A difference between the sexes: collecting things

Football programmes, records, tv box sets, stamps, train numbers, watches, ties etc etc. I was going through my dad's old record collection earlier; it was emotional. I was just thinking my mum never collected things. I collect things (football programmes, watches and books are my thing) but my wife and sister don't. My brother collects wallets for some reason. My wife just can't understand how I can spend several hours watching You Tube videos about watches. Are we an unusual family, or is having a collection of something usually a male thing? Is it neurological: is the male brain predisposed to wanting to collect things we find interesting, then keeping them in precise order and knowing obsessive detail about them? As I think about it, most of my male friends also have some kind of collection as a hobby. Perhaps the wife is right, we are all big kids :greengrin

I collect nowt.

My fiance collects an incredible amount of clothes, that take up all our space, and never seem to get worn.

My Wife collects dust, she doesnt move around a lot 🫣

I collect guitars, I have 8 currently, 6 acoustics, 1 electric and 1 bass, they are all uniquely different and thats what I love about them. My favourite which I dont play is a Parlour acoustic guitar that my late Gran used to play to entertain the family, seemingly she was a very accomplished player when she was a teen. The guitar is probably over 100 years old( she was born 1902) and played the guitar at 12/13 years old, a fantastic heirloom that Im humbled to own

I collect Football shirts. My missus collects Disney stuff.

Whisky for me. Not as obsessive as I used to be but still got dozens of unopened bottles.

Also have a mountain of old race cards going back years with my own notes added. About 90% of the horses are retired now and there is constant threats to bin them but they have survived thus far.

Not aware of my wife collecting anything beyond grievances which she can recall at will years later.

Not a collector as such (have a small whisky collection stored through various gifts etc, but I intend on drinking it) however I’ve always been a bit clingy/sentimental when it comes to being asked or forced to throw things out.

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Originally Posted by easty

I collect nowt.

My fiance collects an incredible amount of clothes, that take up all our space, and never seem to get worn.

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Same here. I spend more time at home looking for stuff to throw out rather than collecting more crap.

I have collected loads of stuff over the years, not now though.

I collected and still have every Commando Picture Library comic/book I ever bought in my childhood.

Once had the entire collection of glass milk bottles that used to have ads printed on them.

I had a collection of over 100 different empty beer cans from all over the world.

II still have LFC plates, pennants, signed balls, tea towels, Axminster wall mounted rug, and various other memorabilia from 70’s and 80’s. My son has the programmes from every major trophy final ever won by LFC.

Some stuff has done three house moves from attic to attic and never been out the boxes for thirty odd years!

My Brother collected beer mats when he was a kid, he had thousands, until I had a fall out with him and burnt them in a fire, he battered me after that

He still doesnt speak about it to this day 🫣

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Originally Posted by DaveF

Same here. I spend more time at home looking for stuff to throw out rather than collecting more crap.

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I'm the same. Sold all my vinyl, gave away loads of Hibs programmes. If I could be bothered scanning all my old photos on to my laptop I'd happily chuck them as well!

My wife has got all sorts of stuff in the loft in boxes that haven't been opened since we left our flat in Easter Road in 1989.

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Originally Posted by Hiber-nation

I'm the same. Sold all my vinyl, gave away loads of Hibs programmes. If I could be bothered scanning all my old photos on to my laptop I'd happily chuck them as well!

My wife has got all sorts of stuff in the loft in boxes that haven't been opened since we left our flat in Easter Road in 1989.

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Just tell her - Hands Off Hibs 😀

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Originally Posted by HUTCHYHIBBY

Just tell her - Hands Off Hibs 😀

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She actually suggested I throw that t-shirt out....as if!

I've collected dice since my early teens and have over 3000 now. Hope to get round to doing a proper count and photographing them.

Re the OP, the majority of collectors do seem to be male. A 2018 article at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/l...-a8463101.html hypothesises why this might be the case:

“From an evolutionary perspective, it is to men's advantage to advertise their ability to accumulate resources and there's some evidence that they use prestige items to signal their fitness to potential mates. Separately, psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen has argued that we all vary in how much we are systematisers vs empathisers and he says that, on average, men tend to be more inclined to systematising, which would be associated with collecting and organising things. More generally, research into gender differences in interests suggests that, on average, men are more into ”things“ while women are more interested in people. Note, these are averages and of course there is lots of overlap.”

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Originally Posted by DaveF

Same here. I spend more time at home looking for stuff to throw out rather than collecting more crap.

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Same here. I know that our next move will probably be a downshift in terms of storage space. My other half can't throw anything away. We're going to have some very difficult discussions in a year or so.