What's our gender split on MCB?

[flyweightnate]

I think there are more women in the sport than on MCB...
A few guys on my college team thought the lady who showed up was just there to look pretty. She gogged most of them within the first week, rocking a hot pink DM9 to add insult to it. She was too polite to smack talk much, unfortunately.

[Tinybear]

I would say that in 20+ years I been playing I have seen more women playing this sport in last 5 or so years than prior.

My younger sister started joining me about 10 years ago now and thought she’s not been out in a few, she is looking to try again this year if things get back to some kinda normal.

My 4yo daughter has expressed interest in the sport when she seen me working on the old guns and inquired what they do. So I showed her Some YouTube videos, one even with daddy And he left aunt in it. She said “Daddy when I get bigger I want to do that with you and aunty too”. This makes me happy untill she added “So I can shoot you in the bum” lol.

[scphantom9195]

Haha at your daughter. My youngest said something similar when she was little. I said "We could play on the same team.", and she said "No, so I can shoot you."

She is 19 now and doesn't want to play anymore. I ask once in a while, maybe someday she will go for it.

[Cdn_Cuda]

I know we have a few women in our ranks, but definitely a small minority.

I like to organize private group games a few times a year and always extend my invite to anyone I know. I’ve had my wife and my sister-law come and play with us and encourage anyone who hasn’t played to give it a try.

I try to be encouraging to everyone one I bring out, regardless of gender and make sure they are outfitted properly to play paintball. If it’s between the guys and the girls for lending better equipment ladies get preference and I let everyone know good clothing options if they have never played so the are comfortable.

On the home front, I’m a father of two girls and they both are already are very interested in paintball with all the tinkering I do. They both like to test fire guns for me and to be involved and once they get a little older I’ll show them how to work on a paintball gun. Hopefully when they’re old enough they want to even play with their old dad before they realize how uncool I am. One can dream right?

[Fubarius]

Totally off topic brief interlude, but I'm only seeing 4 posts in this thread...

ok, now they show up. Weird. Please ignore.

[ChoSanJuan]

Yeah, it's been all jacked up since I posted.

[punkncat]

Same issue commonly.

[Dusty Bottoms]

Second part: Who is on here that is considered an ally that brings it to the field for ultimate inclusivity?

You might say you don't want to be political, but this language is reflective of a political ideology. Like Arthur said, I would never call myself an 'ally', or any other goofy newspeak term introduced five minutes ago, when my entire life I've tried to treat women as I would want to be treated as part of being a decent human. The Golden Rule has no politics or ideology.

That said, I don't have the slightest care if more or less women play this game. If women want to play paintball, play paintball. If very few really want to on the level of a 'hobbyist' like we are, so be it. That just makes the ones that do seem all the cooler. I don't think it's a big deal that men and women often enjoy different activities from each other, nor do I think it's 'problematic' if a disparity exist. Disparities exist in every facet of life. My wife does a whole slew of women centered activities that I have not the slightest desire to partake in, nor does she want me to! I have noticed far more women renters at my local field the past couple years then I've ever seen since I started playing, even bachelorette parties. Paintball IS inclusive in that everyone who is physically able is allowed to play if they want to. There are no restrictions on race, gender, religion, etc. If they don't choose to, that doesn't mean there's a problem in paintball.

Like Axel said, I am glad that the cheezy 'sexy' advertising went away from paintball, because that was cringe to me even as a teenager.

[Biscuits]

Well said.

[Toestr]

I see tons of ladies come out with rental groups, but I've only ever seen one or two female regulars at my field.

Beyond the casual rental player issue, I mostly chalk that up to the general male desire to participate in 'combat sports'. But for the ladies who actually start playing I do think that large parts of 'paintball culture' can be off-putting (it certainly is to me). Beyond the pinup barrel bags/ads or goggle straps with pornstars on them (which today are mostly relegated to collections), many of the people you will meet at the field are kinda seedy/not the highest achievers around, of whom it is not uncommon to be intoxicated. I find myself uneasy around these types (granted, I am a bit of a prude), so I imagine that many ladies especially also feel uneasy. I'm not advocating for paintball to be some clean, family friendly activity, because it's not - it's meant to be a stress release; you certainly can't enjoy that when you don't feel safe with the other participants.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

[glaman5266]

Dusty Bottoms I completely agree with your post. There is absolutely no need to add this sort of language/distinction to paintball. Not that I have a problem with women playing. The more the merrier. Just treat others as you’d like to be treated. No need to add this potentially political wrinkle.

As for women that I play with, many either know what they’re doing or already have someone helping them. I usually let it be unless I’m asked to help or give advice/input.

