CLIMBING WOMEN AND NICHE MEDIA
Beyond Alternative Femininities
Zofia Anna Reych
291695
Dissertation in Anthropology and Sociology 15PANC999
Programme: MA Anthropology of Media
Word Count: 9991
This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree MA Anthropology of Media of the School of Oriental and African Studies
(University of London).
Date of submission: 13.09.13
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AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
/Podziękowania/
To my Family.
Mojej Rodzinie – bez Was napisanie tej pracy nie było by możliwe.
To Andy – for patiently teaching me English.
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CLIMBING WOMEN AND NICHE MEDIA
Beyond Alternative Femininities
‘It remains only for women to continue their accent.’
— Simone de Beauvoir, 1949
“Over half a lifetime of climbing is stamped on my body, from crowded toes and undainty knuckles to over-
developed back and elongating spine. It seems that what we think, what we feel and what we do changes us in
ways both physical and less visible.”
— Steph Davis, professional climber and BASE jumper, on her sponsor’s website, 2012
‘There is a kind of people who are highly interested in media and so they’re very highly interested in image. […]
It becomes more of like a circus show. It’s like a character rather than a person; […] when it’s forced out through
media and they want to sell it it’s a little bit boring. I think I can see through things like than now and ignore it.’
— Rhianne, climber, MECW counter staff, 2013
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ABSTRACT
The scope of this thesis is to explore the attitudes of climbing women towards niche media. Few
studies were conducted so far on issues key for this task: climbing as a lifestyle sport, femininies
in lifestyle sports and the role of niche media in creation of participants’ subjectivities. Literary
review and research data point to shortcomings of frameworks routinely deployed in researching
these topics. The thesis becomes a search for more applicable means of theorising female
presence in lifestyle sports. Its issues are inseparable from the issues of niche media, which play a
key role in disseminating and negotiating subcultural capital.
CONTENTS
Introduction …………………………………………………….….6
A Tribe in Transition……………………………………………….9
Being a Female Climber……………………………………………14
The Climber and Her Media…………………………………..........21
As a Consumer…………………………………………….23
As a Producer……………………………………………...31
Research Outcome………………………………………...34
Conclusion……………………………………………………...…35
Bibliography………………………………………………….....…37
Appendices………………………………………………………..42
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INTRODUCTION
Fingerboarding is a tough exercise. Narrow wooden rungs are attached to an overhanging board
creating something akin to an inverted ladder. A climber hangs from the lowest rung without any
support for the legs, with all weight solely on the fingertips. She pulls herself up, reaches for a
higher rung with her right hand and pulls to reach up her left hand. The pattern is repeated until
she’s at the top of the board where she can jump off or invert her way through the rungs. Zoe1
chooses the second, tougher option and calmly lowers herself down.
Mile End Climbing Wall’s Boardroom is a tight space enclosed by walls covered in different types
of fingerboards. There is also a blackboard to note rounds and a cable sticking out of the wall
ready to be plugged into a music player. No more than six climbers can train here comfortably –
usually, six male climbers. It can feel a little bit awkward, opening the door and entering what
feels like the most male-dominated room in the centre. Everyone’s gaze lands on you as you
stand in the doorway – a deer caught in the headlights. Very rarely do you meet a woman here.
But today is different and there are four of us: Zoe, two other girls and me. The music is loud
and we are cheering each other on.
I do not exactly remember what that guy said when he opened the door. There was a sheepish
smile, a ‘wow’ and an ‘all girls’ remark. Four women laughed wholeheartedly as we resumed our
training.
The choice to use the boardroom for my interviews was fully intentional. It was quite personal
and I saw it as a symbolic, balance restoring act. Yet in reality, only three out of eight meetings
took place here – usually it was too late in the evening and it was too busy with climbers.
1 All informants’ names where changed.
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One of the women whom I met with in the boardroom was Valeria, a MECW climbing
instructor. We sat on the mat covered floor and I could tell Valeria was apprehensive, not really
understanding why on earth I wanted to talk to her about femininity. A former aggressive inline
skater, she does not see climbing as male dominated (‘Well, at least not in comparison to
skating’), does not understand my interest in femininity (‘Oh, this girls and boys thing again…’)
and does not have much of an opinion on climbing media either (‘I like to climb, you know.
Don’t need to read about it’). We talk for about an hour and I switch off my recorder, but by
now I know informants say the best things when theoretically we are finished. Valeria is no
exception to that rule. ‘If you go to the shop and look at the magazines, there is always, I don’t
know why, seventy five per cent is a female in the cover. And there is less girls climbing. Have a
look. If you have a nice cover, then there’s always a girl’.
So we get up and walk outside to the gear shop located on the other side of the centre’s yard.
There is a big pile of Climbing and Climber magazines by the entrance and we start flicking
through covers. Two in four, eight in fourteen... Quickly it turns out that more than half of the
covers in the random sample indeed portray women.
By now there is the shop owner looking at as from behind the till and asking what we were
doing. After a brief explanation on my side, he leans over the counter and says: ‘It will sound
horribly sexist, but it depends on what kind of a cover it is. It can be about a route or about a
decorative picture. If it’s decorative, it’s usually a woman. The route does not need to be hard’.
And that is how you sell a climbing magazine.
*
My main research goal was exploring women’s attitudes in relation to mediatized representations
of female climbers. I derived my line of enquiry from the existing texts on lifestyle sports and
believed that answers should lie in following the themes they identified. Most of all, the notion
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of alternative femininity has captured my interest and I hoped to build my research around one
particular theme that was quickly emerging from the readings: the changing reality of climbing as
a lifestyle sport. The transitions that climbing is undergoing as a discipline were to frame the
transition in women’s situation within the community, or, as I call it following Bauman (1993; in
Kiewa, 2002; 157), the neotribe.2 Utilising the notion of alternative femininity I wished to
identify potential dissonance between what it means to be a female climber and how female
climbers are represented in media. My ethnographic work confirms a dissonance between the
two which does not go unnoticed by informants. More importantly, informants’ attitudes
highlight the inadequacy of the research vocabulary and call for a more subtle framework that
could explain the meanings behind social relations. However, even in the face of the inadequacy
of my initial approach, I do hope to have added to the pool of existing ethnographic
knowledge.
The research would not be possible without the intimate knowledge of the social setting that I
gained during years of involvement in climbing. My methodology pivoted around eight semi-
structured, in-depth interviews that were conducted with female frequenters of MECW 3.
Additionally, 124 surveys4 were handed out online and completed by climbing women from all
2 ‘Neotribe’ is my term of choice to describe climbers, as it accommodates various threats to the cohesion of the community (as identified by Bauman, ibid.). The term is more contingent and flexible than a presumably subordinate to culture ‘subculture’ (Thornton, 1997; 4). Neotribalism is characterised by fluidity (Maffesoli, 1996; 76) and seems a more accurate way of speaking about climbers in the time when new media and modern modes of transport allow for post-national affiliations. The fluidity also means that a person can be a member of many neotribes at the same time. Also, contrary to Hebdige’s assumption (1979, in Thornton, ibid; 94) neotribalism does not always stand in opposition to the mainstream, as will also be illustrated further. The scope of my study is not to decide if climbing was a subculture or a neotribe, and so the very illuminating notion of ‘subcultural capital’ is used across it and the terms subculture and neotribe are used, to an extent, interchangeably.
3 See appendices B, C, D
4 See appendix E
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over the world. Informal communication was also an important part of the process; climbers,
authors, pro-athletes and movie-makers talked to me in real life and online, expressing their
thoughts and feelings and providing me with ethnographic examples. The topic of my research,
as clumsily explained by me countless times, seemed to move women, prompting them to speak
about their experiences and opinions. Most of them displayed a very supportive attitude towards
my project and for that I would like to express my deepest gratitude.
