Gender division in the pool room

anthropoology

anthropoology

Registered
I'm completing a degree in anthropology and as part of this endeavor I am enrolled in a Field Study class. Essentially I need to study an aspect of a subculture and I decided to look at gender division in cue sports. So far I've noticed that there is a significantly higher number of males in pool halls than females, and those that are there are often with other men. Market research seems to support this as the disparity is something like 67 to 33%.

What I am interested to hear are your own experiences and understanding as to why this division is in place and why it persists.

Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
I'm 63 years old and live in a medium size city in Georgia, USA. In the generation that preceded mine females would never even consider setting foot in a pool room. Pool halls were strictly a male domain and were considered places filled with gambling and foul language. As bad as religious nut jobs are today, it's hard to believe how pervasive and powerful churches were in my parent's day.

Over time the old taboos lost power. Consider the effect that the women's liberation movement and the emergence of a marijuana culture had in fostering more liberal attitudes.

By the time I was in high school the pool hall was the favored hangout for males and a few liberated females because we were too young for bars. Over time more and more females learned that pool rooms can be great social and recreational destinations.

I am all for more women in pool halls which are certainly a more healthy place than most bars.
 
I'm working on my pool degree and wish to have a field study class on anthropologists. :cool:
 
I actually wrote an ethnographic paper on the subculture of pool for an anthropology class I took but unfortunately I never explored gender, I mainly focused on the lifestyles of players and behavior patterns.
 
boobies.

That is the correct answer.
11900538-man-clenches-fist-and-punches-air-with-intense-emotion-of-victory-celebration.jpg
 
I think women with larger breasts play pool more than women with smaller breasts.........

just my personal observation..... or maybe I am just fantasizing

Kim
 
anthropoology said:
I'm completing a degree in anthropology and as part of this endeavor I am enrolled in a Field Study class. Essentially I need to study an aspect of a subculture and I decided to look at gender division in cue sports. So far I've noticed that there is a significantly higher number of males in pool halls than females, and those that are there are often with other men. Market research seems to support this as the disparity is something like 67 to 33%.

What I am interested to hear are your own experiences and understanding as to why this division is in place and why it persists.

Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
My experience is a much worse ratio (more like 10:1),

However, I was at the poolhall yesterday and was pleased to see something closer to 1:1.

Freddie
 
I'm 37 and I grew up in Puerto Rico. As a kid, teen and young lady... there was zero chance of me ever setting foot in a pool hall. It was a place for degenerates who blow their wife's money gambling. We are also good church going Catholics who held bible readings on our courtyard.

The first time I saw a pool table in person I was 12, it was in the home of my Mom's Polac, New Yorker boyfriend. I've been to PR many times and I've yet to visit a pool hall for essentially same reasons:rolleyes:. This summer we are going back without kids and I'm hoping to visit at least one everyday. :wink:

PR Billares are still very seedy and I rarely see any women there. Here in Tampa it's different. I'd have to say our bars have the same stats you show. We do have other activities, poker, nightclub, darts, trivia, karaoke and who knows what else.

Best of luck
 
Last edited:
Currently there are no women playing pool in our pool room. At least not during the day.
At night, when the bangers show up, some of the young ladies will knock a few balls around, but they are there only because of their boyfriends, or dates for the evening. None are serious pool players.
I'll be honest with you. I wish more women were playing. They can certainly brighten up the place.
And, another thing. If there's one thing that will turn my stomach, it's bare tits on my back. :smile:
 
anthropoology said:
Market research seems to support this as the disparity is something like 67 to 33%.
Click to expand...

I'd have to think that overall the ratio is even more skewed than that from what I've seen. As Juicy said we do frequently see that sort of ratio here but only in the bars that do have a lot of other activities going on as well. In a couple of the more "traditional" type pool halls the ratio goes to more like 85/15 ~ 90/10.

