Here’s a question that I’ve been contemplating for a while: do you think men are more likely to love notebooks than women? Perhaps I should phrase that differently: are men more likely be notebook addicts than women are likely to be notebook addicts? Some time ago, I had to correct a blogger who had referred to me as “he”– for the record, I am female. Last week, I made the same mistake myself, and was corrected by someone who pointed out that the Notebook Addict of the Week, “The Archer,” is female, a fact I just hadn’t realized from reading her blog.
When you think of people who love notebooks, do they tend to be male or female? I have never personally known any male notebook collectors, aside from bloggers I’ve only “met” online. I do know a few women who like notebooks, though none are as obsessed as I am. And I think the Notebook Addicts of the Week I’ve featured are probably a pretty even mix of men and women, though I haven’t counted. But let’s not be unscientific about it: please help me gather some data by voting in the poll below!
[poll id=”2″]
I suppose it depends on the use. If gender marketing is any indication, women do more journaling, gluebooking, and scrapbooking than men. They’re more likely to participate in traveling journal swaps and round-robins (according to swap-bot, postcrossing, and 1001journals). They’re more likely to join writing groups and take art classes, though whether that has any bearing on notebook use I don’t know, since notebooking is a pretty solitary practice.
Personally, I would bet women are more likely to be obsessed with notebooks, but that’s just a gut feeling. You were probably mistaken for a man less for loving notebooks and more for being a blogger. A lot of people just assume that bloggers are male.
Maybe it would be a better gauge of who collects/uses/obsesses over notebooks if the question was directed at people’s own use, (e.g., are you male or female)? It’s probably a given that anyone addicted to your blog is probably a big notebook fan as well :-)
I would bet that notebooks appeal more to women as well, but suspect that sketchbooks appeal equally to both genders.
Great questions! I just started a similar poll ( http://www.notizbuchblog.de ), just to compare the results: I ask my readers whether they are female or male? Let’s see whether the results match to your poll.
Personally, I think that there are more women addicted to notebooks – especially as far as diaries are concerned. And: Most of the feedback to my blog is given by women.
I’ve never thought of it as a gender thing. I’ve known notebook addicts and junkies of both (all) genders. For the record I’m male and the most beautifully elaborate scrapbooks I ever saw were compiled by a man in the 1920s. In olden times men did a lot of the things that people think of as only (or mostly) women doing nowadays.