A TRIBE IN TRANSITION
The aim of this chapter is to situate climbing in the context of lifestyle sports and my research in
the context of contemporary lifestyle sport studies. Unfortunately, as climbing has not received
nearly as much attention from social scientists as other lifestyle sports (Robinson, 2004; 113),
there is no singular source to which a reader could be referred to comprehend the complexity of
the discipline. Whilst an outsider might see climbing as homogenous, it is fragmented into many
different styles that vary in terms of objectives, setting, ethics, levels of commitment and risk. It
is most probable that specificity of gender relations also vary from one type of climbing to
another and it is then necessary to specify that my research was conducted among free climbers
and boulderers5 training indoors in MECW in preparation for their outdoor endeavours. Free
climbing can be divided into traditional (trad) and sport styles, with a lot of friction occurring
between advocates of each discipline due to the difference in ethics (Kiewa, ibid; 148, 150, 156,
Lewis, 2004; 74-75). It is mostly sport climbing and bouldering that the trends identified further
in this chapter concern and studies quoted as sources seem to ignore the multiplicity of
discourses6 present within the climbing subculture. Apart from Kiewa’s (ibid.) and Hardwell’s
5 See appendix A
6 Throughout the thesis ‘discourse’ is understood in Foucaldian terms as explained in Barnard, Spencer [ed.], 2002, 246-247.
9
(2009) work, I did not encounter articles that would take this multiplicity into account. However,
if for the sake of simplicity we would juxtapose trad and indoor-only climbing as the styles
furthest apart, then it has to be said that Hardwell’s research (ibid; 165) proved that the ethics
that emerged within the former still inform the ethics of the latter. This suggests that even if
rock climbing is becoming increasingly fragmented, climbers still form a community that can be
called a ‘neotribe’ and forms a feasible, albeit not homogenous, object of study. Although, if
lifestyle sports are often identified as settings that can facilitate breaching the gender gap (e.g.:
Kelly, et. at. 2005; 130-131 Dilley 2006; 1), then ‘alternative femininities’ of which researchers
speak are a product of trad ethics, not the much younger sport/bouldering ethics which are
often contradictory to trad and bring into the neotribe discourses of ‘mainstreaming’ (Honea,
2004 in Salome, 2010; 78) as will be explained further.
Due to how it has been misused and become devoid of meaning through a process of
commercialisation, I agree with the recent trend of rejecting the term ‘extreme sports’
(Bottenburg, Salome, 2010; 144), which is a mainstream media-driven label (Wheaton, 2004; 2,
Wheaton 2010; 1059) and many activities that fall into this artificial category are actually
relatively safe and perceived as such by their participants (Robinson, 2004; 120, Booth, Thorpe,
2008; 183) As put by one of my female online acquaintances, climbing, or other supposedly
extreme activities are ‘just our normal way of life!’7 (exclamation original). It is worth mentioning
that as climbing becomes more popular, it can function for some participants as a leisure/fitness
option (Hardwell, ibid; 174), and in face of such development a term ‘adventure sport’ may be
more accurate than ‘lifestyle sport’ (Ormrod, 2009; vi.). However, as my research focuses on core
participants or ones aspiring to be seen as core participants8 the term ‘lifestyle sport’ will be used
throughout this thesis.
7 Personal communication via Twitter.
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Climbing as a discipline was born among middle and upper classes (Hardwell, ibid., 161) and at
the turn of the century it was still ‘a gentlemen’s sport’. But the fifties saw changes in
employment patterns that opened the door to climbing for the underprivileged (Birkett, 1983 in
ibid; 162), including women. However, it is still believed to be a male dominated discipline, a
realm of white, privileged men (Wheaton, 2004; 12, Plate, 2007; 4). Contradictory to that, it has
to be noted here that none of my informants perceived climbing a s male dominated and most
of them pointed to sexism happening less often within the climbing community, than elsewhere.
The numbers of female participants keep growing (Robinson, 2008; 6), but this is not the only
way in which the discipline is in transition. Below I outline trends that shape climbing as it is
today and that inevitably affect the discourses surrounding femininity within the community.
The first indoor climbing gyms appeared in the seventies, initiating a process known as the
indoorisation(a) of lifestyle sports (Bottenburg, Salome, ibid.). Originally walls were perceived
solely as a tool to enhance performance on the rock (Robinson, ibid; 12) but with time a new
breed of indoor-oriented athletes emerged. As noted already in 1997 (Mittelstaedt; 27), ‘Today,
people want to climb for both fun and fitness’. That makes climbing more than ever akin to
‘regular’ gyms or fitness clubs with weight rooms and various kinds of classes on offer. 9 This
brings into the discipline new vualues and blurs the borders between alternative lifestyle sport
and mainstream fitness. It also inevitably means that, as most of climbing walls operate as
businesses, the sport becomes a marketable commodity, like any other kind of exercise available
with the fitness sector. This commercialisation(b) is reflected in proliferation of products for
8 To use Bourdieu’s terms (1986; 47-52), these who have amassed a significant amount of cultural capital, or, subcultural capital (Thornton, 1997; 202-203) can be called core participants. Apart from participants identified by Hardwell (2009, 174), who see climbing as a break from their life routines, most climbers’ participation is aspirational, as they aspire to become core participants.
9http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jun/28/indoor-climbing-bouldering-only-centres
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climbers (or products marketed as such) (Wheaton, 2010; 1058) and in media on which I will
focus later.
‘Competitivisation’(c) is another process progressing within the world of climbing (best
exemplified by the 2012 Olympic proposal) and one that may be a cause of increasing division
within the community. Although ethics stemming in a straight line from trad are still often at the
core, increasingly, climbers representing different styles start to hold different values and have
different goals (see Luhman’s model in Hardwell, ibid; 166). As Bauman noted about neo-tribes
(1993, in Kiewa, ibid; 157), their existence is brittle; its only warrants are intolerance and hostility
towards deviations from coded norms of behaviour. If the rise of alternative climbing
femininities is associated with the subcultural capital of core participants, then, in theory, they
should display negative attitudes towards different forms of femininity that are introduced into
climbing as the discipline is entering the realm of mainstream sports, a process that involves
more competition and more media attention10.
In the context of such trends, lifestyle sports’ authenticity, which used to be heavily dependent
on their oppositional attitude towards the mainstream, easily falls under suspicion (Salome,
2010). Whilst the volume of academic writing problematizing the concept of authenticity seems
to be increasing, publications are still scarce. This may have to do with the unclear definition of
the concept (ibid; 71-73), the power of which lies in rendering validation to products and
services. It can be said that authenticity is negotiated between participants of subcultures and
stakeholders trying to market their products to these participants. Wheaton (2003, in Salome,
ibid; 79) identifies ‘a sense of subcultural authenticity and localized resistance to conspicuous
consumption, institutionalization, and materialism’ that can be posed against the process of
commercialisation of lifestyle sports.’ Furthermore, participation can be judged in terms of its
10In chapter 4. Media the research data reveal that in compliance with third wave feminism female climbers are not judgmental towards displays of mainstream femininity.
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authenticity (Lumsden, 2010; 4.2) and it is clear then how the female participant becomes
trapped in a power play not only between genders, but also on the countercultural-mainstream
axis. With women identified by corporate stakeholders as a major market sector within the free
sports industry (Wheaton, 2010; 1061), they are tangled in the power play between ‘two
contradictory trends – rebellious character of subculture vs. commercialisation or
‘mainstreaming’ (Honea, 2004, in Salome, ibid; 76, 78).
Top athletes who push the limits through winning competitions or by searching for the most
difficult real rock climbs all over the world receive endorsements and support from companies
that can capitalise on their popularity within the community (Ostrowski, 2000, in Wheaton, 2003;
156). The pressing questions of how flirting with the mainstream, both in terms of
commercialisation and femininity, affects women’s perception of other female climbers known
to them through media will be touched upon in chapter 4. Media. (To accurately present the
issues of female participation authenticity and the media, a separate study involving male
climbers would be needed.)
Corporate marketing efforts mean that more new participants are drawn into climbing, but it is
for their ‘rebellious character’ that free sports are social settings welcoming countercultural
behaviour and where nonconformity – also towards dominant modes of femininity – is highly
valued (Kelly, et al., ibid; 132-133). As Dilley (ibid; 2) and Plate (ibid; 13) notes many researchers
point to alternative forms of masculinity that emerge in such circumstances, but few have looked
into the possibility of alternative femininities. It would seem that the commercialisation and
popularisation(d) of climbing is, in that sense, limiting. However, I arrive here at a major
problem that ultimately led me to questioning the outcome of my study, namely, the legitimacy
of building research upon the notion of femininity.
