Audiophile demographics?

@rcronk

Thanks. I'm just a tad younger but was an early Zeppelin fan from 69 when their 1st album came out. Same with Sabbath. These along with Iron Butterfly, Grand Funk, and other hard rock groups were staples of my music diet. My experience is that many men don't like metal,. much less, women. I found one woman who did out of all the people I've known. So it is unbelievable that the majority of women now like metal. I'll call BS on that. Now I'm sure the times are changing. And I'm glad to meet the female audiophiles and metal head bangers. But that doesn't change the fact that they are the exception, not the rule.
This is where stereotypes come in. They exist to make conversation easier, especially on subjective issues. They are general rules but not hard and fast. Of course there are exceptions. And there are nuances within the exceptions. But this is for academia, with pages of minutia not BB conversations. I suspect it is also generational wherein the younger have somehow learned that stereotypes are wrong instead of being exceptions. I've noticed my son often points out the exceptions as if they are the rule. IMO, the problem with this lack of exception and nuance is that it often leads to confusion and then division and is counterproductive. A'gon has been going down this path for a few yrs now which is why I and many don't post here as much as I did the earlier 20 yrs of being here. I suspect it has a large part to do with the total division of our country now too.
BTW, you made an interesting comment about listening. My own wife listens with me. She generally lays with one ear on the pillow and hearing with the other. She is satisfied. She says she is listening but I notice her asleep a lot. 

@rcronk
"And I am very friendly with many women. But you can watch them glaze over when you put some Captain Beefheart on the turntable."

If you are playing Captain Beefheart for a woman, then I understand why you are merely "friendly". Perhaps you should try Marvin Gaye next time.

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 :)