Adventure is Out There and So is Bro Culture:

Anyone who knows me knows how stoked I am on women in the outdoors. Femme in the outdoors, Trans Folk in the outdoors, Non-Binary folk in the outdoors! And since I first began writing down these thoughts back in 2017 the outdoor scene has made leaps, bounds, absolute destruction of various glass ceilings and whatever other analogies you want to use. However, while this wave of femme energy in the outdoors is powerful, it is still very much a ‘boys club’, and ‘bro culture’ is a huge part of it. I was on a bike ride y e s t e r d a y, 2021, and a guy made a sexist joke, like come on boys, sexist jokes are still just sexist comments. PERIOD. Can we please smash the patriarchy, like yesterday, we’re fucking tired already.

It’s been five years since I wrote my college thesis (which a lot of this piece is based on) and a little shy of ten years since outdoor industries had started to catch on to the fact that non white males exists in this community too. So in the grand scheme of things, this movement of empowering women to go out and adventure is still a fairly new phenomenon. Jill Sanford of Outdoor Project released a blog post titled: 2017: The Year of the Outdoor Woman. “Just a short time ago, females in the outdoors were seen as a distraction, an inconvenience, a liability. Media representations of women in outdoor recreation were often hyper sexualized and commodified” writes Sanford. And she’s right. When I was a kid I did not get to learn how to snowboard surrounded by people that looked like me. My instructors were always men, my fellow students were always boys. When I found snowboarding again, in college in 2015, there were three other girls in the entire Ski / Snowboard Club. It blew my mind that other women snowboarded. And with the same passion and intentions as me. Finding other people, who looked like me, who were women, who wanted to get rad, it was a shock, when it really should not have been. 

Sanford also mentions in her post how outdoor gear for women was always scarce and when it wasn’t it was “shrink it and pink it.” (And now-a-days, don’t even get me started on TEAL). However outdoor companies have started to catch on to the fact that women are all different shapes and sizes and like all different colors and styles, go figure! REI, a popular outdoor company introduced Force of Nature, a campaign that aimed to look at gender equality in the outdoors, closing gaps in women’s gear, investing in nonprofits, and creating communities that help get more women outside. Good for REI, this has been a great asset to the outdoor adventure community, however, this campaign began in 2017, better late than never, am I right (rolls eyes in femme). Outdoor companies are only NOW supporting women, now that they see they can make money from us as well. But, I guess I’d like to think that despite capitalism, it is also because of the women out there who are making their voices heard, demanding gear that work for them, showing that we are as capable as the men who buy their products. The opptimistic way to think about it is that while these campaigns / support are recent, it is mostly exciting because we get to be apart of this transformation of the outdoor industry, happening now.

The year I graduated college, the Universities’ Outdoor Adventure Program I worked for hosted the second annual No Man’s Land Film Festival. The nation’s only female focused outdoor adventure film festival. I was shocked to find out that this is the only event of its kind. Emma Murray of Out There Colorado writes “Aisha Weinhold [founder and Executive Director of No Man’s Land Film Festival]’s mission to elevate women’s experiences in the outdoors was born after realizing that no real, public outlet existed for women to showcase their accomplishments in outdoors.” There was such a need for this. A need for a public outlet for women to showcase their accomplishments in the outdoors. A way for companies, the public, and most importantly other women to see that women are capable rad humans. These types of event are progressive in itself but is also a great way to spark conversations, thought, and more movements similar to this one. A part of this festival included a panel discussion. The panel was comprised of a diverse group of local Richmond women who whitewater kayak, mountain bike, practice yoga, and more, myself included. We were given questions ahead of time and I personally prepared some fiery answers, ready to spark discussion and really get into the issues that we as women face every day in the outdoor adventure community. I was unfortunately disappointed. 

The panel’s downfall could’ve been attributed to many things, perhaps there were too many panelist, older women with antiquated ideas, or maybe it was because my employers were in the crowd and I felt nervous to call out the struggles I have felt in the workplace as a women. Or perhaps the questions themselves sounded like men wrote them.

Question 6: “People can be uncomfortable with power. Especially women. Now, women are able to claim and exert more power than ever before, and yet, even at senior levels, we see women struggle with it. We ask ourselves: “ How can I be powerful without alienating people? Without pissing people off?” We’re in a Catch 22 - you go from really powerful to unlikeable very quickly. As women go up the ladder, likeability often goes down. How do we find balance there? How do we become more confident within these roles?”

Fuck that. Did a man write this question? The people you’re “alienating” or “pissing-off” are probably men. So do not worry about them. We should be ditching the whole idea that “like-ability goes down” theses are toxic ideas put into women’s heads from the get go. Women are uncomfortable with power because we’ve been taught to be uncomfortable with it. By society, by the media, by traditional roles. Its a classic stereotype; men in power positions, are authoritative, women in power positions are bossy. Plain and simple, we need to embrace power and not worry about how others will view us. These lessons we’ve been taught are antiquated. It is our responsibility to teach young women, the new generation, a new lesson.   

