I think there is likely a more even gender distribution of history nerds who are truly interested in history when it comes to topics outside of politics and military. A lot of men tend to use it for ego stroking and fantasizing about being the great men of history, while there is no similar avenue for women in that regard.
Exactly this. You’ll notice that some men like this only know history from a certain racial or geographical background so it’s not so much a general interest in history as it is feeling great vicariously through a historical figure.
oh! That is such a great point! To be fair, a lot of the male history nerds I know use it for practical purposes like writing TTRPGs, which were predominantly played by guys for a long time, but I feel like even that is evening out gender-wise lately as they grow in popularity.
That being said, I have definitely seen examples of the fantasizing and ego-stroking on the internet.
in fact, now that you mention it, I do know a fair few of women with a very deep interest in philosophy, and you can’t exactly get deep into philosophy without historical context, ergo, female history nerds. Women are also a lot more interested in history when they are represented, and I don’t think I need to soapbox to you about the lack of feminine representation in history texts.
I think there is likely a more even gender distribution of history nerds who are truly interested in history when it comes to topics outside of politics and military. A lot of men tend to use it for ego stroking and fantasizing about being the great men of history, while there is no similar avenue for women in that regard.
Exactly this. You’ll notice that some men like this only know history from a certain racial or geographical background so it’s not so much a general interest in history as it is feeling great vicariously through a historical figure.
oh! That is such a great point! To be fair, a lot of the male history nerds I know use it for practical purposes like writing TTRPGs, which were predominantly played by guys for a long time, but I feel like even that is evening out gender-wise lately as they grow in popularity.
That being said, I have definitely seen examples of the fantasizing and ego-stroking on the internet.
in fact, now that you mention it, I do know a fair few of women with a very deep interest in philosophy, and you can’t exactly get deep into philosophy without historical context, ergo, female history nerds. Women are also a lot more interested in history when they are represented, and I don’t think I need to soapbox to you about the lack of feminine representation in history texts.