I too am happy to see the sexy advertising go away. I will say, though, I don’t mind anime-based stuff, like the old SP anime girl barrel covers. But I’m big on anime to begin with, so I digress.

[Jonnydread]

I like my pinup girl barrel bags, but the late 90’s/early 00’s plastering of skin and gross innuendo was always off putting to me. It certainly didn’t help the game seems more inclusive. My go to pay to play field has a healthy number of lady regulars and that number has increased significantly over the last few years.

Capital’s wife Athena is honestly one of the scariest peoples to play against, her diminutive frame means she is everywhere, and nowhere.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Definitely Athena can ball! Awesome stock class player to. So sneaky and she works with Dave so well. Its Always fun playing against them.

[A.Greenleaf]

That’s who I thought of too, you never know when she will pop up and get ya.

[OpusX]

The attitude of MCB is the right attitude for anyone to have, be inviting and helpful to anyone who has interest in this sport. I think that approach has and will help foster the inclusion of anyone and everyone who wants to step on the field.

Granted it may take any newbie a minute to catch up to the decades of esoteric internet references and tech laden mumbo-jumbo we tend to rant about, but that too is open to all.

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

I dress like a chick so does that count? 😝

[Chuck E Ducky]

You do you. You should see Jonnys sexy legs in a dress. Shaaawing!

[Pumpytrilly1]

tips fedora

[ChoSanJuan]

The only reason I even asked the second question is that it has come up time and time again via my my section of living in a PC world in corporate America. While I have been identified as an ally, I never sought out to label anyone. (especially myself!) Basically, it was a way to see who has a similar mindset... and technically it worked! I'm happy to see that we aren't all horny pricks that want to gatekeep this sport and the rich history that we all bring to the table.

[flyweightnate]

I can imagine you spend a lot of time in meetings run by HR... do they at least have donuts in the conference room?

[Grendel]

I am a heterosexual male, if you looked at the distribution of the sexes I am riding right on the mean.

When I can I like to play paintball of all different types and I play paintball with any other player who is willing to play for mutual enjoyment and by the rules. You all are masks and markers to me and all I worry about is are you on my team or not. I will play and work with any player regardless their, age, sex, "race" or sexual orientation. The sport (hobby) is primarily a male dominated activity but in my experience many females if given a fair chance and introduction find it enjoyable but in my experience the interest wanes faster for them [females] This is an anecdotal observation. My wife played but quickly lost interest, daughter played longer but because she could not get boyfriend and now husband interested she has drifted away. Never could get any of my sisters or sister in-laws interested nor actually any of my brothers. Paintball is not for everyone.

Why didn't you make this a poll so you can actually capture the data?

[ChoSanJuan]

I wanted convo... But also, I didn't think I had that kind of power. Do I?!!?!

Edit: I do! I just didn't see how to do it. Dangit...

[gabe]

Being an "ally" to women is the most cringe thing I've read of 2021. Just be a normal person who doesn't discriminate or treat people differently based on gender or race. It's really that simple. Claiming to be an "ally" is just virtue signalling BS and is the real reason why we still have issues with discourse between groups in this country.

Paintball...well yeah it's male dominated. People that look to deeply into why a sport is predominately male or female are just looking for trouble. Women dominate some activities while men are more attracted to other ones. It's because--and this will be a shocking revelation in this "advanced" society---men and women are different, have different attributes, and prefer different things. Still equal, but innately different and that's okay.

[ChoSanJuan]

Nope, not looking for trouble! And I agree, the whole label is another spun up thing to create holding boxes and names to things so it can be marketed against. I knew that this would cause more of a polarizing discussion than asking for the split, in general.

[Cyberpyr8]

I played a few games with Jami (Hubbell) Morrison of Dye and she was scary great. I was at the 50 and she comes running behind me telling me to move up and I did! She was one of the best players I have ever played with, male or female. Playing as much as I do I see a lot of women come out to play. There have been a few mom's that I think dragged their families out weekly to play. They seemed to be the driving force behind the family being out there. The husbands and sometimes even the kids seemed to be less enthused.

I don't care if we ever have a 50/50 balance of female players but I hope as a sport we have evolved enough from the 90's and early 2000's sexist marketing to keep the women that do come out to play feel welcome. I try not to make a big deal about a woman playing anymore than anyone else. I try to be inviting to everyone regardless of who they are, to make them want to come back and play again.

As far as the topic at hand, I think it would probably be the same as what you see at fields. There are members here but not a great deal of them. Really though what you see at the field is what matters more. I love MCB but at the end of the day, who cares if they surf the internet all day talking about paintball if they come play on the weekends.

[ChoSanJuan]

While this has been super great discussion for the industry, at large, I was really only asking about MCB numbers. So it really only looks like my teammate that has come forward...

Hmm...