On the other hand a young Marie Adamisin single hand-idly attracted a great number of young men into the hobby by simply attending the Nats with her famously fantastic family during her teen years...oh, shucks, and beyond! They all appreciated the mystic of the moment and some learned to fly pretty good, too. Often winning multiple big trophies. Ahhhh. the lure of aviation!
That's not exactly a counter-example, she would be one of the very few and the fact that we can probably name all of them in the past 50-60 years in a few seconds was precisely my point. And, with all her brothers and Big Art himself around, she probably felt pretty comfortable and didn't have to concern herself too much with the (again, mostly innocent) weird old guys who don't know know when they are going overboard.
And, just to be entirely clear, there's absolutely no reason that just about any girl/woman probably *couldn't* compete even-up with any of the guys. While CL in general and stunt and combat in particular probably require the most physical skill of any modeling event, it's certainly not something where men's physical size would be of tremendous help, or generally smaller women would be at any signifcant handicap. Fine motor control and keeping your concentration under stressful situations are not really gender-specific, and building, finishing, trimming are clearly something anyone can learn, if they are sufficiently motivated. In some ways, particularly fine motor control, you might expect women to have an advantage, if anything.
But I have never seen, and I don't know of, any woman who had the admittedly bizarre obsession and single-mindedness - for many years to decades - it takes to actually follow through to a nationally-competitive level. I don't think that is a flaw or a shortcoming, because in some ways, I admire them for it. I couldn't tell you for sure why *I* find it so endlessly fascinating, and I probably have a better handle on it than most people.
Brett