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BEING A FEMALE CLIMBER
‘[The] identity categories often presumed to be foundational to feminist politics, that is, deemed necessary in order
to mobilize feminism as an identity politics, simultaneously work to limit and constrain in advance the very
cultural possibilities that feminism is supposed to open up. [...] This kind of critique brings into question the
foundationalist frame in which feminism as an identity politics has been articulated. The internal paradox of this
foundationalism is that it presumes, fixes, and constrains the very “subjects” that it hopes to represent and
liberate. (Butler, 1990; 187, 189-190)
Although it is understandable that femininity can be a subject of study also if one agrees with
perceiving it only as a social construct upheld by the workings of powerful discourses, it seems
that researchers continue to theorise from within these discourses and not about them. This is the
case when women are the main subject of research (e.g. Lumsden, ibid.) and when women’s
issues are only mentioned in passing as often occurs in lifestyle sports dedicated literature (e.g.
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Wheaton, 2009, Ormrod, 2009) The research conducted in preparation for writing this thesis
also fall prey to the foundational logic problem. An attempt to distinguish between emphasised
and alternative femininities is in itself contributing to consolidation of the status quo of gender
divide. Butler’s deconstructivist project requires a detailed study of discourses that constitute
gender. However, it seems that within a setting that is recognised for its liberating potential a
different, more progressive approach should be taken; one that would allow for a multiplicity of
voices and would not reduce women’s agency (Davies, 1991, p. 51) to being a mere response to
the discourses of subordination.
This chapter aims to provide a compact overview on how female presence in lifestyle sports has
been theorised so far and identify possible flaws of that theorising. Through that I wish to
establish a background for the next chapter in which I offer a closer look at the relation between
female climbers and their mediatized representations.
Even though the readings presented below are seen as incomplete (because they only present
women in reference to men) and limiting (because in its recognising gender divide they do not
attempt deconstruct it, but enhance it), I do not question their explanatory capacity. They are
seen as a starting point for a further, hopefully more comprehensive theorising that is yet to
appear in the realm of lifestyle sports studies.
As mentioned previously, it is often stated that through involvement with lifestyle sports, women
develop alternative femininities, which stand in contrast with hegemonic or emphasised (Krane,
2012; 115) femininity ‘oriented to accommodating the interests and desires of men’ and the most
culturally valued (Connell, 1987 in Kelly, et al., ibid; 129). Its characteristics ‘include being
emotional, passive, dependent, maternal, compassionate and gentle’ (Krane, ibid; 117) making it
oppositional to the characteristics of hegemonic masculinity. The society scrutinises cross-
gender behaviours and therefore female presence in sports, particularity ones perceived as more
15
masculine (e.g. ‘extreme sports’, climbing included11, although as it will be shown later this view
on climbing is changing), carries a stigma (Krane, ibid; 118, Royce, et. at., 2003; 47) .
It seems that even through venturing for the first time into the masculine territory of climbing a
woman initiates a process of negotiating an alternative femininity, willingly or not positioning
herself against the dominant discourse. A novice female climber is likely to feel unwelcome or
belittled, being perceived as a ‘peripheral participant’ (O’Dell, 2001 in Lumsden, ibid; 2.1). She is
assumed to be less able than male climbers, patronised and often treated as s sexual object. To
avoid that, she has to embrace masculine norms of behaviour and steer away from comportment
or clothing that would indicate her compliance with hegemonic femininity (Kelly, et al., ibid; 135,
Lumsden, ibid; 4.8). She chooses to display ‘traditionally masculine traits of physical strength and
bravery’ and even show disdain for women performing hegemonic femininity (Kelly et al., ibid;
135-136). Compliance and resistance are ‘inexorably intertwined’ (Atkinson, 2002; 224) as
through making masculine values and norms of behaviour her own, she is more likely to
downplay and perpetuate sexism (Kelly, et al., ibid; 136, 143). In her attempts to oppose being
categorised as hegemonically feminine, therefore not athletically competent, she imposes on
herself a new form of limitation (ibid; 140). She manages to win acceptance as a member of the
culture, but not as a woman (Lumsden, ibid; 4.16). Unfortunately for her, Connell’s findings still
appear to be true: heterosexually feminine women complying with the gender divide still have a
social advantage (Krane, ibid. 118). Here the ‘balancing act of femininity’ that involves ‘female
apologetic’ attitude has its origins (ibid; 122). Women display behaviours associated with
emphasised femininity to downplay the threat their athletic activities pose to the hegemonic
position of masculinity. Sportswomen comply with feminine aesthetics, making themselves into
11 Although in lifestyle sports body is actually used in non-aggressive ways (e.g.: Wheaton 2010; 1060)
16
sexual objects, or emphasise their relationship with men, as hegemonic femininity implies
heterosexuality (Dilley, 2006; 4-5).
Many sportswomen may emphasise their femininity simply to avoid discrimination. It is, in
Butler’s terms, a survival strategy (ibid; 160-161), but through going out of their way to prove
their femininity, women themselves support the claim that there is a contradiction between
strong and feminine (Krane, ibid; 116). On the other hand, being perceived as heterosexually
attractive poses a threat of not being taken seriously as an athlete (ibid.). The balancing act of
femininity is maintaining such relationships between displayed gender traits that maximise gain –
wider audience acclaim and sponsorship, and at the same time acceptance among mostly male
peers.
A climber’s physicality stands in obvious opposition to beauty standards to which women are
supposed to adhere in order to be attractive to the opposite sex. Apart from the characteristics
described in the passage by Steph Davis quoted at the beginning of this thesis, it is also the need
to develop muscle that puts women off the sport, as from early age it is ingrained that muscular
body makes a woman unattractive (e.g.: Slater, Tiggermann, 2010; 621, 625). Muscularity is a
cultural signifier of strength (Cahn, 1996 in Dilley, ibid; 6), which is a traditionally male trait. The
female apologetic is then a way of ‘making up’ for a fit body.
It must be noted, however, that among my informants opinions about muscularity were very
varied. One of the informants, Sam, has no doubts: ‘I prefer muscle and being toned to skinny.
[…] I thing strong is sexy’. Another women, Sara, started climbing specifically hoping to develop
wider shoulders and more defined back, but she acknowledges that most of her colleagues fear
becoming too muscular, which is confirmed in Kate’s words:
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‘It may sound vain and stupid, but I don’t particularly wanna have huge shoulders. For myself, just because I’ve
already had to throw out one or two dresses that don’t fit because I became slightly musclier and it’s just a little
obnoxious. … at the same time, I would never give up climbing or stopped training because of that.’
Sam’s remark about being ‘sexy’ might be seen as an attempt at accommodating the needs of
men and therefore compliance with the hegemony. Dilley too recalls an example of one of her
informants, who wore makeup and fancy clothing to surprise male climbers with her skill (ibid;
7). She knew they would assume she was not fit only on the basis of her appearance. (Rhianne
concluded: ‘It feels like you’re breaking the mould of what they think is normal.’) Also, the
photograph (see picture 1) of French climber Corinne Labrune taken probably as early as 1990,
evades the theoretical model presented above. ‘Masculine’ short hair, provocatively cut top, big
earrings – this is no balancing act femininity but a conscious disruption to what Rhianne
accurately called ‘a mould of thinking’.
To theoretically accommodate the above examples it is necessary to
resort to the very roots of post-structural feminism that this chapter
begun with. Foucault proved that it is through the discursive power relations
that subjectivity is formed and that it affects as much our bodies as souls.
This is the premise on which Butler’s theory of gender was built (Butler, ibid; 171-172). If what
we perceive as feminine or masculine is a result and a construct of the power relations that
individuals are born into, then masculinity and femininity are in fact fabricated concepts.
