Audiophile demographics?

My wife is atypical music lover.   She graduated Stoney Brook as a biology major.  Major sports fan and an athlete.   When I met her, she had a few hundred rock and pop LPs in excellent condition (now  shared).  However, she only loves the opera live and will not sit and watch an opera on video.  She allows me to select the music (too many rock concerts when she was young and now she hates excess highs such as flutes and piccolos).   She is very helpful in assessing changes in our main audio system (very sensitive to sound).   She bemoans the fact that I've made her into an audiophile in terms of assessing the sound quality instead of just listening to the music (I have no problem listening to 78s and imperfect recordings as long as the performance is worthy).  So, I'm fortunate to have a wife I can share music experiences with but who isn't interested at all in equipment (she does appreciate the custom music listening room which is 98% isolated from the video family room on the other side-total isolated in the video room).  75% of her sports viewing time is not shared as I prefer to listen to music.

She bemoans the fact that I've made her into an audiophile in terms of assessing the sound quality instead of just listening to the music

Why can't she/you do both? This idea of just listening to the equipment is what many accuse audiophiles of doing. I think this is erroneous. I can and do listen to my computer system with great enjoyment. It certainly doesn't compete with the main system. But I can enjoy the music from both. Now, I DO have different expectations of both systems. I'd be terribly disappointed if my main system sounded no better than the computer system. But I listened to music on a far lesser system for many years and thoroughly enjoyed it. The disappointment would not be in the music but the fact that I spent so much for so little. 
BTW, My wife listens & enjoys music with me. She  also and has a pretty good ear. She is much more sensitive to high freq than I. But most women are.  Still, its not a priority to her.

Here we are again. Remember May 2016 "Do female audiophiles exist?" and 2005 "Audiophiles...Why men? Any women here?" Not a new question. I and several other female audiophiles responded. But here we are years later, kicking the same question about. Yes, we exist. Perhaps not in high numbers but who really knows for sure? Just because we females don’t always identify ourselves as "female" doesn’t mean we don’t exist or exist only in small numbers. Who would ever have guessed by the handles "gg987" or "theo714" that the owners would be female? Perhaps, like myself, an innocent question was asked and an insensitive responder squelched their desire to inquire further on this forum because they were given a rude response. I’m a bit more tenacious and have continued to ask questions. And I’ve received some very insightful, informative and kind help from many. I would think it would be best to go to the source (females) and ask them is "the equipment" important to them or not and why or why not. Then and only then will we know the "real" reasons. A million women a million different answers... I do think "meiatflask" hit a big nail on the head. Women who have kids usually don’t have the time or means to invest in "equipment." I didn’t start buying expensive (expensive to me) equipment until my kids had all moved out of the house. And as far as women not being able to sit still and listen or preferring to talk rather than listen, maybe, maybe not. In my marriage, my husband is the talker. Some days I listen to music in my recliner from morning to evening (putting it on pause when he comes through for some conversation :)

You can blame me for asking the question again, but if the responses are any indication, the demographics haven't changed and female stereotyping is still an issue. Sad, but not surprising as the world gets more polarized every day.

@mewsickbuff,

"I do think "meiatflask" hit a big nail on the head. Women who have kids usually don’t have the time or means to invest in "equipment." I didn’t start buying expensive (expensive to me) equipment until my kids had all moved out of the house."



That’s it, in a nutshell. Biological differences.

Of course social norms are changing, particularly in the western world, and men are now usually more involved in child rearing.

Hence the predominance of the more mature audiophile, as well as the younger ones.

Family life tends does to get in the way of this hobby. Heck, I had to sell my turntable with the arrival of my daughter!
I wasn’t pushed, or forced, it was simply a question of priorities and the right thing to do.

Was is worth it?

Ask Homer Simpson. You’d get a similar answer. Oh the role of the poor harassed male in these difficult times..!

Hang in there everyone.