat good at them and are interested the opportunities you can get over men are enormous. The same is also true for stuff the other way around. Jobs men are thin in such as pre college teaching, stay at home parents, etc are very very light in men but their numbers are growing. Don't let societal roles define you, you might change them and even go some ways in changing the very genome of the human race to better prepare us for the modern world.


@Freak

He means revolutionary. Like think of a female artist musical or painting or whatever who has changed society and art as a whole. There's basically none. Even the sciences have more revolutionary women.

To add onto this the only thing that seems female dominated is like drawing and painting but like everything else is still generally male as twisty and some others pointed out.

Last edited Feb 09, 2016 at 12:33AM EST

Freakenstein wrote:

Do they in general? I haven't heard what is scientifically referred to as a "bias" in the demographics of this area. I personally thought there were more female artists than male painters to be honest, though you might have to point me in a specific direction. There are different areas of design that both men and women aim towards. The only specific area of design that I know for a fact men dominate is in Architectural Design. In music, there's a bias among male founders and instrument players, but it's about 50/50 for vocalists. Comics and drawing may also be 50/50 question mark?

i sadly don't have any numbers to base myself on becuase this is a really unexplored thing, im just saying this out of things i have observed, but really taking into account even the fact some bands with female singers have twice the amount of male instrumentalist, even taking into account the fact that in the internet era almost any kind of musician from any kind of upbringing, background or gender, females dont seem to get in this area. even taking more into account that there is more solo acts who prosper almost by themselves today than bands or groups of more than 4 people (such as st. vincent and grimes) there is still a highly outraking number.

i wish i had a more knowledgeable person in terms of comics and animation but from just my own observations it seems atleast drawings is starting to become more female oriented, althought comic writing still remains a sausage fest

Last edited Feb 09, 2016 at 12:26AM EST

LOL WHAT
HAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA
More MEN in artistic field?!?!?! You can't be serious.

I travel across the US attending anime conventions as an artist. Most cons have between 5 and 20 artists in the artist alley. The artist alley is a place artist's sell their artwork and/or handmade creations. I have been to almost 20 conventions as an artist, so that is atleast 200 artists I have met in the past year and a half. I can count on my hands the amount of male artists I have seen in the artist's alley.
No, really, of 200 people I have seen in the artist alley, i've seen, at most, 10. It isn't unusual for me to be the only male artist there.
Look at Etsy, 85% of shop owners there are female, and that is a heavily creative field.
Just look at just about any video game development staff. The artwork staff is almost always majority female.

Its hilarious because I was thinking about making this same thread, but reversed. I wonder why so few men take artistic and creative fields.

I travel across the US attending anime conventions as an artist. Most cons have between 5 and 20 artists in the artist alley.

you realize artistic field is not just what you see at anime conventions right?

but this does give me some more insight on the difference between all artistic fields, i guess drawing is more owned by women

Last edited Feb 09, 2016 at 01:15AM EST

James Blunt wrote:

I travel across the US attending anime conventions as an artist. Most cons have between 5 and 20 artists in the artist alley.

you realize artistic field is not just what you see at anime conventions right?

but this does give me some more insight on the difference between all artistic fields, i guess drawing is more owned by women

So what is your experience of seeing mostly men in artistic fields?

HA! You're funny, more men in the artistic field? Hilarious. Though there are different things that count as "art" I'll throw you a bone and assume you mean things such as 2D drawings. Which, if that is the case, women dominate it. Like, holy shit. Just go on Tumblr, most of the best lewd artists I've found were women. Most of the ones I follow there are women. Mind you, a good chunk of them are male too, but man… it's both inspiring AND terrifying how many porn artists are female _

This is the first time I've heard of men dominating the Arts. I normally hear how men dominate the Sciences like Engineering, Physics, Economics, Medicine, etc, and how this domination is bullying women out of them. I'm sure you've all heard that one claim that most prominent historic personalities in the fields are men and this proves the claim about men dominating.

Personally (so needless to say take it with a grain of salt):
I know at least three artists irl who went to art school and only one of them's a guy. (My close friend tells me however that her art school is mostly dudes.)
When it comes to those who went to music school though, I know a lot of musicians and they're all guys.
Of all the artists I follow on Tumblr, around 85% of them are girls.

And also somewhat relevant, I recall my university's military program has female cadets outnumbering male cadets by 60%. Heck, the Corp commander of our military program was a woman.