Theorising ‘alternative femininity’ implies a premordiality of femininity as such. In certain
instances it might seem that there exists an oppositional relation between mainstream femininity
and alternative femininity, but coming across ethnographic examples that evade this model is a
reminder of how limited and, in fact, perpetuating the status quo of gender dualism it is. While
applying it might help organise our knowledge (e.g. identifying ‘female apologetic’ discourse in
mediatised representations as will be seen in the next chapter) it also brings the danger of
18
simplification, as we remain operating within the masculine-feminine dichotomy. This problem
is noted by Plate (ibid; 12-13), however no solutions are offered.
According to Thorpe (ibid; 212) ‘binaries like masculine–feminine, active–passive, strong–weak,
violent–peaceful, and competitive–cooperative belong to essentialist gender natures that have
long ceased to have relevance’. My research results fit in well with that spirit of third wave
feminism (ibid.; 211-212) informed by Foucaldian notion of no activity being oppressing or
liberating in itself, but rather its meaning as such being forged by the contemporary constellation
of discourses determining subjects’ understanding of them (Markula, 2003; 30). Reducing this
multiplicity to the binary opposition of gender divide seems to be scuttling the liberating
potential of lifestyle sports settings. Although my initial research plan was to focus on women’s
perceptions of niche media, it proved very difficult to carry out, as during my work the
shortcomings of available theoretical tools kept unfolding and I had to continue the search for
more appropriate ways of thinking about women in lifestyle sports setting.
Dilley proposes a focus on a climber’s body as a new research angle. She is an active climber
herself; experiencing the complexity of being a female climber first hand might be what
prompted her to shift to a phenomenological focus on the lived body that allows room for more
intertwined motives and behaviours (Dilley, 2007). She builds on Marion Young, who in her
“Throwing like a girl’ (1980) proved wrong earlier assertions that male and female bodily
comportment differ because of some mysterious femininity element present in girls since the day
they were born (Strauss, 1966, in Young, ibid; 137). Young in turn employed Beauvoirian
concept of situation (Young, ibid; 138-139) to explain how society imposes on girls norms of
behaviour, including motility, complying with what later was theorised as hegemonic femininity.
In her more recent work Young proposed that we ‘throw over the concept of gender altogether
and renew a concept of the lived body derived from existential phenomenology’ (Young, 2005,
in Chisholm, ibid; 11).
19
Dilley’s work is an example of how Butler’s notions about gender can be used in creating new
approaches to studying women however, she points outs that Butler’s framework does not allow
for taking into account material body defences between men and women (Dilley, ibid.; 7).
Diane Chisholm (2008) chose Lynn Hill’s autobiography as an illustration of how the female
body can be brought back to a state where it is one with Merleau-Ponty’s ‘natural-self ’ (1969, in
Chisholm, ibid; 16-17).12 At the same time, the phenomenological approach is not deaf to the
fact that Hill’s body is different than the body of her male peers.
[Hill] clarifies that the body she relies on for climbing is not that of “any man” but a sexed body. Hers is the
body of “any woman” that must approach every climbing situation against a background of masculine
domination. (ibid.; 18)
It is from the experience of her female body as an effective tool in the exploration of the vertical
world that Hill finds confidence to assert an authoritative voice in the climbing community.
Chisholm concludes that as Hill has become a role model for a generation of hard climbing,
‘free-living girls’ (ibid.; 20), in this instance the inhibitions theorised by Young are no longer
applicable . In Hill’s case, being a woman becomes a virtue in itself and there is no longer a need
12 A woman’s body is, in accordance with Merleau-Ponty’s existential phenomenology, lived as a subject but also as an object at the same time – rooted in space, passive, alien to her intentionality, delicate. The body is her burden, a fragile envelope she inhabits, one that has to be protected from harm. One through which she faces a constant threat of being violently invaded; to move freely would be to become open to interaction, from an unwanted gaze to start with, to much more direct abuse. Femininity inhibits her physical ability (Young, ibid; 148) It can be said that men live their bodies, while women live in theirs. Since the seventies the female body was theorised as a source of oppression (Dilley, 2006; 2), but through discovering its function beyond satisfying the male gaze, it becomes a source of empowerment (Dilley, 2007; 3, Theberge in Krane, ibid; 128) . ('The ultimate goal of challenging social norms surrounding femininity is to empower women to make their own choices about how to look and act and to define their own version of an ideal female body' – Krane, ibid;123.)
Through focus on the lived body experience, we can shed the rigid framework of hegemonic gender bias and open up a field for conceiving a femininity independent from being a mere response to hegemonic masculinity.
20
to position her achievements against a backdrop of men’s; she finds her equal place. But how
strongly Young’s theory still holds can only be seen in the difference with which women and men
attend to the task of their first climb, be it at a climbing wall or outdoors – a difference that is
almost immediately perceivable as soon as one pays attention.
Hill’s book is, to an extent, an isolated voice in the realm of niche media. It does justice to an
exceptional climber, who at the same time is an object of her own cultural production. The
everyday climbing media scape is composed of much more frequent publications: Magazines in
print and online, social media and ‘vids’. Increasing numbers of female climbers mean that
women are more often than ever objects and consumers (not necessarily targets) of the mediated
content. What meanings are constructed between that content and the climbing women is the
topic of the next chapter.
THE CLIMBER AND HER MEDIA
Female presence in settings traditionally associated with masculinity and requiring strength,
competitiveness, muscle and so on, will cause for the constraints of gender divide to loosen,
(Krane, ibid. 129) leaving space for individuals to negotiate their social and gender identities
more freely. However, “the media framing of the female athlete threatens to subvert any
counter-hegemonic potential posed by female athletes” (Messner, 1998 in Vodden-McKay,
Schnell, 2010; 138). My question then is: do female climbers see it that way? What are their
attitudes towards representations of female climbers encountered in niche media?
In Vodden-McKay and Schnell’s analysis (ibid.) 114 issues of Climbing magazine (1991-2004)
were assessed. The study confirmed that patriarchal power relations were reinforced through a
number of means; providing information about a female athlete’s private life (presenting her as a
heterosexual girlfriend or wife, a mother etc.), infantilisation (calling her a ‘girl’) and objectifying
comments about her physicality. (ibid; 149) A commonly known fact that heterosexually
21
attractive women enjoy more media attention (e.g.: Bernstein, 2002; 422-423) proved true also in
the case of the climbing magazine.
In recent years the media scape has undergone a rapid transformation; print media are no longer
the primary source of information about the discipline and ‘vids’, ranging from less than a
minute to over an hour-long productions, present the hardest climbs from all over the globe.
Many of them are sponsored by sports brands. As outlined earlier, this brings into play
‘mainstream’ discourses that were previously absent in the climbing tribe. Their presence adds to
an advancing diversification of climbing into ‘clans’. Athletes competing in high profile events,
such as the world cup circuit, are likely to be influenced by companies from which they receive
endorsements. Big events increasingly become marketing tools and that also may impact how
they are mediatised. On the one hand, the profile of climbing rises and it attracts more female
participants. On the other, climbing media might become more akin to their mainstream
counterparts and women will continue to be represented as the Beauvoirian commodified
‘Other’. (Beal, Wheaton, ibid; 170)
The above outline of trends in contemporary climbing media scape is dangerously close to
almost Saussurean model of binary oppositions (e.g.: 174; 33). Dangerously because, while
oppositions may help to find order in a complicated social reality, they also mystify its
complexity. Some researchers (Markula, 2006, Knijnik et. al, 2010; 1181) already called for
replacing opposition with coexistence, and hegemony/counter-hegemony with multiplicity.
Stepping away from attempts to frame life in a theoretical clinch and returning to descriptive
ethnography seems the right way to achieve this.
22
As a consumer
‘High advertising literacy’ (Wheaton, Beal, 2003; 162) undoubtedly is highly dependent on the
ability of social actors to recognise the multiplicity of voices at play. With niche media being tied
to commercial funding and blurring borders between editorial and advertorial, a general ‘media
literacy’ becomes a form of subcultural capital. Female climbers are not merely capable of
judging brands and products, but also athletes, clearly differentiating between what is authentic
(specifically in terms of femininity performance) and what is staged. The ambivalence with
which ‘climbing celebrities’ (ibid; 163) are perceived is a part of that skill. Sierra Blair-Coyle’s rise
to prominence can be used as an example (see picture 2).
