17 replies to this topic

[Galaxu]

As a male hamster owner, people would usually come at me and say, "Hamsters are a girl thing", and that would frustrate me, I believe any gender are allowed to own and care for a hamster...

[ChloesCritters]

Nothing is a girl or boy thing. In fact, the person who discovered and first kept hamsters was a male. Its not like the hamster chooses the gender of their owner/pawrent. 

[thatrobohammy]

I don’t really think owning any pet is a boy or a girl thing. Some may think that owning reptiles is a “boy” thing but I know plenty of women who own reptiles and still enjoy things that are considered “girly”.

[Lillias]

There are a number of men here on HH.

 

The misconception probably comes from the fact that hamsters are cute, and girls are "supposed" to like cute things. However, there's no reason men can't have hamsters too.

[Kikya]

It's pretty unusual for men to like hamsters as pets. Biological realities are that females are chemically driven to like small cute things that can't really take care of themselves.
(Cough, cough, babies) that's why even when a woman doesn't have children, she usually channels that energy into a pet.

That being said, it's cool when a guy owns a hamster and if you like them, that's all that really matters. My family is all males except me and we all enjoy the hamsters.

I think part of the marketing around hamsters and lack of knowledge of proper care gives people the idea that these are easy to take care of "children's" pets. I even get funny looks as an adult with my hamsters, but I don't let it bother me.

[a little furry thing]

This is actually a very interesting topic! So, during the Victorian era, small pets as companion animals started to gain popularity. The target audience were wealthy young girls who weren't allowed outside. We can thank this time for pet squirrels (this is actually what re-introduced them into several cities, most notably New York City's Central Park), pet rats, and partially for indoor cats and the creation of clay cat litter lol. 

 

The story of rats specifically goes like this. A popular betting game of the time required lots of rats. The game is rather gruesome and involves lots of animal cruelty, so I won't describe it here. But anyway, this demand for rats led many people to start to breed them. Once different colorations started to appear and they realized how nice rats could be if handled properly, they began to market them as pets for girls.

 

This period in time established the stereotype that small mammals are for girls.

 

Now hamsters themselves weren't even collected from the wild until the 1930s. They were originally intended to be for research, but gradually made their way into the pet trade as time went on.

 

Now I don't know this part for sure, but I can confidently guess that the reason reptiles are "boys" pets is because naturalism and herpetology are historically male dominated fields; and the reason they never became popular pets for Victorian girls because they require much more complex care and generally aren't as amicable. By time reptiles entered the pets trade, all these stereotypes were already at play.

 

I love this topic! Thanks for starting this discussion Galaxu!

 

edited for clarity

Edited by a little furry thing, 03 August 2022 - 10:35 PM.

[daisy~]

All small mammal communities are mostly made of up female owners. That might be because women on average have more nurturing and caring instincts.

But that doesn't mean hamsters are inherently a "girl thing" nor that there's anything wrong with males owning them.

I think many men whose partners or children have hamsters actually really like them but don't want to admit it!

[Kikya]

All small mammal communities are mostly made of up female owners. That might be because women on average have more nurturing and caring instincts.

But that doesn't mean hamsters are inherently a "girl thing" nor that there's anything wrong with males owning them.

I think many men whose partners or children have hamsters actually really like them but don't want to admit it!

My hubby admits it. He says Dipper is his favorite lol but the kids(4 boys) love Nibbler. They say he's a sigma ham.

[Kikya]

As a male hamster owner, people would usually come at me and say, "Hamsters are a girl thing", and that would frustrate me, I believe any gender are allowed to own and care for a hamster...

Btw Majora's mask is one of my all time favorite games!

[nebit]

If hamsters are only for girls, nobody told me.

[Rapha689Pro]

Maybe because they think girls should like “cute and peaceful” animals (small rodents,rabbits,Hegdehogs,cats,but Hegdehogs and majority of small rodents are super aggressive with other animals,and are sometimes predatory) and boys cool and “powerful” things?(like big dog breeds,reptiles,arachnids,and ferrets?),LOL,i have 2 female dobermans and 1 hamster and 1 gerbil,but For my gerbil and hamster I feed them plenty of insects and for my dobermans I sometimes feed them raw meat,I’m a male

[Rapha689Pro]

Maybe because they think girls should like “cute and peaceful” animals (small rodents,rabbits,Hegdehogs,cats,but Hegdehogs and majority of small rodents are super aggressive with other animals,and are sometimes predatory) and boys cool and “powerful” things?(like big dog breeds,reptiles,arachnids,and ferrets?),LOL,i have 2 female dobermans and 1 hamster and 1 gerbil,but For my gerbil and hamster I feed them plenty of insects and for my dobermans I sometimes feed them raw meat,I’m a male

[HamsterLover246]

I think its because hamsters look super cute, which is often seen as a girl thing. For exemple dogs, can look more "impressive " and that is what is seen as a boy thing.

[Rapha689Pro]

For example,Emzootic literally has like reptiles and big dogs,and pickle pets (well,it’s probably a guy,since in its video it say it’s gay,not lesbian,so probably it’s a guy) has hamsters,and had a gerbil,and a leopard gecko

[daisy~]

The second Youtuber mentioned is female. I'd remove that comment about her if I were you as she probably doesn't want to be discussed in that way on a public forum

Edited by daisy~, 13 August 2022 - 01:36 AM.