I copied the following post from my original thread, "On this forum where are the women and crews?" over to this thread because of the problem with the screen view on the other thread. And I copied it here because I really need to answer it.

Okay, this is what was posted by HeadItUp, a stranger:
"I read this forum all the time. I perfer to be known as just a sailor, not singled out as a woman sailor (I skipper and crew). I do tend to read the old forum more often, and regularly get disgusted with how childish some of the postings are. Occasionaly I find a great link, or really interesting information. It's kind of like a treasure hunt. I am very much into all the technical developments, and tunning techniques, but there seems to be more than enough reponse to those postings. Many of the postings about women end up in the gutter, so I don't bother responding. Maybe other women feel the same."

AND HERE IS MY RESPONSE:
I know exactly what you are talking about as far as wanting to be recognized as a sailor and not singled out as being a woman sailor. It is the reason we do not have a forum specifically for women. It is the reason I do not have a women's column in my magazine. I am not able to think of any sailing issues that affect only women, whether as skippers or crews. My sister and I have both been racing sailboats all our lives -- I mostly crew and she always skippers. She is opposed to women-only sailing events because she has always raced against men. She considers the women's events to be discriminatory against men. We raced as a team in two Women's Hobie 18 World Championships, but I had to beg her to go, because she really does not believe in the concept. We won the last one, but that has not changed her opinion.

I am able to see the value in women's events because most women are not as aggressive as men (less testosterone) and are kind of intimidated about skippering against men sailors. Also, there are very few full-time women skippers, and several of the women who participate in women's events are women who normally crew. The women's events give them a chance to be on the helm in a lower-stress, higher-fun, mutually-supportive atmosphere.

So now you know where I stand on those issues. HOWEVER, I totally disagree with your decision to not use a name that identifies you as a woman when posting on this forum. (I can understand it on the Old Forum.) Now I am wondering if there are other women on this forum using anonymous unisex names.

I think it is extremely important for women to use their own names so that women will know that other women are involved in the sport and so that they will be encouraged to give their viewpoints and opinions on things, as well.

It is important not only for the other adult women in our sailing society but also for our female children to have role models. Do we want them to think this is a man-only sport?

And it is also important for men to know that there are women who are involved and who care. If we do not make ourselves visible and vocal, they will start thinking of this as a private men's club.

Women are treated as fellow sailors on this forum, and I haven't seen a "gutter" yet. However, nobody can argue the fact that there are differences between the sexes, and those differences can result in different perspectives on different issues. I think it is extremely important that when we hear input, we also know the perspective from which it is coming -- age and sex are probably the two most important factors that affect perspective.

A perfect example is another thread on this forum that has two postings by Mindy, a 10-year-old female sailor. This kind of input to the sport is absolutely invaluable. It would have had no value if we did not know she was a 10-year-old child. And it is also helpful to know that she is a girl, because girls who love sailing at an early age are more likely to stick with it through those critical teen years when the boys are all getting lured away to football and baseball and a myriad of other sports.

As I said, we need women role models, so we need women posting on the forums AS women.

P.S. I just realized this can be difficult if you have a name that people could interpret as being either male or female. I suppose this could be solved by using a handle like "Powderpuff." Yuck! Or putting your picture with your posting name.