23
Picture : Sierra's profile on Roxy's website (source: http://roxy-uk.co.uk/en/fitness/ access: 10.09.13)
Ranked 40th in the world cup, Sierra is sponsored by two big non-climbing companies (Roxy and
Sanuk). As Sara remarked, ‘you can see more of her in social media than other female climbers
and the posts are very often non-climbing related’. Sierra’s looks and mannerisms definitely can
be defined within the boundaries of hegemonic femininity and that may be part of the reason
why her Facebook page received so far almost 14k ‘likes’.13
Although none of my informants embodies mainstream femininity to the extent that Blair-Coyle
does, they are not judgmental of her choices and, indeed, see her image in terms of a choice.
Sam says ‘it’s up to [her] …and if you pose, like, sexy and get a lot of positive feedback this, too,
can be quite empowering’. Lisa does not see anything wrong in such presentation of self either:
13 It must be noted that athletes ranked much higher enjoy less of an online ‘fan base’: number 1 – 3k; number 2 – 1,5k; 3 – 6k ‘likes’
24
‘sexualised way, sexy… why not. It’s body attraction’.14 ‘It’s good for business, sponsors… but
maybe she likes it?’ – Wonders Kate, but adds with a little bit of hesitation - ‘she kinda makes me
roll my eyes for some reason’.
Pro-climber Tori Allen, who in her time enjoyed a lot of mainstream media interest winning
ESPN’s Xgames in 1994, says in an online interview: ‘a mainstream, marketable, ”girly” image
like Sierra Blair-Coyle […] I certainly see lots of support in the climbing community for girls like
this these days, and I think that is awesome’15. Climbers might not be as enthusiastic about
sexualised imaginary as some of the surfers from Thorpe’s (ibid.) research, but certainly a
simmilar mechanism is at play.
Informants quickly recognise possible motifs behind Blair-Coyle’s image, but their lack of
excitement may suggest that most of the Facebook ‘likes’ come from non-climbers, to whom
Sierra is marketed as a sexy action girl. Previously ‘alternative sport participants have defined
themselves by distancing themselves from the norms of the dominant athletic sport culture’
(Wheaton, 2003; 167), but it seems increasingly acceptable for pro-climbers to earn their living
through flirting with the mainstream; among members of the tribe they still are judged by their
‘ability to do it’ (Beal, Wheaton, ibid; 171). This is certainly true in the case of the new Adidas
and RedBull starlet, Sasha DiGiulian, who is widely recognised as the strongest female outdoor
sport climber. DiGiulian embodies the ‘mainstream marketable image’ and a community hero at
the same time, blurring the boarders of what’s acceptable according to the unwritten laws of a
neotribe.
14 Such attitudes have been recently theorised within a Foucaldian framework as ‘technologies of sexiness’ (Evans, et al., 2010; 118)
15 http://upthatrock.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/tori-allen-an-interview/
25
Athletes like Blair-Coyle and DiGiulian seek to become commodities (Rinehart, 2003 in Nelson,
W., ibid; 1157) and this too does not go unnoticed by climbers.
‘When it’s forced out through media and they want to sell it it’s a little bit boring. I think I can
see through things like than now and ignore it.’ – says Rhianne. Informants consciously pick out
from the media what’s important to them and Kate is very enthusiastic about watching videos
that represent women:
‘The fact that I can watch […] female climbers doing a brilliant job, I think seeing someone who is not that tall,
not like, super super skinny as a rake and 6ft tall, like, what’s her name, Shauna, she’s brilliant. […] It’s quite
inspirational, getting past this mentality of I can’t do it because I’m a girl. Well, she’s a girl and she’s fucking
amazing.’
Lucy shares this enthusiasm and, like more than half of the survey respondents, admits to
looking up to better climbers, especially female.
‘It’s like, I guess, the role model thing. I wanna watch people who I admire; while like I do admire guy climbers, I
feel that I hear about them a lot more, so I don’t have to watch their videos to know what they’ve done. But it’s
like, with the women I wanna do the research and if it’s, like, there is a climbing link on a website that has like,
this guy did this, blah, blah, blah, eight something, and then there is a woman did this eight something, I would
definitely click on the girl link.’16
However, the climbers are not uncritical. Sara remarks:
‘All climbing women [in vids] look for me the same. All are petite blondies like Sasha or Mina […] Very rarely
you can see their muscle, you can only imagine they are muscly, cause they’re climbing such routes that they need to
be. But you can’t see it.’ Kate, albeit hesitantly, admits that some of the videos are ‘probably a bit sexist’.
Lucy also notices bias in a full-length movie production:
16 For more on body empathy see Finlay, 2009.
26
‘I just watched this movie, I think it’s called ‘Life on Hold’, and I feel this segment for women was so small and I
think it was Mina who was doing like a 7b or something and the funny thing is, she’s just climbed like 8c 17, or
something like that, and they chose to put a video of her doing a 7b. And like, I thought that was really strange,
because this is supposed to be the kind of a showcase of people who are really amazing. And she is amazing, but
they’ve chosen to use something that’s a little bit average. […] maybe it was the one that looked best with camera
angles or with her hair or something like that.’
Lucy also has no trouble identifying behaviours that can be theorised as the female apologetic
discussed in the previous chapter. ‘It was pretty obvious that Alex Puccio had her hair massively
done up before she was in that video’ – says Lucy and explains it pointing to Puccio wanting to
convince viewers that she can look ‘pretty’ despite having a reputation for ‘the biggest back’
among female climbers.
From Hall (1980; 54-61) we know that it is as much in encoding, as it is in decoding that
meaning is produced; it’s the discursive relation between cultural production and consumption,
as well as the discourses independently at play on both sides of the equation. This results in
extremely varied readings of the same text especially in a social setting such as a neotribe, where,
as in the case of climbing, often almost the only thing ‘tribesmen’ have in common is their
shared passion. The below quotations are the starkest example, being two informants’ opinions
on the same indoor climbing video in which Shauna Coxsey complains about developing
shoulders too wide to look good in a dress.18
‘It got me so pissed off I got hot under the collar. I commented on the video when it was
released. I said, like, really? Really?’ – Sara.
17 ‘8c’ is a harder climb than ‘7b’.
18 http://discover.adidas.co.uk/goallin/news/2013/05/uk-p-outdoor-ss13-bouldering-shauna-coxsey-gai-article-part1/
27
‘…she might be kind of bragging about being muscular […] it’s kinda like a false insecurity, because she’s like,
oh, I’m so muscular, what a problem I have, but it’s like, she’s like a world famous climber, of course she wants to
be muscular, come on.’ – Lucy.
The difference in informants’ interpretation is much easier understood if their respective
backgrounds are taken into account19; it can be said that these women live in the same social
setting but in different discursive reality.
Negotiations of meaning cannot be seen as ‘simply incorporation and co-option; […]
Subculturists are not simply “victims” of commercialism, but shape and “reshape” the images
and meanings’ (Wheaton, 2004 in Wade, 2010; 1164). Although the results of my research would
prompt me to emphasise the role of the viewers, previous research projects conducted in the
spirit of ‘audience studies’ were criticised for ‘their ‘romanticization’ of consumer creativity and
autonomy, for being overly preoccupied with ‘empowering’ the audience’ (Wheaton, 2010; 1063)
It seems extremely problematic to find balance in theorising and understanding the dialectical
processes that happen at the interface of media and audiences, especially when the internet and
technology blur the boarders between production and consumption. Subcultural media play a
central role in “the creation and circulation of the symbols and meanings of subcultural capital”
and it is often assumed that they remain in opposition to the mainstream operating on the
outside of the mass-media cultural hegemony (Thornton, 1995; 116-117, Gilchirst, Wheaton,
2002; 1). The generalisation springing to mind is that grass-root production is considered
authentic and co-opted production is not. But that indeed would limit our understanding to
another simplistic opposition. If anybody can these days make a climbing video, then why would
they not accept financial support from a willing brand? To what extent is it then an insider’s
project, and to what extent is it to be treated as a company’s marketing tool? If it is the latter, is
the ‘sex sells’ dialectic starting (again) to pertain to the world of climbing media, this time not
19 See appendix C
28
only through men creating a product for men, but also through women almost willingly buying
into that discourse?
