Why is it always women?

[Pinkhousealreadyinuse]

A fairly sexist post but one where I hope I'm proved wrong!

Why is it always women who fall for the MLM/pyramid/chain letter schemes? Is the employment market so bad for women these days that they are lured by these "get rich quick" schemes? If so, how does that explain the crazy chain letter 36 books for one or secret sisters gift rubbish? Surely anyone sees a "too good to be true" scenario and at least googles it to find it's not all it seems? No?

It's intelligent women as well, in quite high flying or academic careers ime. What the hell is going on? Please tell me you know loads of guys doing this and it's just the pool of people that I know. Please!

I don't know anyone that would fall for a pyramid scheme, sahm or other.

I do, and I'm sure that in the right circumstances I could as well. Most people wouldn't publicise the fact that they'd fallen for it, for obvious reasons.

But they'd have to publicise it to find new victims themselves?

I know people who do MLMs because I'm a SAHM and attend baby and toddler groups. The main one I go to is having a Christmas Fair which is going to have approx 10 tables of MLM sellers. Avon, Younique, FL, Phoenix Cards, Pampered Chef, Partylite candles and so on.

They don't publicise the fact that they're not succeeding (my ones don't, anyway). They claim it's fantastic, they claim they're raking it in while being better mothers than everyone else, occasionally they even scan a cheque but always with the amount obscured.

Besides, much as I hate Juice Piss etc, they're not actually illegal pyramid schemes. If someone made a dodgy investment or got conned by a smooth talking salesperson, we'd be unlikely to hear about it. Especially so if we loudly proclaim that only stupid people would fall for that.

I know one bloke and one woman (they didn't know each other) who both were hooked into Amway and ended up with shelves full of unwanted soap.

They were both fairly young - in their 20s and skint, but also both intelligent with university degrees.

Not me. But a friend of mine was ostracised at work because he refused to join a pyramid scheme along with most of his (male and female) colleagues. These were all college graduate types in middle management yet they went loopy over some get rich quick scheme and saw my friend as a 'jinx' because he pointed out the obvious flaws in it.

"forever lurching"

Tyop of the day!

Actually, thinking about it, my several FL and other MLM types on FB are all middle class educated woman, but what they have in common is they weren't earning enough to cover childcare and commuting costs into London, and their DH's are higher earners so they don't get tax credits towards childcare to make working outside the home pay. They are rather stuck career wise until their DCs are at school, it's something to do.

They have bought the idea of "mumpreneur" but have no skills like crafts or baking to build a "kitchen table business" round, what the MLM offers them is a way to 'run their own business round the kids' and 'be more than just a mum' without having to think of a new business idea/spot a gap in the market.

Thanks Puntastic, but it wasn't a tyop :)