125 - Jennifer Valentine of MOD Exotics - The Expert and The Idiot - A Reptile Podcast

From the get-go, there's kind of a, "I don't know if she can handle this," kind of mentality from the, the men in the community.

Um, but pretty quickly I think I, I gained respect, um, from, you know, my male colleagues.

And it doesn't become a, like, "She's, she's just a helpless female." [laughs] But I think there, you know, there's that, like, extra step that women have to put in to kind of prove-

Mm

... themselves.

Um, 'cause these are large animals and, you know, biology is biology.

Men are, tend to be stronger, bigger, you know, like, it's, um, i- I think there's some bias there, but it's...

Uh, once you prove yourself, I feel like it hasn't been an issue.

I will say there are more women in this hobby than people realize because, uh, a lot of the women kind of stay out of the drama.