The CCW/OCW female Thread

Hey all, I was thinking it might be a great idea to have a new sub forum added specifically to address the issues of female carry. It is so much different than male carry just because of the curves and different clothing styles that appeal to womens fashion than mans. Instead of having the women who come to our wonderful forum to learn browse through topics that is nothing but "guys talking shop" and being referred to other websites like cornered cat or Lima's you tube videos which are both wonderful resources, we should provide a sub forum dedicated to the issues that women face when deciding what, where, and how to carry.

Obviously the legal questions are answered either way, but concealment, holsters, clothing options, and the like that women are interested in finding out should be easier to find than they are. I don't know if this is actually the case or not, but I feel some women may be put off by posting a question and signing up on a mostly male dominated forum area. Obviously everyone could post or read posts on there, I just thought it might be a good idea to kind of keep some of the female specific issues in a more easily navigated area such as a sub forum than having to go through and search for a thread on an issue that may have already been covered.

This spawned from the realization today when a friend asked me something about a holster and I had no idea how to answer it that it might be nice and easy to be able to say here, lets get on DC.com and go to the CCW/OCW for the ladies sub forum and see if we can find an answer there instead of spending the hour I did searching for the answer on here. I really hope this post does not come off as sexist or offensive as that is definatley not my intent. Just a thought I had today while talking with a friend that I thought might be helpful.

Would we then also have different forums for fat people, skinny people, tall people and short people? Each one of those has a unique requirement for dress and special concerns for carry as well.

How about another one for people with an amputation, or in a wheelchair?

How divided up does the board need to be? The more broken up it is, the more places people have to look to find the answers they seek.

Nice idea, but I would miss you boys' juvenile banter :wave:

I value eveyone's opinions and input, even if it is a "girly" issue. Some of you have wives/girlfriends (hopefully not at the same time!) and all of you have moms. At times, you boys have valuable insight, and experience is experience, regardless of the gender.

I have been a member of many forums (some gun related, some not) and moderator on two different forums. Some have female specific sub-forums some do not. Every time I have been polled as to whether or not to make a female specific sub-forum I have answered with a resounding, "NO!"

First of all, as already mentioned, a woman's body is no more difficult to fit a holster around than someone tall and skinny or short and fat. She may have breasts and more gracious hips but this is no big secret and there are women out there are do not have big hips or big chests at all.

When it comes to self defense with a firearm everything is the same as it would be for a man and there is nothing special about how, when or the justification for lethal force.

What inevitably happens in "women's only" gun forums or sub forums is that a woman posts a question. Because it is a predominantly male dominated forum her question sits for hours before a guy posts and says, "I know I'm not a gal but my wife/girlfriend/mother/friend does ..... "

Women who may or may not have posted in a particular thread feel obligated to do so because "she's one of the girls" and the only responses she's getting are from guys anyway.

OR

She ends up reposting her question in the open forum because, "I posted this in the women's section but no one posts over there so I thought I could get more answers here."

Also, you always run the risk of a woman feeling like she has to stay in "her forum" because it's the "girl's forum." I have actually seen people tell girls to repost her questions in the "girl section" because "that's where she belongs."

Not to mention you ALSO get guys who troll the "woman section" for dates.. "Wow, I just want to tell all you gals that you are my heroes and I wish I had a good woman like you all!" *Puke, sputter, cough, cough, GAG!* (There is NOTHING more annoying than that!!).

There are tons of knowledgeable men here who have wives who carry or teach women how to shoot and carry and they are just as able to answer a lady's questions. Women should likewise be able to step right up with the guys and ask their questions and get their answers from the other knowledgeable people on the forum.

Guns, self defense and carry is not a girl/guy thing. It does not (nor should it be) separated into sections. There are women on here who are just as knowledgeable about helping a male carry a gun as a man can be able helping a woman carry a gun. If you don't know how to help someone asking the question don't post to the thread.

Sometimes I get PMs from members saying I should go into a thread and help a lady out only when I get there I find 15 posts by great men who've said exactly what I would have. Just because the information is coming from a man doesn't make it any less valid and just because I'm a woman it doesn't make what I have to say to another gal any more valid.

I might bring up a few things not mentioned but we have other female members who do that on a regular basis as well.

We are very respectful to our female members here and we have a great basis of knowledge for EVERYONE (old, young, male, female, new to carry, carrying for years, etc). The greatest thing is that it's a place we can all come together without having to try to peg ourselves into holes.

The information for a women is really not that hard to find. All she need do is ask and she will be warmly welcomed by everyone here.. male and female alike... all in one place.

There you have it, I agree completely (obviously). :)

First, read Lima's post carefully......

Second, this has been discussed periodically almost since the inception of the forum, the decision has been the same each time, NO! Usually the first to respond are the female Moderators. (Yes, we've almost always had at least one on staff!)

My local board has a "Women & Firearms" sub-forum. It follows Limatune's descriptions of how many such boards go to a "t." Well intentioned, but no good reason to have them and plenty of good reasons not to.