Sam, who on the one hand generously grants athletes the right to opt for a ‘sexy’ image, on the
other treats mainstream femininity with a patronising indifference: ‘Mainstream? Oh, that’s easy,
like long hair, short skirt… Mainstream society, yeah, you know cleavage.’ This may suggest that
Sam equalises ‘mainstream’ with ‘femininity’, as described by Thornton (1995; 104-105, 1997;
204). Yet Sam does not even equalise ‘mainstream’ with ‘mainstream femininity’ – like most
female climbers she acknowledges that female empowerment has got many faces. Although she
does not criticise any form of femininity, it is unlikely that mainstream femininity poetics would
sell anything to her. As noted by Wheaton, niche consumers like Sam bring new values into the
mainstream; it does not happen through negation, but negotiation.
If climbing is a social setting that facilitates the creation of alternative femininities, then climbing
media can affect that quality. Between core and peripheral participants, as identified by Donelly,
there is a wide group of participants, who aspire to a lifestyle they mostly know through media. 20
The characteristic of a core participant and what constitutes an ‘authentic’ climbing lifestyle is
thus heavily dependent on the way media frame climbing stories. With most lifestyle sports being
born as men’s games, it is easily understood why masculinity was central to authenticity (Beal,
Wheaton, ibid; 170). Thornton (ibid; 104-105) notes that even though ‘authentic’ culture is often
depicted as gender-free, it ‘remains the prerogative of boys’. Yet statements coming from my
informants would suggest a shift in attitudes. Jen Randall, a director of an all-female climbing
movie ‘Push It’ claims that climbing today is male dominated ‘only by sheer numbers’.21
20 Peripheral participants should mean these who do not see climbing as a lifestyle (e.g. see Hardwell, 2009; 176), but most participants aspire to live a climbing lifestyle, as seen in research and survey results. I propose then a simpler than Donnelly’s (2006 and 2003 in Hardwell, ibid; 168-9) model of participation: core, aspirational and peripheral.
21 Personal communication.
29
Even if that were the case, niche media do not seem to be fully reflecting that trend. The
Vodden-McKay’s study may be outdated, but the ethnographic example evoked in this thesis’
introduction seems to confirm her findings. It is however possible that press and movie makers
will have to adapt, as women are now recognised by corporate stakeholders as a major market
sector within the free sports industry (Wheaton, 2010, 1061). Over thirty two per cent of
respondents admit that their lack of interest in niche media is due to the lack of fair female
representation. A more contemporary medium of video appears to be less prone to gender
divide than print, but the productions discussed above are still a part of a very minor trend
within the industry. More than forty one per cent of respondents agreed that niche media are
targeting male audience, which explains why Beal and Wheaton’s research (ibid; 162) proved that
women are less interested in subcultural media. Only just above twenty per cent of respondents
claimed their interest wouldn’t increase if there were more content representing women. Over
thirty per cent believe that media frame women in ways that make them purposely attractive for
heterosexual men.
However, these rather grim statistics are contrasted by Rhianne’s and Lisa’s opinions on media.
Rhianne believes that climbing videos are ‘a little bit genderless’, while Lisa admits to take
pleasure in looking at attractive male climbers and thinks they are often equally sexualised in
media as women. She also points to ‘a male homosexual theme going on in climbing’ and is the
same informant, who couldn’t believe that ‘somebody from your [the researcher’s] generation can
still be feminist’, as she genuinely never perceived her social setting as male dominated. With
such experience, it is no wonder that she might see liberation where someone else sees
oppression.
While such attitudes can be perceived as lack of awareness, I believe them to be excellent
examples of third wave of feminism embodied. The women I interviewed are all confident of
30
their position in the community and of their strengths as climbers, not only individually, but also
collectively as ‘female climbers’; part of it is definitely thanks to media disseminating pictures of
female athletes belonging to the world climbing elite. Such confidence allows women to use
sexualisation as empowerment, which remains in stark contrast with ideals defined within the
second wave of feminism (Thorpe, ibid; 212). Self-confident women ‘enjoy being (active) objects
of the male gaze’ (ibid; 214) and it is clearly visible in the attitudes of pros such as Blair-Coyle.
Multiplicity of discourses at play means that not only are there different motifs behind each
mediatized representation, but also that it is in the eye of the consumer that its meaning would
be, albeit temporarily, set.
As a producer
If Foucault was interested in how people problematize themselves through self-reflection
(Thorpe, ibid; 211), then what could be a better research example than women entering the
supposedly male dominated world of climbing, and, as it may happen, the world of niche media.
31
Through the technologies of the self (ibid; 207-211) an individual can shape herself and
minimalise ‘harmful modes of domination’. However, the liberating power of such practices can
be achieved only if they are informed by a knowledge of the ‘rules of play and an ethics of
practice’ (ibid; 209). Then, and only then, they can become practices of freedom. In the case
of mediatized representations this is almost a collective endeavour, as the representation is not
only of one particular climber, but it inevitably speaks for all female climbers, providing a
platform that allows their achievements not to be judged by male standards (ibid; 219). A
proliferation of such productions can result in female standards becoming firmly incorporated as
a part of subcultural knowledge and survey results confirm the importance of that to women.
A most recent and prominent example of an all-female production (by far still a needle in the
hay stack) is ‘Push It’22, a thirty minute long film that consists of four chapters with four
different types of climbing represented by five different athletes. The leading motif is a story of
two women’s dream (one of them the director, Randall herself) to climb El Capitan – a legendary
granite wall in Yosemite Valley. Climbers reached the summit and ‘Push it’ received a prestigious
festival award. The meanings behind the movie are best explained by the director:
‘I didn’t want it to be a film that said ‘look! Girls can climb too!’ because everyone knows girls can climb by now.
[…] The reason I wanted it to be a film about women climbing is because that’s what I find most inspiring in
terms of my own climbing’23
And:
‘I reckon a female perspective can bring a certain sensitivity, or just a different perspective at least, especially to the
adventure film world! […] With events like the women’s climbing symposium and more female role models in the
22 Trailer: http://vimeo.com/52226582
23 Personal communication.
32
climbing world and female climbers making films now I think there’s a lot more media out there designed to
specifically reach out to the female climbing world. […] I am trying to primarily reach out to women whether they
climb or not to get them psyched and motivated to go after their goals.’
Becoming a climbing movie maker can be described as a consciously empowering transgressive
practice and a ‘technology of the self ’, but as illustrated in the previous chapter, female climbers
can act on the premise of reshaping their subjectivity in many ways. They have the potential to
reconfigure the power relations that they are a part of and theorising this potential in terms of
the technologies of the self offers an escape from ‘falling into idealist fantasies of sovereign
subjects and pure, utopian freedom’ (Maguire, 2002 in Thorpe, ibid; 224), which is Davies’
(ibid.) starting point to thinking about agency.
‘Push It’ is a part of a new trend in the climbing community – an increasing female presence in
subcultural media on both sides of the lens or keyboard, which is largely facilitated by the
internet. Taking to even small scale cultural production is definitely acting upon the premise of
reconfiguring the existing power relations and is exemplified by the proliferation of ‘by women
for women’ websites24. Even though Robinson (ibid; 89) deems these too niche to be influential,
they are continuously increasing their reach. While the new phenomenon of female climbers
online should become a subject of a separate study25, I would like to recall here one particular
example.
24It has to be noted that it is entirely through the network of such blogs, Twitter and Facebook accounts, that the survey supporting my ethnographic work was disseminated and completed by 124 women within less than three days.
25 see Gilchirst, Wheaton, 2012.
33
A CruxCrush blog ran by a collective of three female American climbers and dedicated to female
climbers featured recently an article entitled ‘How to climb more like a dude’26, enlisting possible
flaws in ‘feminine’ style of climbing and how they could be addressed through learning from
men. A Sheffield based climber was quick to respond on her blog with a post ‘How to climb –
like yourself ’27, in which she criticises unnecessary reinforcing of feminine-masculine climbing
dichotomy and offers tips more in-line with Chisholm’s phenomenology. Almost thirty
comments appeared under the original CruxCrush post and a repost of Canadiankate’s response
was shared across social media. Such a discussion is suggesting that female climbers are finding
a voice of their own and, thanks to the internet, certain ideas that may not have been present in
media are finding their way to the surface.
