So many things that divide us these days. It would be a shame to see such a thing implemented. I know of no other Internet message board (I frequent many for gardening, brewing, and music) that divides forums by gender. Other message boards do provide the ability to block the posts for people that annoy you. Itās a case by case basis not a global setting (of course). Iāve used this feature sparingly to avoid conflict on some sites.
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As a woman and a new-ish player myself, I figured I would give my 2 cents in case it is helpful.
First of all, I am incredibly grateful for this wonderful and welcoming community. Iāve only been on the forum since July, but I have only ever had positive experiences posting here. The beginners safe space is an excellent place to start and you will only ever find helpful and encouraging constructive feedback there. I am very much an introvert outside of the forum and I truly enjoy engaging here with everyone.
That said, I can also understand the feeling of intimidation that can come with being a female guitarist sometimes. I have gone into a local guitar store and been the only woman there. I have read other online forums (not JG) where there have been conversations about āgetting girlsā by playing. I play electric guitar exclusively and there have been times that it feels like Iāve infiltrated a boyās club. It can also be hard to connect with other women guitar players, maybe because it feels like there are so few of us, however true or not true that is.
All that aside, this is my long-winded way of saying that I feel like this community has done an incredible job of making me feel welcome. I donāt find that any of those issues Iāve seen on other forums/the real world have followed me here. Itās a great place to start as a new player! I hope to join in an OM soon as well 
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Dear Mrs T,
Iām 54 year old German woman who started with Justin Guitar a year ago. I first hesitated to join the community, because I didnāt know what kind of spirit there was. A lot of forums arenāt friendly places, people often use their time to degrade others instead of supporting them. This community is the exact opposite. You get help and support whenever you need it.
Iām a newbie too, female, English isnāt my mother tongue, but I never ever felt uncomfortable to ask questions. All my questions were answered in a more than satisfying way, always friendly and with respect. I couldnāt believe that completely strangers take so much of their individual time to respond to a newbie, because as a newbie there isnāt much professional knowledge you can give back.
I can only speak for myself, but I think this community would warmly welcome you. There are a lot of female players around here, so let me be one of them to say hello to Mrs T! 
Sign up, introduce yourself and be a part of the forum 
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That is side-splittingly funny 
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It looks like Mrs T has introduced herself to the community but the introduction post appears to have landed in the unassigned category. @DavidP @Richard_close2u can you check and move to the introduce yourself section?
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That is a great reply Richard, although I had some thoughts in my head for a while and never had a chance to share those so here it is - I think Justin should make a tutorial video how to navigate around the forum.
He did one for Practice Routine and I feel one would be beneficial for navigating around Community as well. Perhaps for most it is self explanatory but I have seen a few times already people putting things into wrong categories or commenting that it is not super intuitive for them. Some are less IT skilled and would definitely benefit from it.
Plus this is a great advert for non Community users who follow Justin as this goes straight to youtube channel with more than a million subs. Chuck it on top of main page or one of main categories where etos can be found and Bobās your uncle
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Another guy here with an opinionā¦
It is hard to not notice how most of the active forum members are men. And OM performers are men. Etc. Iāve noticed recently more women and think itās great for the community, I hope that continues and more get into AVOYPs, OMs and community participation in general.
A whole section for women only would be impossible to police and divisive.
What is the harm in a thread though, like Sarah mentions above, similar to the old dogs thread?
Isnāt the point of that thread to make old dogs feel welcome? Why canāt a thread along the same vein exist - āfemale guitarist? Thereās plenty here, yes you can get pretty good, meet some othersā.
I think that would be MORE inclusive and could encourage more female participation.
While much of this discussion has been civil I do think you could just read this thread for a reason some people might find participation intimidating. While some responses are well thought out others are very forceful.
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Just coming back to this after some hours ā¦ sorry for the interrupted flow.
All comments around this are greatly appreciated.
There have been no ābehind the scenesā discussions yet though I am very dis-inclined to support this.
All persons are warmly welcomed to the community.
We all have a commonality that unites us no matter who we are or where we come from.
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Not an answer to any of your questions, just to say how good it is that after time spent in and around the community you jumped in here to make your first post.
Welcome 
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Risking repeating things, as a new female player Iād like to share my point of view.
Indeed, female players are fewer.
Indeed, starting guitar and participating in a community when you know almost nothing is intimidating.
But itās not a matter of gender/sex or number.
Itās just the totally normal fear of exposing yourself to something and someone new.
However reasonable, this fear can be dealt with when you decide to take a leap of faith and trust the companionship of music.
It was hard for me the first time too, but I soon discovered how open and helpful this community is.
Truth is, what connects us here is the love of guitar and this should be enough to make us all uninterested in gender or number or any other label.
I do realise that representation is important and offers a sense of belonging, but if we set ourselves free from restrictive beliefs (regarding ourselves and others), we can support each other even if we supposedly have nothing in common.
As long as we are musicians and we focus on this uniting characteristic, we donāt need to be afraid to ask and give help, even if we think itās a specific-group issue. You never know where a helpful tip may come from:)
Therefore, I think a female corner would probably intensify a reasonable yet unnecessary uncomfortable feeling, which can be gone more easily when everyone is in the same place and communicates freely.
I really hope every member feels welcomed here!
Of course, we are always open to suggestions as to how we can make new members feel that they are a member of this musical company.
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That is an interesting point.
The āold dogsā topic did start out life as a light-hearted one (in the old forum, long ago) and just grew with a life of its own. It does offer a space where people of a certain maturity, who may have all sorts of doubts around the wisdom of trying to learn guitar in their older years, can perhaps seek mutual reassurance that they are not alone. It doesnāt really serve the purpose of providing a platform for lots of questions and answers to specific age-related problems, so it is not at all what could be thought of as an OAP help-desk.
You have got me thinking ā¦
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Iām a little late to the convo but I wanted to say I have not felt discriminated, judged, ignored, minimized, marginalized or anything of the sort for being a woman player or a newbie. I think this community is freaking fantastic, its one of my favorite places to come to read and think and talk about guitars and music.
If there is one thing I would suggest it would be for the Gear section to get busier! I love seeing other peopleās guitars and equipment!
I donāt think I personally would need a special section for women, though I canāt say I donāt sometimes think that petite individuals might have struggles that others donāt have - until I remember that even children learn to play on full sized instruments. And if I can stretch one hand over and above one full octave on the piano, I can stretch them two or three frets on the guitar!
Anyway, And I would hate to see some potential advice and encouragement be missed out on because a good portion of the experienced posters were not allowed, or werenāt otherwise frequenting a particular section of questions. And in fact, if it is mostly men here, I actually enjoy the feeling that I am able to hang with the boys and one day play as well as they do, but also- I grew up with brothers, so that is just my own personal feeling.
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Ditto and amen to that Mari!
Thanks for the come back and the entertaining style Andy.
Did Mrs T make an introductory post that has somehow slipped into the wrong place? If so can you point towards it for a mod to move? Thanks
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And I keep encouraging them, to move from the audience to the stage. You know who you are peeps !
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That would be fantastic Jenny.
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It is in process, a script is drafted, discussions are on-going about how best to produce it. Watch this space - no time frame for delivery however.
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@Jenndye429 Jenny I encourage you to make the leap from the audience in OM XI to the stage at OM XII but donāt feel that I am pressuring you to do that, when you are ready in your own time. I donāt want to open the āpressureā can of worms again. 
as weāve put that one to bed I hope !
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I hope to! I need to troubleshoot the sound and all that, but as long as I donāt have any conflicts with the date/time, I should be able to
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