Wednesday was a big day in our house. We had a painter, a project manager and a carpenter huddled in our kitchen at the same time, deciding on the best way to fix some of the many DIY projects I’ve started and discarded over the past year and a half. But in between our conversations and my ashamed promises that I would never attempt another project again, I popped onto the internet. And it was interesting.
The first time I hopped on Facebook, I stumbled across my friend Sidni’s post. An Open Letter to the Men Running the Climbing Industry caught my attention, largely because I love her style of writing and ability to call it like it is {And she occasionally dog sits for us and Tals loves her!} Women in particular see stuff online all the time that is blatantly unfair or shockingly insulting. Tell me again why some guy felt the need to rate the best female asses in the surfing industry? But you know, it’s exhausting always pointing it out and feeling like you’re being that woman again.
Photos: Will Rochfort
I sat down at our kitchen table a few hours later, once the madness subsided in our kitchen. This time, I opened my browser to read a horrifying tale of the chronic sexual harassment towards female river guides in the National Park Service. The released report details inappropriate comments and touching with varying degrees of punishment. One male snapped a photo underneath a female coworker’s skirt and was suspended for 30 days. He didn’t lose his job; he was just kicked out for one month. Another supervisor was suspended for a mere ten days for grabbing a female’s crotch. Ten days, and that’s it. Near as I can tell, none of the incidents were reported to human resources, as required by the Department of Interior policies. It’s disgusting.
To be clear, I am not an “angry feminist” with a fight to pick. Hell, I’m not entirely sure I’d qualify myself as a feminist. As my friend Katie says, feminism occasionally equates to a perpetuation of sexism towards the male gender, and that ain’t cool either. Will is my biggest champion and most loyal supporter, so I’d be remiss to assume the entire male population felt the same as these pointed media examples.
But what gives? Apparently the blatant sexual stereotypes continue to exist even though we have managed to come a long ways. Women still enjoy flaunting their sexuality for attention, but is that because it makes them feel good or because society tells them it makes them feel good?
ETA: I don’t want to edit the above paragraphs because that looks dishonest and that isn’t my goal. But what I *do* want to do is clarify what I meant because I think I expressed my opinion poorly. To address some comments below: of course I absolutely do believe in equal rights for men and women, which I’m guessing I’ve made clear in the past (but maybe not with this post, as a commenter pointed out). But in my experience, feminism *sometimes* crosses into reverse sexism. I do disagree with a commenter that said it doesn’t exist; I believe that it does, albeit less frequently than what women experience. I realize many may disagree with that and I accept that. To me, the larger concern is not questioning whether the sexism exists (because it obviously does), but figuring out how to fix it on both sides. This was supposed to be the intention of this post, and maybe I missed the mark on that one.
And this exists well beyond the realm of the outdoor industry. Back in October, Will and I spent a weekend traveling for a media trip for my blog; this same site you’re reading right now. But when we showed up, we found the hotel reservation under his name and all of the swag in our room was addressed to Mr. Rochfort. It was an honest mistake and I tried not to let it bother me, but the inherent message pissed me off: of course it was the man in charge of this situation.
So what to do? Again, I talk to Will about this topic all the time as he is an incredible sounding board with logical and thoughtful solutions. His answer to me is always the same: What are you going to do about it? There is no doubt in my mind that both blatant and unintentional sexism is still rampant in the 21st century, but whining about it has yet to accomplish much for anyone. When I whined about it last year, he asked me the same question. That’s how the #JustAnOutdoorGal series began; it is my attempt to do something on my tiny corner of the internet.
Clearly, the problem hasn’t gone away, so as strong and capable men and women, it’s incumbent on us to help fix the problem. What will you do about it?
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