26 http://cruxcrush.com/2013/08/12/how-and-why-to-climb-more-like-a-dude/
27 http://canadiankate.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/how-to-climb-like-yourself-pt-1/
34
Research outcome
My research confirms the infiltration of climbing by mainstream discourses, which takes its
source from co-option and is facilitated by media. Yet women’s attitudes are very critical and
they display high media literacy allowing them to differentiate between ‘authentic’ and
mainstream discourses. In the spirit of third wave feminism however, they are not exclusive in
their judgements and the notion of ‘authenticity’ is becoming increasingly fluid (Salome, 2010;
80). This is an example of a subcultural tolerance that works against currents pulling the
climbing tribe apart, as the differentiation in values progresses. Yet the co-option of climbing via
media will not be a ‘subcultural death kiss’ (Thornton, ibid; 6). Female climbers identify
themselves by ‘the ability to do it’, not by media consumption. Most display distances attitudes
and some, like Valeria, choose to live in a state of media oblivion. Being critical towards
mediated discourses of femininity, they build their gender identities on the bodily experience of
climbing and the social experience of participation in the climbing tribe. They mostly see the
sport as male dominated only by sheer numbers and they long for media that would cater for
their needs. This is where their engagement in cultural production stems from; the rise of
grassroots initiatives confirms the need for niche media to change. This trend might soon find its
reflection in co-opted productions, as corporate stakeholders will want to capitalize on buying
into women’s attitudes.
35
CONCLUSION
Asking about the relationship that climbing women have with mediatized representation of them
in niche media, little did I know about the volume of questions that should be answered before
proceeding to my topic of interest. I believe that the most widespread way of framing the topic
(alternative femininity) is not adding to our understanding but actually obscuring the social reality
lived by climbing women. Before attempting to explore their relation with media it is necessary
to understand the dynamics of being a female member of the climbing tribe. However, if the
very vocabulary we use to carry out that enquiry has fallen under suspicion, then how can we
trust the results of our intellectual endeavours? Ironically, the gender trouble of today is not the
subversion of the gender discourse that Butler called for, but a lack of accurate theoretical tools
allowing for further research. Wanting to follow the line of lifestyle sports studies enquiry into
women’s issues, I too was tricked into overlooking the problem of foundational logic. Steering
away from addressing that theoretical inadequacy will lead to producing more underminable
research.
As early as my first interview in the MECW Boardroom I encountered a genuine lack of
understanding as to why a researcher would occupy herself with femininity, or, as Valeria put it:
‘Oh, this girls, boys thing again’. But later in the discussion she provided me with examples that I
jumped at eagerly as they neatly fit in the framework I was trying to utilise. A similar pattern
repeated itself during the meetings that followed. On the one hand, my informants almost
seemed to inhabit some new social terrain where gender divide has lost its meaning, yet on the
other – stories of sexism, women’s inhibitions and the inadequacy of niche media to the
experiences and expectations of female climbers appeared to lend itself well to the framework at
36
hand. Trying to explore the women’s relation to media and arriving at the grassroots/alternative
vs. co-opted/mainstream dichotomy, I realised that standing in contrast with the multifaceted
ethnographic data I gathered, it did not comply with the principle of multiplicity inherent to
third wave feminism. Dichotomising between oppressed and liberated, masculine and feminine,
mainstream and alternative became in my eyes merely a researcher’s way of making sense of the
ethnographic data. How women respond to the existing power relations that govern niche media
could be explained in terms of agency, or the technologies of the self, but if the discourses
within which we operate are those of masculinity and femininity, then what is the point of such
theoretical practice? If women’s attitudes and actions are aimed at deconstructing the gender
divide, why would a researcher attempt to fit their endeavours into a theoretical frame that
perpetuates the status quo?
This doubts made me question the validity of my research’s outcome however, and I hope that
more importantly, the ethnographic exercise confirmed the incompleteness of the frameworks
used thus far and the need for further theoretical search. Possible solutions could lie within
feminist phenomenology, as exemplified in ‘Climbing like a girl’, or in the direction pointed out
in the original framework developed by Pirkko Markula (2006). Disenchanted with the existing
dualistic approaches she resorts to A thousand plateaus (Deleuze, Guattari, 1974; 3-26) and calls for
a rhizomatic, positive model of knowledge. Employing Markula’s framework could be the answer
to the challenges of studying the ever transforming social reality of a neotribe. But, as concluded
by herself, it is extremely difficult to appropriate the post-structuralist theoretical exercise into a
feminist praxis that could add to our understanding of women’s situation (Markula, ibid; 43).
For now, a return to the very basics of anthropology, a meticulous ethnographical field work,
seems the only answer to the doubts laid out in this thesis.
37
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Davies, B. (1991) ‘The concept of agency: a feminist poststructuralist analysis’, Social Analysis, 30, pp. 42–53
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Kelly, D. M., Pomerantz, S., Currie, D., (2005): ‘Skater girlhood and emphasized femininity: ‘you can’t land an ollie properly in heels’’, Gender and Education, 17:3, pp. 129-148
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MEDIA EXAMPLES
Child, G., Hill, L., (2002) ‘Climbing Free. My Life in the Vertical World’, W.W. Norton &
Company, New York, London
Climber’s picture (allegedly Corinne Labrune), source: facebook/climbing.in.the.80s
http://on.fb.me/15NwX2W access 10.09.13
‘How (And Why) To Climb More Like A Dude’, ‘Crux Crush’
http://cruxcrush.com/2013/08/12/how-and-why-to-climb-more-like-a-dude/ access: 10.09.13
‘How to climb (Like yourself)’, ‘Canadiankate’
http://canadiankate.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/how-to-climb-like-yourself-pt-1/ access: 10.09.13
‘Shauna Coxsey on Bouldering. Pt. 1’, 2013. Promotional video. UK, Adidas
Sierra Blair-Coyle’s Facebook Fanpage https://www.facebook.com/sierrabc
Davis, S., (22.02.2013) ‘Steph Davis: Transformation’, Prana’s website,
http://www.prana.com/life/2013/02/22/steph-davis-transformation/
‘Push It’, (2012) Film. Directed by Jen Randall, UK, Light Shed Pictures
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Reych, Z., (2013.04.11) ‘Tori Allen Interview’, Up That Rock,
http://upthatrock.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/tori-allen-an-interview/
Roxy’s website http://roxy-uk.co.uk/en/fitness/
APPENDIX A:
A few words about Climbing
Climbing is fragmented into many different disciplines that vary in terms of objectives, setting, ethics,
levels of commitment and risk. Participants typically specialise in one or two styles but crossing over and
trying out new things is common. This thesis concerns itself with rock climbing which is one of the
disciplines within climbing and in itself varies greatly. Routes differ in length, starting from climbing small
rock formations without any protection apart from a crash pad (bouldering) to scaling great rock faces
that drop down vertically for more than a kilometre (big wall climbing). It might take a few seconds or
two weeks to complete a climb. Style also matters and generally depends on use of gear (or lack of it).
Aid climbing incorporates using gear for upward motion, while free climbing means using only rock
features for moving up and gear solely as a protection against a fatal fall. Free climbing can then be
divided into traditional and sport styles, with a lot of friction occurring between advocates of each
discipline. Sport climbers use fixed protection it the form of metal spits drilled into the rock through
which a rope is threaded. Traditional climbers place their protection in the form of camming devices
during their assent, which makes the climb more difficult because of the weight of gear, the need to stop
to place it etc. Free climbing is often confused with free soloing, which is ascending long routes without
any gear apart from rock shoes and a chalk bag, whereby a fall would result in death.
Informants that took part in my research where predominantly boulderers with varied levels of interest in
sport climbing and trad. All of them trained mostly indoors but they focused their endeavours at
improving performance outdoors.
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The grades mentioned by Lucy refer to sport and bouldering grading systems. In both scales ‘eight
something’ is an extremely difficult climb that can be only completed by elite athletes. The higher the
number, the greater the difficulty.
