And now…for something completely different

June 17, 2009

Yes, I know this is a tech blog and yes, I know the people who visit are usually looking for solutions to their computer problems, updates on the Views from the Coop tech chat podcast and news from the tech world but today, I want to talk about something completely different…or maybe not.

In case you’ve ever wondered, I’m not a tekkie chik 24 hours a day. I do get some sleep and I do participate in non-tech activities. I’m the bass player in a band my husband, Rick, and I formed in 2007 called Diezelfitter. When it comes to my band equipment, I’m pretty technically challenged and leave guitar and amp troubleshooting and repairs up to my more experienced band mates and long-time guitar players, Rick and Chuck.

Another activity that’s pretty new to me is shooting. Back in October of last year, I started a Wordpress project with an acquaintance, who has since become a close friend, Barbara Baird. Barb is passionate about introducing women to outdoor activities that have traditionally been associated with men: shooting, hunting, fishing. She has become my mentor in the outdoors, especially when it comes to shooting. She and her husband, Jason, are NRA certified shooting instructors.

Barb is also a heckuva writer. The website she and I created together, The Women’s Outdoor News (The WON) is filled with outdoor news, product reviews, upcoming events, and the highlight of the site, Barb’s blog, Babbs in the Woods.  As you may have guessed, the site is geared toward outdoor topics that focus on and feature women in the outdoors. I’m proud to say that Barb asked me to become her associate editor, an offer I happily accepted

I’m also a member of The Women’s Outdoor Media Association (The WOMA), a membership organization for women in the outdoors media. I even write a regular column for The WOMA website about technology. Being a woman in a field dominated by men, I’m familiar with many of the challenges women have when they step into a role traditionally held by men, especially if they happen to be very good at what they do.  I wrote a blog post about how a woman’s looks are often more important than what she knows.  I even used Kim Komando, my favorite tekkie chik, as an example. Would she be as popular as she is if she wasn’t a good looking blonde? At the time, Rick posited the theory that Kim was really a nerdy looking dude who used the good looking blonde as a front to get attention and build traffic. I laughed at him then, but I’m not laughing now.

There is an outdoor blogger named Steve Boomer who has regularly used photos of scantily clad women on his blog posts about women in the outdoors. I happened on his blog because a post he did about an upcoming BOW (Becoming an Outdoors Woman) event showed up in my Google alerts. One of the things I do as associate editor for The WON is keep an eye out for news about women and technology in the outdoors. I sent the link to Barb and added the event to our upcoming events calendar. I didn’t use the link to Steve’s blog post on the calendar, however. I used the link from The Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks website that had details about the event. Steve’s blog post featured the logo of the Montana FWP along with a photo of a scantily clad woman, hand trailing across her stomach toward her unzipped shorts.  One of The WOMA board members, Marsha Petrie Sue, wanted to know just what outdoor activity she was practicing. Needless to say, there was a bit of an uproar among The WOMA board members when Barb forwarded the link to them. I have to say here that one of the board members, Bill Bowers, was as offended as any of the women on the board. Several of us, including Bill, left comments on Mr. Boomer’s blog about the inappropriateness of his use of titillating photos to advertise events for women in the outdoors.

Here’s where the happy ending comes in. Not only did Mr. Boomer remove the offensive photo from the post about the upcoming BOW event and replace it with a photo of REAL women enjoying REAL outdoor activities, he removed ALL of the photos of scantily clad women from his blog. Thanks, Steve! I’m just disappointed that we had to leave negative comments on his otherwise informative blog before he took any action.

I don’t think I’m being overly sensitive to this issue. I’ve worked hard at being a tekkie chik and I enjoy what I do. I’m working hard at learning to shoot and am enjoying it immensely. I’m not a good looking blonde and I don’t wear my shorts unzipped to the range for target practice and I’ve never seen any women there (and yes, there are women there) who do either. Suffice it to say that the way to enticing more women into the field of technology and into the outdoors is NOT by representing those activities with pin-ups. That’s not to say there aren’t good looking blondes who wear their shorts unzipped in appropriate settings. I just doubt you’ll find any of them dressed like that while they’re turkey hunting or tearing down a computer.

Posted in Annoyances