I'm not that offended, but if you think about it... everything I've ever done has been prodominantly male based; car shows, military and police. In the Marines, I was called all kinds of names, forced to endure a life of degradation simply because I was one female out of 200 males, they saw stealing personal articles as a game, they'd brag that they slept with me because they stole a pair of frekin underware, if you said so much hello to a few of them, they'd say "yeah, she wants me", etc. Their additude in a nut shell was : your a ***** if you sleep with ONE of them and if you sleep with NO one, you're a b****. If I had to do it over again, would I have??... knowning what I know now? Yes, and why, not because of the obvious hostile additude and sexual innuendos I endured every day, or the "can't do it because your a girl" comments, etc. I did it because I thought I could do justice to the Marine Corps, because I thought that some place in this world, there was a place for me where I could do some good. But out of every branch of the service, the Marine Corps was the most hostile environment for a female anywhere in the U.S. if not the world. That's probably why there is so few of us. But unless you were in my shoes and lead the life I lead, you wouldn't understand.
In the car world, especially in the tuner scene, there is obviously a stereo type there as well. I thought that as being a model and someone that at least knows quite a bit about my car and others, that maybe I could give the scene a different look. Alot of women are seen as objects or ****** for doing nothing more than either trying to make a living or wanting to do something different in their life. Unfortunetly, most of them take off their clothes or want additional attention that usually turns into something negative for the rest of us. I wanted to change that and give young girls coming on the scene, something positive. And I knew what I was getting myself into since of course one of the first times I stood near my car... with baggy pants, full length shirt and combat boots and some idiot comes up to me and says "hey, can I have a bumper shot? (which as some of you know, means an ass shot)" Then the next idiot comes up to me and says "hey, is this your boyfriends car?" So not only do I have to put up with people thinking that a girl cant have a car like mine, keep it looking nice AND know what parts is on it and it's capabilities... but I have to deal with people asking for body shots, kisses and "other" vulgar comments whenever I stand near a car. THIS is the additude ALOT of women put up with, not just out in the world, but obviously on this forum too. I didn't put my picture up for comments or ask for anyone's opinion, I put it up because I respect the fact that other people will be seeing it and I thought it'd be nice to put a picture with the name. It'd also be nice if it attracted someone from a magazine to be interested in me (which a few have been, but I haven't finished my car yet). But you will NOT see me bending over to show you my p*** or little white panties scrunched up around it, pertruding "head lights" beaming under a wet t-shirt, my legs spread out on the hood of a car showing all my "glory" for all to see, etc. I've done my pictures tastefully, spent my own money on a photographer & studio and STILL ordering car parts for my car because I want to be shown with her, not without her (and by car, I mean my Mazdaspeed). I don't have alot of pictures with me and my car, because I dont feel as though it's finished yet. Like me, it still has a long way to go. But again.. I'm not saying that it's in bad taste to put pics up, I'm saying that there's a better way. We all have to share this forum and it should be a welcome environment, not a hostile one. I guess we all still have a long way to go.