Why do we do what we do? Not only women, but anyone. Why do we climb mountains, throw ourselves off waterfalls in plastic boats, or bike across countries. What drives us? Inner drive is an interesting concept to think about when it comes to outdoor adventure sports. Adrenaline? The need to get away from your desk job? To escape into nature, an entity that does no judge us? Everyone has their own answer to this question. However, to do all these things, despite what drives you, you need skill and muscle. This is true for women, for men, for anyone trying to summit Everest (yes women do / have done that). For women, there is a social barrier there, men often do not worry about looking too muscular. Sophie Goodman of Out There Colorado writes “What begins as a conversation about female athlete body image and body politics always ends with a love story about the outdoors and their chosen sports. [Women] have learned to love their bodies and to treat them well not because they strive to look a certain way but because when fine-tuned, their bodies allow them to excel at what they love.” Okay great, outdoor women love their bodies, their muscles, etc.  but what about their personalities, how they act around their male counterparts. Do women in the outdoors have to change how they act to gain respect or to simply get along with the group? 

I came across and article that changed my life. "The Guide Who Became a Toxically Masculine Feminist” by Melanie Hamlett was a huge eye opener for me. Despite the campaigns, the panel discussions, film festivals, and momentum that this movement has, the outdoor adventure community is still very male dominated. In most cases, unless you’re on a women’s-specific ride or women’s-only trip, there will probably be more men on an outing than women. So the only people you have to compare yourself too is men. As Hamlett so eloquently puts “The outdoor industry embraces tough women and often understands our worth—at least more so than the tech industry, comedy, or Wall Street. But it still has its fair share of frat boys hiding in puffy jackets.” how I understand this is simple, adventure is out there and so is bro-culture. How we as women navigate this space and this toxic masculinity differs. How Hamlett navigated this and her journey hit very close to home for me. In my experience as a women who mountain bikes I find myself trying to fit in with this bro culture and in the process I changed my behavior and the things I say and do. I become more vulgar, I put myself down, I let others put me down just to get some laughs but in the end at the expense of my feelings. However, as Hamlett put it “I desperately needed these guys to see me as a brother, not some fragile female” so I let it happen. My whole life I’ve always wanted to be “one of the boys” but over the past few years, through having to navigate the outdoor industry as a women, the outdoors has taught me how to embrace my femininity. I’m proud to be a women who shreds, I have pink highlights all over my outdoor gear, and I love it.  I’ve learned most of this by meeting and adventuring with so many dope women, realizing that I am not alone. I don’t have to fit in with anyone because I already do. 

Representation really is the first step to getting more women out and feeling good and confident. But it shouldn’t stop with women. Women are a minority group in the outdoor adventure community. But even more oppressed minority groups in the outdoors: people of color, women of color, queer / trans / non binary, queer / trans / non binary people of color. The struggles women face in the outdoors and how things are changing for them were a good giniue pig in the experiment nay revolution the outdoors needs. In how things need to be better, for queer /trans / non binary and BIPOC. So if we’ve learned anything over the past few years it should be that representation in media (instagram, REI advertising campaigns), in the social rides / hikes / paddles, and trips that you go on, matters. Seeing other people that look and act like you and do rad things is inspiring and we need more of that. That space needs to be made for non-male, non-white voices. That it’s time for bro-culture to well, to die, to burn down to the ground. Ya’ll had your time, climbed your mountains and your popularity ladders, and please continue to enjoy doing what you’re doing, but just please do it quietly and over there. Because if I have to hear from one more bro talking about some sick line they took, I might cry (that’s right I’ll use the women crying card I am NOT afraid). We have this foundation on which women have found space to grow their presence in the outdoors and I think we can do a better job with the next generation, just by making space and being the hand to lift other up with. Oh and money! Give your rich white people money away to BIPOC Trans/Femme/Non-Binary and women.

Please and thank you!

Emma

Quotes Resources

https://www.outdoorproject.com/blog-news/2017-year-outdoor-woman

https://www.outsideonline.com/2170246/state-outdoorswoman-2017

https://www.outtherecolorado.com/no-mans-land-nations-female-focused-film-festival-returns-carbondale/

https://catalogs.rei.com/forceofnature-pub

https://www.outtherecolorado.com/5-girls-that-shred-introducing-a-5-part-series/

https://www.outsideonline.com/2295236/toxically-masculine-feminist

https://www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/adventure-travel/women-adventurers

https://www.stillstoked.com/watch-me/a-land-shaped-by-women-film-teaser/

https://andshesdopetoo.com/pages/moksha