Flying the Coop: Do you get your outdoor news from Victoria’s Secret?
July 7, 2009 by Paige Eissinger
When I was about five years old, I was visiting my friend, Cathy, and we found one of her dad’s Playboy magazines. That was a really long time ago and although the models inside were in various stages of undress, there were always strategically placed objects in front of breasts that hid nipples and all of them had on panties. I don’t remember seeing any that were completely “nekkid” as we say in the South.
Things sure have changed a lot since then. You don’t find those types of photos just in men’s magazines anymore. You find them in ads for all types of products in mainstream publications that aren’t kept behind the counter. You can find them online. There’s something about the unclad female form that SELLS! Until recently, I have to admit that I’d pretty much become desensitized and hadn’t paid much attention. That sure changed a couple of weeks ago when I was checking my Google Alerts for news to add to The WON. I ran across a post on Steve Boomer’s Outdoor News blog about an upcoming BOW event in Montana that I decided to add to our calendar. I didn’t use the link to Steve’s blog about the event, however, because there was a photo on the article that showed one of those scantily dressed women that made me wonder just what type of outdoor activity she was engaging in. At the same time, I forwarded the post to Barb and it wasn’t long before the firestorm erupted! For complete details about what happened next, read my original post about Steve’s inappropriate use of tantalizing photos to portray women in the outdoors.
The Suburban Housewives model appropriate outdoor wear for pheasant hunting! L to R: Barb, Kathy, Tammy, Paige
I’ll admit, when I first saw the photo, I wasn’t outraged. I just didn’t think it was appropriate and certainly didn’t want to link to the article from The WON. Like I said, I’d become desensitized. Since the first time I flew the coop, I’ve been exposed to all sorts of outdoor activities and have gotten to know some of the women who participate in them. I’ve discovered that women I’ve known for years enjoy hunting and shooting and I never even knew it. I’ve also found out that most of those women, if not all, have been frustrated, irritated and downright mad about the way some members of the outdoor industry have chosen to portray us. How many women will be encouraged to explore the outdoors if they continually see photos of women who expose enough flesh to be in serious danger of being carried away by mosquitoes or videos of women in bikinis shooting machine guns? We are more than the booth babes, ladies, and it’s time we broke our silence. I challenge all of you to speak up when you see photos or videos that portray us that way. From personal experience, I can tell you it works. Any legitimate outdoors media outlet is not going to use a method of promotion that’s going to alienate the people who buy their products, use their services or read about their adventures. That’s just not good business…is it?
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Paige: I wrote this blog a while back when encountering the same thing. http://skinnymoose.com/campwildgirls/2009/05/31/frankly-my-dear-i-dont-give/
Thanks for sharing the link to your own blog post about this very frustrating issue, Terri Lee! I added my own comments to your post, too!
Excellent post, Paige. You hit the nail on the head. I hope that gradually this sexist attitude will change, with publications like The WON highlighting the real activities of real women in the outdoors.
BB
I agree with the objections to using images of scantily clad women to sell outdoor products. Although we need to keep making progress by voicing our distaste as well as commending companies that “get it,” we do need to recognize how far we—and the hunting and shooting sports companies–have come, also. There were many more “booth babes” at the SHOT Show (Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show) 15 to 20 years ago. Now it’s unusual, not the norm.
I’m curious about something, however. Why do WOMEN use terms like “girl,” “babe,” and “chick” to refer to themselves or other adult females? The women in Cathy’s dad’s Playboy magazine were called “chicks” and were treated as sexual objects. To me, these terms are the verbal equivalent of the scantily clad women used to advertise products.
According to my dictionary, these words refer to women as child-like and silly:
Babe: Baby or infant. Naïve person. Slang: a young woman.
Chick: A child. Slang for a girl or young woman.
Girl: A female child. An immature or inexperienced woman, esp. a young woman. A female servant, such as a maid.
As a Boomer woman, I grew up in a family with some males saw women as sexual objects and thought girls and women should be less than they are so as not to threaten the males. I know women in the hunting and shooting sports struggled to be taken seriously back when “booth babes” were the norm. We are now standing on their shoulders. I don’t understand why when we have come so far, our language doesn’t seem to reflect our newly acquired power and respect. We are most powerful when we’re clear in our communications with other people.
I suspect from talking with women for an article on the color pink in hunting and shooting gear for SHOT Business that many of you will disagree with me. I wouldn’t be caught dead with pink hunting or shooting gear, but my conversations with fans of pink helped me understand and respect their and viewpoints.
If there’s one thing I detest about the SHOT Show, it’s the European gun companies that bring those big, busty eastern European women and put them in skirts up to the crack of their…..ah-hm……and boots and try to portray them as women who shoot.
Give me a break!
As to the use of language, I have to agree. We are no longer “the girls.” At 56, I find that pretty insulting. I’ve earned every one of these years, and I resent being called a girl, chick, babe, or another other such term.
Give us the respect to call us women who hunt and fish, because that’s what we are.
Oh, and by the way……..I wouldn’t be caught dead with a pink gun, pink camo, or anything else pink.
Wow! Great comments everybody. Marilyn, if you’ll check out my gravatar, you’ll see that 2 Smart Chix are exactly that…little chix and one of ‘em even has a computer. I used to be on a radio show called PC Primer (I was Rolla’s answer to Kim Komando) and my co-host was a male. We went by Roger Rooster and the Chicki Chicki . I still have a shirt with his rooster and my little chickens embroidered on it. My podcast, Views from the Coop, relies on chicken music for the intro/exit (ever hear Born to be Wild by Chickenwolf?). I used the term “chick” literally. Hey, you should see my chick collection! Carolee, pink ain’t for everybody but some people do like it. Personally, I like purple and orange but that’s just me. I get to wear my orange in the woods which is cool but doubt I’d buy any purple camo.
Paige
I went to your website and I know (knew) you use chicken icons….and I still disagree. It’s simply too close to chick referring to women in a less than respectful fashion.
I respect your point, Marilyn, however my use of chicks/chickens in my business name and as my logo has never caused any of my clients to treat me in a less than respectful fashion. Perhaps I’ve lost some clients I never knew about because they formed an opinion about my skills based on my company name but that’s something I’ll never know. As for women who participate in the same outdoor activities as men, I would never refer to them as anything other than women. I do refer to myself as a babe in the woods simply because that’s what I am…still naive and wet behind the ears but excited about learning more!