In Holland over 40% of glider pilots are women I believe. Their culture is totally different.
On 12/09/2014, at 7:09 PM, Mark Newton wrote: > > I reckon there will be a bunch of people who’ve read some of the posts on > this mailing list today who’ll be saying, “I don’t see the problem. It’s just > a bit of harmless fun. Doesn’t hurt anybody.” > > Guys say that all the time, never realizing that the only reason they're able > to say it is because they’ve typically been utterly indifferent to whether > their fun is, indeed, “harmless,” or whether it has hurt anybody. > > I don’t know, perhaps parents of girls have a different view. Perspective > and experience. > > The reason it usually passes without mention is because most women, having > put up with it for their entire living memory, are so sick of it that they > can’t be bothered going through the exhausting rigmarole of engaging anymore, > and just remove themselves from situations where it’s a problem; and because > so many men, harboring a cataclysmic failure of empathy, don’t even notice > the reactions of women, and just let it slide without saying anything. > > “The secret life of women.” > http://i.imgur.com/OigLS.png > (I know the cartoonist: He told me some of these quotes were provided by his > daughter) > > In case you haven’t noticed (and I’m almost certain that some of you actually > haven’t), gliding is almost entirely dominated by men. There’s no physical > reason why that should be the case. There’s also no innate gender-based > difference in skill to explain it either. > > I’m going to say it’s cultural: The traditions and attitudes present at > gliding clubs all over Australia are, either overtly (like today’s email > messages) or subtly (like so much of everything else) repulsive to women. > I’ve seen so many women enjoy their AEF, stick with it for a couple of > weekends, and never come back. And thousands of pilots barely ever wonder > why that’s the case. Over time, gliding clubs become male ghettos, all over > Australia. > > “What we walk past, we accept.” > > When we’re learning to fly, the first lesson we’re taught is stability. The > second lesson we’re taught is how to change our attitude. > > This community seems absolutely excellent at stability. When it comes to > sexism, maybe it ought to be skilled enough to master attitude. > > There’ll no doubt be replies to this message. I’ve said my piece, I’m not > going to respond to any of them them. But I, like everyone else who reads > them, will be making character judgements regardless. If you find that idea > challenging, perhaps take 24 hours to have a good hard think about why. > > Fin. > > - mark > [ I will also reserve judgement over whether off-list replies should be > forwarded to the list. > There will be no shadows here. ] > > > _______________________________________________ > Aus-soaring mailing list > [email protected] > To check or change subscription details, visit: > http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
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