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But dudes. Dudes can rib you if you don& #39;t have your knife or multitool handy. Dudes I know check the sharpness of each others& #39; blades. We& #39;re taught early to be self-sufficient, not ask for help. We& #39;re sposed to be competent & leaderly. So I want folx to know it& #39;s OKAY not to be.
I grew up reading Louis L& #39;amour novels. His heroes were the men I measured myself against. Calm. Self-assured. Agile. Strong. Tough. Never complaining. Rarely needing help and never asking for it.
No one can live up to that standard all the time. It& #39;s okay to try, but it& #39;s also okay not to. None of this makes you less of a man.
But we& #39;re given messages that weakness and incompetence and less-than-perfect preparedness make us _less of a man_.
And I want people to feel WORTHY of the outdoors. I don& #39;t want them to be scared that they don& #39;t have the right equipment or that they don& #39;t know everything about how to make a campsite or put up a tent or climb a rock face. Who does?? Everyone who does had to LEARN these things!
For a lot of women, I& #39;m learning that pressures are different. You may have been given messages that you should be light & small & weak & needy. So u might be trying to retrain yrself that it& #39;s OKAY to be prepared & skilled (maybe more than men around you! Gasp!) & layered up.
So it can seem like B & I are in opposite directions re outdoor gear/prep. We dont oppose one another! We agree 95% on how to stay warm, how to survive, &c. But I& #39;m valuing permission to just chill while B is in touch w an audience thats had to find courage just to take up space.
