Unsolicited thoughts on women in climbing - part I

So, on September the 27th, the women's climbing symposium will be held in Glasgow. Let me be frank. When I first heard about the women's climbing symposium I thought it was a really bad idea. Nowadays I'm not so sure. It's certainly true that women climbers face different issues to men, and this is an oft-used justification for women-only events. The issue I have with this is that too often this makes assumptions about whose fault it is that women face those issues. In a recent, and very inspiring blog post, Hazel Findlay puts it better than I can, discussing a time she let a male climber dissuade her from an onsight attempt:

"Although I was psyched to send my hardest route, I was annoyed that I had been discouraged from trying to flash it. Of course, it wasn’t Sean’s fault; it was my fault. 

The reason this send was so important to me wasn’t because I don’t believe in rehearsing routes first. It isn’t even to do with what male climbers expect from the average girl at the crag. It has to do with self-belief. I know how well I can climb a lot better than a random guy I met two days ago. So why did I trust his judgment and not my own?"

 Let's call this point of view the deficit model. In the deficit model, the issues women face when they climb is their own fault. Find all-male groups intimidating? Have a male partner who assumes you won't want to lead? Then man the fuck up and do something about it.

The phrase in italics highlights the problem with the deficit model. It views male behaviour as the norm, and forcefully suggests that women alter their behaviour to be more like men. Obviously, there are alternative points of view. One point of view is that if you do have a male partner who doesn't let you lead, then that guy is a dick, and he needs his world view adjusting. Preferably with a swift kick in the balls.

I believe that, for most situations, the issues women climbers face lie somewhere in between the two extremes. My issue with most discussions of women in climbing is not that the issues aren't genuine, or that the deficit model is entirely correct. It's that the deficit model is under discussed, and anyone suggesting that women share responsibility for solving their problems can be met with strong opposition.

Hey - here's an example. Women quite often shy away from power training, because they are afraid of getting arms like Sam Whittaker. Once again, the deficit model says the answer is to man the fuck up. Get over it. After all, it's not impossible to love a climber's physique. In a great blog post on the WCS, Michaela Tracy says:

"I remember hearing about a talk about body image amongst female climbers. This was something I just couldn’t understand at all. I love having big arms and broad shoulders, really I do. For me, having the build of a climber means that I can do what I love - and I get a lot more joy out of that than finding a dress that fits me."

But of course, it's not that easy. Because women face a lot of pressure from society about how they are supposed to look. It's hammered home from a young age. Their Barbie dolls are so ridiculous, if they were real they'd have to walk on all fours. The images they see in magazines are all airbrushed to present impossible ideals of femininity. It takes tremendous self confidence to ignore all this and be proud of your amazing body, and the training that got it that way.

When I first heard about the WCS, I assumed the deficit model would be totally undiscussed. To my mind that would make it actively dangerous - it would promote the idea that women faced special issues for which they shared no responsibility. For example, it would indulge women who found all-male groups to be intimidating, and suggest they climb in all-female groups instead. On the flip-side, a WCS that discussed the deficit model might suggest trying to overcome these fears, which would lead to a more positive, and less self-limiting result.

Of course, I've never been to the WCS, and so it is totally wrong of me to make this assumption. And no-one can deny that there are many many women who face issues that men will never encounter - and these women are whom the WCS is aimed at, and who give it overwhelmingly positive feedback every year. I'm sure that once again it will be a tremendous success, and I wish it all the best. Maybe those of them who I will force to read this blog might like to discuss the issues raised? Oh, and while I'm at it I have something else on my mind, which I'll harp on about in part II...