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  1. #1
    Senior Member Karla "with a k"'s Avatar
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    How to get more female hammockers - Woman Responses Only

    I don't seem to have difficulties getting female friends to tent camp. However, hammock camping is a different story. Why do you think that is? I started hammock camping because I attended a hang with a fellow female hammocker and I planned to tent. Next, I was allowed to borrow gear. Then, I was hooked. Do we ladies need to step up and reach out more?

    Since this Woman's sub-forum is so new, I'd like to only hear from females--really get this sub-forum going with discussion.
    Last edited by Karla "with a k"; 03-02-2017 at 00:29.
    ◘ May 17-19: BACONFEST @ Interstate WI SP ◘ Oct 3-6: miCHILIgan @ Middleville, MI ◘ YouTube: karlawithak216 ◘ Instagram: i.am.karla.with.a.k ◘ 97 months

  2. #2
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    When I joined Hammock Forums there were very few female members. Now we have a lot of lady members plus women joining all the time.
    Often "She" members do not advertise their gender, which I like
    IMHO it helps the site work more efficiently.

  3. #3
    Senior Member jellyfish's Avatar
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    First thread woohoo!!!

    I started hammock camping because I have just come to terms with the fact that if I want to go camping, often that will mean that I have to go by myself. So selfishly, I am only thinking of myself and what I want. I am not caring anymore about accommodating what someone else wants to do, or how much head room they want in a tent so that they can stand upright when putting on pants. Hahaha. It feels great.

    I don't know why more women don't hammock camp. I don't know why more women don't camp, period.

    I think we definitely need to reach out more and show by example.

    I'd like to see more women hammock camping on youtube. Sharing stories. Being supportive.

    This new format here is great. Wtg Hammock Forums!
    I sew things on youtube.
    I don’t sew on commission, so please don’t ask. Thanks.

  4. #4
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    I think we just need to spread the word. I didn't know hammock camping was a thing until a few months ago.

  5. #5
    Senior Member hutzelbein's Avatar
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    I don't know that many people who would be willing to sleep outdoors, with all that is attached to that. And of those, non thinks they would be able to sleep in a hammock. So I can only answer for myself, not for other women. Also, my situation is different from most other people on this forum, because I live in a country where sleeping in the woods is not allowed. If you want to camp, you have to use a public campsite - and we almost exclusively have campsites of the KOA-type. So the number one deterrent is actually the legal situation. I have never slept in the woods in my home country ever (although I want to), being the nice and law-abiding girl that I am. I assume many women (and maybe even a few men) feel similar.

    Other than that, hygiene - or rather the lack thereof - is probably a factor. Nobody taught me how to keep at least somewhat clean in the woods. On my first couple of hikes I smelled so bad, that I was ashamed of being anywhere near other people (on the way back). So on my following hikes I made an effort to clean myself and my clothes every night, which helped a bit, but I cannot imagine any of my girlfriends or women acquaintances to stand naked in the woods and wash with the help of a water bottle while getting bitten in the butt by every **** mosquito in the area... I was lucky that it was always pretty warm and fairly dry - I probably would prefer to smell when temps are getting close to freezing and it's raining...

    Privacy has been an issue for me, too. I stayed in one or two more popular backcountry campsites (one in the White Mountains), where there were NO places that were out-of-sight. There was only one toilet, and it was asked that you would only use it for "number 2". Men don't care about that. They can do their business without exposing themselves to the whole audience. I hated it. This campsite must have been laid out by men - otherwise there would have been some bushes or some corners that would have provided some privacy.

    Then men are often not helping, too. I cannot tell how often I have been asked by male hikers / campers "are you not afraid to hike / camp on your own?" I don't freak out easily, and always laughed it off - but I wish that men would take a second to think about how they come across BEFORE asking that of a woman they just met somewhere in the wilderness... I'm used to travelling on my own, and I'm used to men sometimes behaving a bit stupid, but a woman who's hiking and sleeping outdoors on her own for the first time might not be that calm.

    Still, safety is an important issue. For some reason, I have always felt safe when using backcountry campsites in NZ and the US. Probably because I (maybe falsely) assumed that everybody I met was there for the same reasons as me. In my country it's different. I would only want to sleep in a place where I'm sure I'm not seen by anybody, and only in part because it is not allowed. Most people you meet in the woods here just go for a walk (often with their dogs). You rarely meet another hiker. It's illogical, but I mistrust non-hikers/campers and wouldn't want them to know where I sleep.



    Edit: Sorry, I misread the question. Ignore my answer.
    Last edited by hutzelbein; 03-02-2017 at 07:36.

  6. #6
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    Folks,

    Please get this post posted on hammocks and not other things like safety, privacy, etc. If the focus remains as it is heading now, I will be forced to move it to the DM area.
    Deb
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    "The older I get, the more I appreciate my rural childhood. I spent a lot of time outdoors, unsupervised, which is a blessing." Barbara Kingsolver

  7. #7
    Senior Member tollermama's Avatar
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    Well, I am trying to spread the word about hammock camping to all my friends regardless of gender, but I must say that to some extent I think it has to do with having to get a whole new set up for camping. All my women friends have tents and many on limited budgets and the thought of switching to a new set up like a hammock and all it's trappings is not that great. Where I live, one must have a bug net and many of my friends are not that motivated to make their own gear if they even know how to sew which most of them don't. I have to say that I have one friend who is curious about it. I think of the comfort factor mostly and try to let people know how comfy it is.

    I also like the idea of a woman doing you tube videos, I personally have no clue how to do any of that and can't really afford to get a a set up for that. I also have limited bandwidth for uploading stuff like that so it is not in my cards. (Rural areas are great except for getting high speed internet).

  8. #8
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    A common theme to most new hammock campers seems to be not wanting to invest a lot of $$$ in it until they've had a chance to see what different setups are like. Hammocking is still so niche that it almost requires attending a hang to do that -- and I know for myself, I was really nervous about showing up to a hang not knowing if other women would be there.

    So, making sure that it's clearly stated that women are attending a hang would help. Organizing an entire women-only hang, or a mini-hang within a larger women-only camping outing would probably help even more.

    (Note: I am not a hammock camper in the camping sense of the phrase, primarily for non-woman-specific reasons.)

  9. #9
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    I live in an area where there are few if any hammock campers, period. I only stumbled onto the idea of hammocks because of White Blaze and also when looking for a "perfect" tent which was more tarp and inner in my mind. This got me thinking about getting off the ground but since I don't even camp with female friends I have wouldn't even know where to start with it. The few people I have mentioned it to have looked at me very skeptically and announced how impossible they are to sleep in...and won't listen to an explanation.

    Maybe women, more than men, prefer the "security" of a tent and are nervous to try something that leaves them more exposed. I'd love to find some female friends to hang with

  10. #10
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    I have to agree with many of the statement already posted. I think much of it comes down to cost to get them started. What I do is offer them my spare gear to join me on a hang. Putting together a table cloth hammock with a Fronkey net, PLUQ and PLTQ in the summer for them is really minimum cost.
    Deb
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    "The older I get, the more I appreciate my rural childhood. I spent a lot of time outdoors, unsupervised, which is a blessing." Barbara Kingsolver

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