Sexism and Pipes?

[escioe]

I'm not going to wade into the little pissing match going on in this thread.
But I will say that I agree that at times this forum has seemed unwelcoming to females. Not often, not always, but enough for me to notice it. I wouldn't call it sexist, because -ist words usually make people dig in.
My basic rule with my students is that if the thing you want to say isn't constructive in some way, don't say it. Things like the Molto Dolce ad strike me as non-constructive.

 

[daveinlax]

All of that said, you are coming across as an asshole

No YOU are the one coming off as an asshole. I'd back off.

There was a huge dust up years ago when P&T ran an full page for ad for somthing with a nude in silhouette and a unknowing vendor at a pipe show with a booth babe. The Pipe community is made up of pretty buttoned down guys compared to the cigar world. I've been a slightly uncomfortable with the treatment of women at cigar events over the years. Anyway IMO it's a fair question. 8O

 

[blindmansleeps]

Perique, you're impossible, man. I give up on trying to explain myself over and over again.
Escioe, I've learned my lesson here by using the word "sexist." I use a similar rule with my own students.

 

[Perique]

"I use a similar rule with my own students."
That explains a lot.

 

[escioe]

Perique's a good dude with good taste in tobacco, and I'm going to guess he'd have been a lot more amenable to what you're trying to say here if you were active in other parts of the forum. At least I'd hope so.

 

[blindmansleeps]

Escioe, I hope that proves to be true.

 

[escioe]

"I use a similar rule with my own students."
That explains a lot.

Please tell me you're not going after public school teachers with this, that I'm misreading it somehow.

 

[Perique]

@dave

"No YOU are the one coming off as an asshole."
I think you're going to find yourself in the minority on this one. Someone comes here, very first post, criticizing this fine community (and implicitly, the site owner)? Maybe the two of you need to attend sensitivity training together.
" I'd back off."
Fuck you.

 

[Perique]

escioe: not at all, my friend.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Perique, please brother. Lets go talk about some fine blends and let this all wash away.

 

[blindmansleeps]

Perique, for the record, as I told Cosmic above, I wasn't criticizing the entire community as a whole. And was not making some 1 for 1 equivalency between the pipesmoking community and "sexist." But, rather, expressing curiosity about a trend I've seen in my first two months exploring the pipe-world.
Secondly, I really had no idea that the owner of the site created the ad, first of all. And I clearly was not aiming to insult him.

 

[lonestar]

Calm down ladies.

 

[escioe]

I agree that joining a community to voice a really critical opinion like this is bad form.
But it's clear that he's not totally alone in this. Probably a minority, but it seems to me something worth discussing. This reminds me of the 'pipe smokers live longer' thread that got closed a while ago. Some bad form sort of stuff going on, but really, it seems to be an issue worth talking about. Civilly.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq1t1iFmsv0

 

[blindmansleeps]

Also, I didn't join the community in order to make this post. I joined the community a couple days ago, actually, because of the great advice and insight I've seen on here. This just struck me today as I listened to last week's podcast. Thought it'd be an interesting discussion. Didn't expect it to be taken in this way. Otherwise, I would have established some kind of rapport before doing so.

 

[rmason]

Peck, you are always there to lighten the situation.

~Ron

 

[mso489]

I am hindered, or perhaps helped, by not having seen the ad in question. I both admire the creativity of some

ads and resent nearly all of them for being manipulative, designed to pull our chains of longing and insecurity.

I don't think an ad fairly or objectively represents the community in which it appears, whether it is the epitome

of taste or really crass and vulgar or worse. Ads in my environment don't in any way characterize me; the makers

of ads would like them to, but they don't. They almost occur in a separate universe. Or, if you like, I occur in a

separate universe. Don't tear each other up about an advertisement. It's like the sailors who used to go into the

bar and start a fight, and then ducked under a table while others got their noses broken. This ad is that sailor.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

In all seriousness, I do think that blindmansleeps is coming across as hyper-sensitive about this issue. To say that it is sexist to make a joke about finding a different wife when they don't like your tobacco is really ridiculous. My wife makes jokes about finding a different husband all the time (hard to believe, given how loveable and well-endowed I am).
Could someone accuse blindmansleeps of ableism because of the way he uses the word "blind" in his screen name? Is he saying that all blind men do is sleep? Is he suggesting that they are lazy? That would, in my view, be silly.
If everything is sexism, then nothing is. This sort of hyper-sensitivity merely serves to devalue the term "sexism" and does no favor for those who suffer from it in its real and truly injurious form.

 

[blindmansleeps]

Peck, I understand that the line could come across as a joke. Nonetheless, when put into a certain context, it kind of implies that one's wife is another hobby. In my very personal opinion (and of course, I can speak for no other's), it's a joke that I would never make. If something happened and my wife required that I stop smoking for her health, or some other reason, I'd at the very least consider it sincerely, and even quit the hobby. And not regret it.

 

[weezell]

To me, smoking a pipe is about relaxation. I don't care who smokes it, how often, or where you smoke it. Which is why I'm a little thrown off by the occasional resurrections of vintage pipe culture.

I take pipe, stuff with tobacco, smoke it, enjoy light hearted comments from ALL, drink beer, could give a shit less about the Correctness stuff on either side. Now , lets be civil pipe smokers and move on(TAADAA)...