From: karina@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Karina Haavik)
Newsgroups: rec.boats
Subject: women and sailing
Date: 6 Nov 92 02:10:46 GMT

OK, people, here are my thoughts on women and sailing.  I tried to ignore this
thread, but it keeps going and going and going...

I think the primary problem with women and sailing is the obnoxious machismo
of some of the other participants, but it is *not* the over-agressive racing
braggadocio that you all have discussed.  Rather, it is the old-fashioned 
macho assumption that women are stupid, weak, and have no property rights.

Now I know that not all of you men out there are like that.  In fact, most of 
you aren't.  But sometimes it only takes one jerk to ruin your whole day.  
There is something about even the idea of boating which seems to appeal to 
obnoxiously macho men.  I have been slimed by men who seemed to have never
even been in a boat, but assumed that by birthright they knew more about it
than I did.  I have had a man rip fibreglass off of my boat the *wrong* way (to
show me how to do it "right") even after I told him to stop.  I have had men 
treat me like an idiot and find that they had to revise their opinions.

Fewer of these problems have occurred within the context of a (dingy) club,
because it is a small friendly group which norms behavior.  But some still 
have, and I am working to educate those in question.  Usually they mean well, 
and just don't understand how condescending they seem.  Why, just last week, 
a guy asked me if I needed help reading the bulliten board.  I sincerely hope
he was making a bad attempt at picking me up, because I can't think of any
other excuse.

Somebody here made a comment some posts back about whether on not to change 
racing rules to make it easier for women and how that could take the life out 
of the sport.  I'm not a sailor yet (gotta fix that leak first), but I know
what the women I know want.  They don't want it to be easier, they want it
to be *possible*.  That means being treated with respect and helped to learn
under the same rules as the men, so they can have the same exciting sport
as the men.  I would suspect that the reason so many women are in family-type
clubs is that they are more likely to be treated like people there than they
are if they join an all-male club alone.

So gentlemen, if you are trying to get more women active in your clubs, here 
is my advice to you:  check out whether any of your club members are die-hard 
macho jerks.  When you find them, try to educate them.  Then take a look at
how you present yourselves to women.  When they have a problem, do you run to
be gallant and fix it, or do you explain it to them and let them do it 
themselves so they can learn from it?  Women are quite capable of asking for 
help when they need it.  And of course, if they do ask for your help, flexing
your muscles and treating them like the little woman isn't too endearing, 
either.

It's really not hard, and must of your probably understad this already.  I 
just wanted to clear the air for those of you who missed the point.  The real
goal of feminism isn't that women get to break your balls or have it both ways
or any of the other things that you've heard.  It's that we get to be people 
too.  And on my boat for one, you don't get to screw up on that one.

And as for me, no, I don't have a harrier back than yours.  I'm just another
computer scientist who doesn't suffer fools gladly.  Unfortunately, I look 11
years younger than I am, so I meet them ALL THE TIME!!!
--
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Karina Haavik   ******  karina@seas.upenn.edu  ***  Comet #2970
It looks like a boat.   It leaks like a boat.       It must be a boat.
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Newsgroups: rec.boats