Sam Harrison / A-gendered Wilderness
I have been reading some papers on women and wilderness for the literature review of the report on Natural Change. They have been very interesting, pointing out the power that wilderness experiences, solo time, and therapy can have for women. Equally they write eloquently how these experiences can challenge particular issues that women face in modern societies… However there seems to be an underlying assumption, or perhaps a question unasked - ‘are women’s experiences of wild places different to men’s?’ It seems that all the benefits these authors talk about such as raised self-esteem, change in perspective, mental clarity - are things taken from the men in this project (including myself, and confirmed in my wider experience doing this sort of work).
Steven Harper writes about the way that gender comes out on his wilderness programmes - he feels that both the biological facts and the socialized roles of gender emerge, but he doesn’t claim that gender affects the nature of the experience. Robert Greenway notices some difference between men’s and women’s approaches - men looking more towards challenge and conquering fear, and women tending to feel that they have ‘come home’ to nature. But these points aren’t expanded.
From my perspective, bringing together the research findings, i would be reluctant to make any claims about differences between men’s and women’s experiences, i would be happier to talk about the difference between people’s experiences…
What do you think?
I have included some references for those interested:
Angell, J. (1994). The wilderness solo. Women & Therapy, 15(3), 85 - 99.
Greenway, R. (1995). The wilderness effect and ecopsychology. In T. Roszak, M. E. Gomes & A. D. Kanner (Eds.), Ecopsychology: restoring the earth, healing the mind. San Francisco: Sierra Club.
Harper, S. (1995). The way of wilderness. In T. Roszak, M. E. Gomes & A. D. Kanner (Eds.), Ecopsychology: restoring the earth, healing the mind. San Francisco: Sierra Club.
Pohl, S. L., Borrie, W. T., & Patterson, M. E. (2000). Women, wilderness and everyday life: a documentation of the connection between wilderness recreation and women’s everyday lives. Journal of Leisure Research, 32(4), 415 - 434.
Powch, I. G. (1994). Wilderness Therapy. Women & Therapy, 15(3), 11 - 27.
There are 4 comments on A-gendered Wilderness:
I agree with you Sam. I think the most important thing about this is listening to our own, and each others’ direct experiences. If assumptions are followed unconsciously, gender can turn into a limiting institution like anything else.
January 19th, 2009 at 4:42 pmMargaret
women look for shelter for others not just themselves?
January 20th, 2009 at 1:07 amI can definately relate to the sense of challenge, resisting wild weather, staying out as long as possible. This was a very real aspect of my ‘wilderness experience’ or certainly my initial approach to it.
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:03 amInteresting- maybe check out some ecofeminist literature such as Shiva & Maria Mies ‘Ecofeminism’, Diamond & Orenstein (Eds) ‘Reweaving the world-the emergence of ecofeminism’, Eaton & Lorentzen ‘ecofeminism and globalisation-exploring culture, religion, context. This literature base really explores the relationship between gender, ‘nature’ and various interpretations on whether women are epistemologically priviledged in their connection/understanding with nature .
June 2nd, 2009 at 4:09 pmComment on this post...