APPENDIX B:
Interview Guide
How did you get into climbing?
How often do you train? With whom? Are your partners men or women? Why?
Has climbing affected your non-climbing life / your relationship with your body / your behaviour?
Why do you climb? ‘What’s in it for you?’ Describe the feelings you had when you first climb.
Describe how it feels when you climb these days.
What is your preferred style of climbing and why?
Describe what it means to be feminine/masculine. Describe what it means to be a good climber.
Do you mind being watched when you climb? Are you aware of it?
Is climbing male dominated? Have you ever experienced sexism within the community?
Do you watch climbing videos / read magazines in print or online /are you active in social media?
Why?
What do you think about climbing media? Do they target men and women in the same way? Are they
representing men and women in the same way? How do they compare with the ‘mainstream’ media
in that?
What do you think about competitions? What do you think about corporate sponsorship of athletes?
What brands should /shouldn’t sponsor athletes? What impact does sponsorship have of the
community / media / athletes?
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Do you follow competition results / ascent news?
Can you list any professional climbers? How do you know about them?
(Each recorded interview took between one and two hours.)
APPENDIX C:
Interviewees Profiles & Additional Quotations
(in order of appearance in the main text):
Valeria, 32, comes from Spain. Studied photography in London. Works in MECW doing different kind of
jobs, from climbing instructor to handywoman. Keen cyclist.
About climbing: ‘It’s for the freedom of it, whatever comes your way you know you can do it. You’re not just like, oh, that
poor girl that cannot go up a wall. So you don’t need help from anybody. I mean, it’s independence. For me it feels good to be
able to use your body, move your body as you want. […] For me that was what hooked me up.’
About her climbing courses’ attendees: ‘There are some girls who can’t go up the ladder. They have never gone up a
ladder. They can’t do nothing. It’s because they’re not supposed to. Not supposed to do sports. Usually Asian girls. But there
was a thirteen-year old British girl who couldn’t do her shoe laces, so how can I tell them to go up a fifteen metre wall? […]
I’ve never seen a boy act like that. They’re lazy but not like that.’
*
Sam, 24, art student. Her family comes from Singapore.
“You shouldn’t worry about how your body looks if that’s what it takes to do something really hard. If you climb really
hard, then who cares? […] I don’t understand why ppl would be like, oh, I don’t wanna look like [a certain professional
female climber], she’s too muscular. If anything, it just means that she’s way more passionate, determined and courageous.
Someone who looks, like, average in a dress and is slim and maybe goes to the gym twice a week or runs, but, that’s just
boring. You’re not, like, living your life on the edge and, like, pushing your limits.”
*
Sara, 33, born in Poland, lives in London and works for an academic publishing company. She generally
perceives media as imposing the discourse of mainstream femininity on women. Being an active LGBT
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campaigner, she is familiar with gender studies issues and often speaks and acts in a way that is intended
to shake the status quo. Her agitation at Shauna Coxsey’s video comes from the fact that she sees it as yet
another example of media bias. The only homosexual informant.
About the impact of climbing on her life: ‘My whole life changed since I started climbing. Climbing became a
priority and everything else is set in a way to facilitate it. Social life is less important. I began from climbing once a week,
quickly progressed to 2-3 and tried more but three is optimal. Everything changed.’
About clothing for training: “I don’t feel comfortable climbing without at shirt and sometimes it’s bloody hot, like today.
And it’s like, to take it off or not to… It would be less hot without it, but I’d be conscious of men watching and that’s
uncomfortable. It’s not about them judging but objectifying. Women don’t do it.”
*
Kate, 25, born in USA. Works for a politics news website.
“I took some friends from work climbing and one of them that night posted a video of a woman in the States, who’s a
professional climber, I don’t know her name, but she’s really tall, blond, long legs, always climbs in a sports bra and super
super short shorts that are made tight. And his comment was, this is why we need to stick in to climbing, because there are
hot girls like this. It’s a little bit just like… these are professional climbers, this isn’t, you know, the hot climber girl video,
this is a sport and this girl is really, really talented. But there is that element of, oh, climbing is, you know, a guys’ sport but,
oh, by the way, we’ve got really hot girls who climb sometimes too, isn’t that neat.”
*
Rhianne, 21, MECW counter staff. The least experienced climber among the informants (climbs for six
months) and the only white British informant.
On men being threatened by women: “There has to be that gentle side for you to be feminine and so that men can feel
like men. Sometimes if you’re the strong one, the one that wears the trousers then men can lose a lot of that self-esteem from
that; because of that urge to be the breadwinner. It’s instinct really, [men are] just born with that, this instinct to look after
the woman.”
On starting to climb: “It’s actually the only sport that I’ve ever done where when you start with someone at the same time,
especially a man, then you’re actually on an equal footing, it’s not like the man is stronger and faster, because it’s, like,
power to weight ratio. So, that I really enjoyed, because for the first time I wasn’t one foot behind. […] because I weigh less
it’s easier for me to progress.”
*
Lucy, 26, is a yoga teacher and an almost itinerant climber. Born in USA, she studied creative writing in
London. She describes her attitude to climbing as extremely competitive and would ‘probably just watch
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almost every climbing video’. After graduating she has not yet made decisions as to what to do next and,
at this moment, being physically active is an extremely important part of her life. She constantly wants to
get better and sees developing big muscle as nothing more than a sign of physical prowess. She climbs
better than most male frequenters of MECW and the only thing that she doesn’t like about climbing with
men is that their ways of scaling walls are different due to their height and that they can’t understand
when sometimes she is ‘a bit emotional and no one will relate’. To her the case is simple – muscle means
strength, so it’s obvious that any climber (regardless of gender) should want it.
*
Lisa (did not disclose her age, probably between 35-43), born in Belgium, she is a trained anthropologists.
Works as an independent documentary movie maker. Believes climbing styles vary from culture to culture.
Realises that in certain cultural settings women are oppressed, but perceives British society as very gender-
egalitarian, especially when compared to Colombia, where some of her family live. Likes when people
describe her as a ‘fashionista’.
About her first climbing experience: “I was in Peak District in January, it was like minus four, snow. And it was
trad climbing, I was following [a female friend] and I couldn’t see anything, I couldn’t get the gear out of the rocks, I was
very upset. How did I feel, well, you know, excited and free.”
And: “I think it’s kind of a meditation, I’m not into the grade of what I’m climbing. It may be the only activity that helps
me empty my mind […] Climbing partners are important, […] I see it as a collective engagement. It’s not only the climbing
activity, it’s just getting there, camping, sharing all the food. For me it’s an adventure.”
About differences between male and female styles of climbing: “I don’t see my friends as a gender, I see them as
a personality. It’s always nice of course because of body movement to see a women climbing. […] Women are maybe more
beautiful to watch than men.”
About her own climbing: “I try to be discreet, light, and as elegant as much as I can. I think it’s elegance of the
movement, I see it as a dance as well.”
*
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APPENDIX D: Release Form signed by informants
RESEARCH INFORMATION SHEET AND INFORMANTS CONSENT FORM
DATE: PLACE: NUMBER:
NAME OF INFORMANT: PSEUDONIM OF CHOICE:
AGE: NATIONALITY: ETHNICITY:
TYPE OF CLIMBING: YEARS OF CLIMBING:
OCCUPPATION: MOTHER’S OCCUPATION: FATHER’S OCCUPATION:
RESEARCH INFO:
Researcher’s name: Zofia Anna Reych
Contact details: [email protected]
Position: MA student at School of Oriental and African Studies
Research purpose: MA Anthropology of Media thesis
Form of research: Participant observation and semi-structured audio-recorded interviews
Research title: Climbing femininity. Lived experience and media representation
Please Initial Box
1. I confirm that I have read and understand the information sheet for the above study and have had the opportunity to ask questions.
I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw at any time, without giving reason.
3. I agree to take part in the above study.
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4. I agree to the use of anonymised quotes in publications
5. I agree to the interview being audio recorded
Name of Informant Date Signature
APPENDIX E:
Survey Questions and Results
(The survey was completed by 124 female respondents in support of the interviews’ findings.)
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