Though there are different things that count as “art” I’ll throw you a bone and assume you mean things such as 2D drawings

except i dont

Just go on Tumblr, most of the best lewd artists I’ve found were women

thats already 2 people who equate artistic fields to porn

anyways from what it was stablished here, it seems different art fields have different variations of genders, some have more males and some have females.

now before this thread i was making myself some type of tesis; do men prefer abstract thought, opposite of females who want more organized things based on reality? and right now im trying to see if there is a connection between these gender dominated arts and the tesis i made before, or maybe there is a more shallow social based answer that roots on preference?

Last edited Feb 09, 2016 at 02:04AM EST

I'd say give it a bit more time and the artistic field will start to even out to an about equal male/female ratio. I assume you're talking about the "professional" field as in due dates, higher-ups, concept and discussion meetings, etc. Only in recent years has the push for a more balanced pool of artists come into effect, and because of that, I think that when more artists are leaving school and looking for a spot in the workforce will we see more women come out.
(there's also the case that art is still at it's core based more on skill then gender and employers looking for the best so there's that random factor to keep in mind not that I'm saying there's any correlation between talent and gender)
The internet has also been a great tool for artists getting jobs in the "professional" market, showing potential employers the traffic they get on their art pages and how frequent they get commissions if they do that. The internet is our wild west, so people are using it gain advantages that previous artists didn't have before.
At least that's my input
¯\(ツ)/¯

To my knowledge, the Professional Art scene really has been dominated by male artists over female artists, at least in the past. But it seems to be more about visibility in the field.

The project leads just thought men were better suited for the field, so men had easier time getting employed. Even if the women were just as good, or better at making art. For some reason, women can have difficulties being taken seriously, and can be discouraged from being confident in their abilities. Women also seem to be promoting themselves less than men, as they might be taught to be modest. At least that's what I've read on ImagineFX in the past, when it comes to Fantasy Art.

Nowdays, there shouldn't really be as big of a difference as there used to be, and women should be able to get work just as any men would. But I wouldn't say the bias is completely gone yet. Of course, I'm not too familiar with the subject, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

4 times out of 5 when I see a girl quit art it's usually out of losing their drive to continue something they at one point thought would make them unique, but felt that goal was lost when they took a class. (No two artists are the same, but all art curriculum in a classroom is.)

Just personal experience though. I can only presume not as many women are in the art entertainment industry for the same reason they aren't as prevalent in any other industry they might not be in. Because the sweaty nerdy introverts haven't opened the pillow fort doors yet to embrace the cooties full force.

Last edited Feb 09, 2016 at 08:33AM EST

{ do men prefer abstract thought, opposite of females who want more organized things based on reality? }

According to every brain gender study I've ever read, males have an advantage when it comes to motor skills while females are more analytical. I think art as a field shows this off rather well.

Many women artists from the Renaissance to the 18th century painted self-portraits. Even Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, who became Marie Antoinette's court painter, ultimately painted mostly self-portraits. At the same time, men were painting a lot of still-life and landscapes or sculpting. One might interpret this to mean women could more effectively capture the emotion and life of someone sitting for a portrait while a man would paint more literally.

This is Allan Ramsay's most famous portrait, his second wife.

From the same time period, here's an Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun self-portrait with her daughter.

Apart from that, most women's artforms were historically designated "crafts" instead of art. If you want to see the traditional work of women artists look at embroidery and weaving and pottery, which are still very women-dominated arts today.

Really? I thought it was the other way around tbh. Artistic fields are incredibly diverse and the gender demographic (I think) varies across the whole planet. From what I know, there are A LOT more male movie directors but an ENORMOUS amount of female fine artists, concept artists, and animators.

As i did not slept until 4 AM i decided to search some texts and books regarding this subject because of all the posts talking about excesive female artists here.

according to a writer, dispite women being more interested in art, men are far more likely to be succesfull on this field, that is they are seen more behind comics, cartoons and other entertainment that is not instantly cancelled or canned, which is why at the simple view of someone like me who is not very much into drawings and animations it's seen that men dominate these fields.

i could also make a reach and say this gender preferitism is why we remember male painters more throughout history

I'm actually kinda dissapointed this is the answer since i expected something a bit more, iunno, flashy, but its a very good explanation.

Last edited Feb 09, 2016 at 02:22PM EST
Skeletor-sm

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