Sorry Dune.. Maybe Shewie will move this to a separate roped off area at some point...
But hey! Better than being ignored eh?
@Clare I'd broadly agree with you, much of it is inside people's heads, but that is where many people spend their lives, fretting away about 'what people might think of them'
(usually very little - and rarely anything relating to us - and if it is, that is
their issue )
.
It's arisen from centuries of conditioning perhaps, but needs to be tackled imo...
We're only going for a walk, and putting up a dinky tent after all, (in the instance of hiking)
I've very rarely felt threatened out there in any case, certainly not by other people - and the domestic violence figures show where most of the getting hurt happens.
And globally I suspect far more females spend just as much, if not more of their lives porting heavy loads long distances - water, kids, food etc - than do their male counterparts..
Doing lots of body confidence giving stuff such as physical work, weightlifting and tonnes of yoga, helps.
Although of course, with all this scrummy lightweight gear it's not as if we even need to be that strong
So it
is curious in a way, that there are fewer women on here, given that on average we are less physically strong as a gender..
Maybe that filthy pay gap, and thereby access to, and control of, funds for purchases. In addition to the fact that in a lot of households the bulk of unpaid domestic, and caring duties still fall on women, meaning they have less free time, to persue their own interests.
These are the real issues that need addressing.
But sure everyone on here, has all that totally sorted - despite the occasional jokey 1950's 'beleaguered husband' club house atmos' that crops up, from time to time
.
And yes I too get annoyed at the whole 'woman overcomes her inner demons by going on a transformative journey' trope being endlessly trotted out, unless it's done convincingly, with purpose.
Nearly everyone both male and female, has self doubting moments - chaps are just generally taught to conceal all that with bluff and bluster, ime.
It all perpetuates the same old myth of us women needing protecting, or being helpless out by ourselves.
I get the impression
@DuneElliot that there are something like half as many women doing trails in the States, as guys? - still a way to go, but possibly better than here in UK - I don't know for sure - anyone got any solid stats?
If not, I'm willing to go out and collect some - for an immodest fee