But as has sort of been mentioned if you looked at the ratios 20 years ago they'd be more skewed male, and if you went 40 or more years back I'd bet you would have been shocked to see a woman in a pool hall at all doing anything except serving drinks. Its based on what is considered "appropriate" for a woman to be doing.

Women also don't have a lot of pool role models, and don't have ones reaching back 50+ years either. Even going further, look at billiards movies. The ones that are currently out there are almost as bad as the 60s-70s blacksploitation movies. So you get a fairly small amount of young girls interested, which means a fairly small amount of women later on. Our 8 year old daughter has her own cue, and our 16 year old has friends over to play on the table in the house now + then.... So for ours it will be different, but that's not anywhere near universal. Out of all the pool league teams I know of, there is only one that has a father/daughter on the team.
 
if your stomach turns when bare tits are on your back wait until some gorilla presses them things on your back - talk about your stomach turning

but really how did we get from broads in the poolroom to beastieality - i fear the babes will be offended - we all know how sensitive they can be - I'd prefer the women in the poolroom over the animals in the poolroom if we have to have 1 or the other

as for anthropology in the poolroom I'm sick and tired of us men having to apologize for everything - this PC stuff has gone too far - whatever happened to the days of few tweedles in the rooms and the old IBM mainframes- every room seems to be filled with skirts, laptops, and Ipads - soon there won't be any tables just xboxes etc - thats what you guys should be studying
 
In the pool room I play at most women that are there (not many) are there with boyfriends etc. However I have met 4 women who are there to practice and play and are serious about the game. I think the general appearance of where I play might keep a lot of women from checking it out.
 
Anthropology and...

anthropoology said:
I'm completing a degree in anthropology and as part of this endeavor I am enrolled in a Field Study class. Essentially I need to study an aspect of a subculture and I decided to look at gender division in cue sports. So far I've noticed that there is a significantly higher number of males in pool halls than females, and those that are there are often with other men. Market research seems to support this as the disparity is something like 67 to 33%.

What I am interested to hear are your own experiences and understanding as to why this division is in place and why it persists.

Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

What you are addressing here is sexism in general. My studies in anthropology helped, but I needed serious study in Cultural Anthropology, Psychology and Sociology in order to understand to an appreciable degree, sexism.

I published a book a few years ago titled, "The First ISM: Seeking the Origins of Racism, Sexism & Terrorism". The chapter on "Sexism" might be of interest to you.
 
Women are smarter than men. They know there is no money in pool as a sport and most pool players are broke. They can see there is no future in it. Johnnyt
 
I dont think men play for the money. The money is secondary to the status obtained. It is all about being the best and enjoying the status that comes along with it. I believe that kind of mentality is driven by testosterone.
 
anthropoology said:
I'm completing a degree in anthropology and as part of this endeavor I am enrolled in a Field Study class. Essentially I need to study an aspect of a subculture and I decided to look at gender division in cue sports. So far I've noticed that there is a significantly higher number of males in pool halls than females, and those that are there are often with other men. Market research seems to support this as the disparity is something like 67 to 33%.

What I am interested to hear are your own experiences and understanding as to why this division is in place and why it persists.

Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
I think you need to get a copy of Ned Polsky's "Hustlers, Beats and Others" which discusses the pool hall subculture from the point of view of a sociologist who was also a pretty good player and a great fan. Get the revised edition which updated the pool stuff through 1998. It's available on the used book market for under $10 delivered to your home. Make sure you get the Lyons Press edition. This is a fairly academic book with footnotes and such.
 
It's a popular subject and some good posts have been made over the years about it. The question appears in different forms... one popular variation is: "Why don't men and women compete together?"

Here's the most recent thread on that:
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?p=3872080

I made a sort of cheat sheet outlining common arguments or talking points: http://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=3872033&postcount=12

...I know that's not exactly the same as the general 'gender gap' we're talking about, but it's closely related, I hope you'll find it useful.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top