Opting outside and spending time in nature has always been my solace. For a while now, I’ve said that some turn to church for their spiritual connection, but I venture into the wilderness. Regardless of the mess of the world, the hate, the consumerism, or the blinding narcissism, I can escape it all just for a moment by putting on my hiking boots and leaving without a trace. There’s something that just clicks when you get beyond cell service and spend the day, weekend, etc. at the wills of the universe. Some of the best memories I have from my childhood are of my dad and I paddling along Lake Almanor, about an hour and a half north of Chico, fishing for trout during the hex hatch every summer. We’d sit on the water for hours, resting in silence as the world around us transformed, painted with the warm colors of dusk.
The outdoors is and should always be a level playing field that we may enjoy without corruption. However, when we take an honest look at the outdoor stories told, the trials we revere, we see an industry that doesn’t champion people equally. The imagery portrayed of the outdoors (stores, movies, magazines, blogs, catalogs) is strikingly filled with the imagery of men and predominantly those who are white. The current culture doesn’t honor or accurately depict the role that women and people of color play in the outdoors.
In a recent national study conducted by REI showed that 85% of all surveyed women believe that the outdoors “positively affects mental health, physical health, happiness and overall well being, and 70% reported that being in the outdoors is liberating.” The obstacle is that 63% could not think of a woman outdoor role model and 6/10 said men’s outdoor interests are taken more seriously.
The bold and vibrant women and people I continue to see engaged with the outdoors are excluded from the folds of recreation culture. There is a stigma about women and people of color that venture out; the amount of times I have been asked if the weight of my own pack was too heavy for me is ridiculous. My friend who works in an outdoor co-op is continually looked over in favor of employees who are men because customers have the internalized idea that, as a woman, she must not know what she’s talking about. Stories like these are far from uncommon, in fact they are the standard.
Opting outside is an amazing experience, but outdoor culture still isn’t cutting it. REI released an advertisement campaign last year entitled Force of Nature that is at least, hypothetically, attempting to break the status quo limiting women’s representation in the outdoors. The public effort claims to create real change by putting women of all ages, races, sizes, gender expressions in the front and center of what they do, but is it enough?
The thing about those fishing trips was that every time we cast off year in and year out my dad would be praised for getting his daughter outside. It was always apparent that I was the only woman out on the water and I would never hear the end of it about it. At the time I was proud that I stood out and was going against the grain, but now I understand that we aren’t encouraged to go outside and get our hands dirty. It isn’t “ladylike” or socially promoted for people outside of what continues to be pressed over and over again. Is it too much to hope that when I say that I work as an outdoor programmer people don’t have a look of confusion? Or that people don’t immediately speak to my co-worker after assuming that I’m just there to complete paperwork and not run trips?
Nature is there for all of us to preserve, enjoy, and engage in. It isn’t a commodity to be hoarded by corporations, the government, or the stereotypical boy scout. The outdoors is for all and while Force of Nature isn’t much, it’s a start. May we all find our peace hidden.
“The mountains are calling and I must go” -John Muir.
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