Yes, it's interesting, as LDT says, that the folk stereotype, in the UK at least, is generally male. When I said I was involved in folk music, someone once said they'd expected be to be a Julie Felix-type singer with a guitar on my knee, but that's an American model rather than a British one (and it's not me!).

I wonder, when people evoke the steroetype of the beard, sandals, pewter tankard, etc, what they think the female equivalent is?

For what it's worth, I'd say there is a high proportion of beards in most of the folkie community that I mix with (only among the men, you understand), and possibly a preference for sandals and tankards on some occasions. The Aran sweater and the finger-in-the-ear are almost extinct folkie traits, although they are still regularly alluded to by lazy journalists. But what do these people imagine distinguishes a folkie female? I'd really like to know.

Marje