Hey everyone, this week it's time for a blog post with a difference! 3 weeks ago I posted a picture to Instagram as a light hearted jibe at the many stereotypes women in the Airsoft industry encounter each day and hashtagged it with #effyourstereotypes and it totally blew up! My Women of Airsoft battle sisters rallied round and made their own #effyourstereotypes posts! Then something absolutely unexpected and amazing happened - when I shared our posts on my Femme Fatale Airsoft Facebook page it was seen by almost 22,000 people from countries around the globe! So I decided this little movement deserved it's own blog post.
Every day more women are joining the ranks of female Airsofters and challenging the stereotypes. As many of you who read my blog and keep up to date with FFA on social media will know that I am a massive advocate for Gender Equality. The very purpose of FFA from the beginning has always been to encourage and support female players, but I have been called a Sexist and my personal favourite a 'Feminazi' because of my passion for Gender Equality - how very dare I want to end discrimination and promote equality for both sexes in sport?! :P This post compliments one of the very first blog posts of 2015 ' Being a Female Airsofter in a Male Dominated Sport' which you can read, look in the 'Popular Posts' in the column to the left and it will be there.
So let's get down to it, the subject is challenging the perceptions of female Airsofters and within this topic are two main points that I want to cover - the stereotype of women being weak, helpless, delicate creatures and the stereotype that female Airsofters are 'manly' and unfeminine. There's not much that rattles my cage but this issue is definitely one of them, whilst society has come leaps and bounds in progress for Gender Equality, it seems some individuals are still living with and practicing outdated attitudes towards women in sport.
Ever since I was a little girl, I have been told I couldn't do certain things because of my gender (not that I let that stop me) - such as contact sports or football in Secondary School. I assume this is because of the assumption on their part that girls are the weaker sex, but where does that assumption come from? Throughout history, in many cultures (although not all) women's roles have been restricted to raising children and taking care of the home whilst the men went out to hunt/work/fight etc (which also brings about a stereotype for men that puts immense pressure on them).
These 'preprogrammed' roles for women translate into attitudes that get passed through generations and are then ingrained into our society. This is explained perfectly in the Always #LikeAGirl - Unstoppable advert, which you can watch to the right! The Always #LikeAGirl campaign (http://always.com/en-us/about-us/our-epic-battle-like-a-girl) was started because of the normalisation of the insult 'like a girl'.
I do everything like a girl - fight like a girl, shoot like a girl, drive like a girl, because I am a girl. And there's nothing wrong with that. I've said it before, but I will say it again - some of the female Airsofters I've met and had the pleasure to play alongside, play harder than the guys. Women are the biggest growing demographic in shooting sports and we're not just girlfriends being dragged along to games in our boyfriends kits. We're players in our own right. Sliding into cover, taking objectives, rocking out in jeeps, getting the kills and just generally kicking ass! We give as good as we get. Since the beginning of FFA I have working tirelessly to smash these stereotypes and to push myself to be a better player. Despite all the criticism, sexist comments and just general rubbish that is thrown at female Airsofters online and on the field, it has been worth it. Becoming the first female admin to the biggest UK group of Airsofters on Facebook and the first female contributor to a UK Airsoft publication means the industry is moving forward with us, and that these stereotypes are dying out. I am both so proud and humble to be apart of this.
The other stereotype that I wanted to address was that you can't be feminine and play airsoft. Firstly there is nothing wrong with not being girly but I am, I like to wear dresses, get my nails done and shoot shit. Airsoft is accessible to anyone.
These women that I am featuring in this blog post are a mixture of my Women of Airsoft sisters, followers and friends who are all doing their bit to push the industry forward for women, whether it's having a fab attitude on the field, leading teams or showing how badass female players are through their videos etc.
I do everything like a girl - fight like a girl, shoot like a girl, drive like a girl, because I am a girl. And there's nothing wrong with that. I've said it before, but I will say it again - some of the female Airsofters I've met and had the pleasure to play alongside, play harder than the guys. Women are the biggest growing demographic in shooting sports and we're not just girlfriends being dragged along to games in our boyfriends kits. We're players in our own right. Sliding into cover, taking objectives, rocking out in jeeps, getting the kills and just generally kicking ass! We give as good as we get. Since the beginning of FFA I have working tirelessly to smash these stereotypes and to push myself to be a better player. Despite all the criticism, sexist comments and just general rubbish that is thrown at female Airsofters online and on the field, it has been worth it. Becoming the first female admin to the biggest UK group of Airsofters on Facebook and the first female contributor to a UK Airsoft publication means the industry is moving forward with us, and that these stereotypes are dying out. I am both so proud and humble to be apart of this.
The other stereotype that I wanted to address was that you can't be feminine and play airsoft. Firstly there is nothing wrong with not being girly but I am, I like to wear dresses, get my nails done and shoot shit. Airsoft is accessible to anyone.
These women that I am featuring in this blog post are a mixture of my Women of Airsoft sisters, followers and friends who are all doing their bit to push the industry forward for women, whether it's having a fab attitude on the field, leading teams or showing how badass female players are through their videos etc.
I proudly present to you #effyourstereotypes:
Laura Clare
Airsofter.
Airsofter.
lorraine.carpenter (www.instagram.com/lorraine.carpenter)
Airsofter.
sisumilsim (www.instagram.com/sisumilsim)
Airsofter, WOA, 'Mommy who wears combat boots'
silentkittyairsoft (www.instagram.com/silentkittyairsoft)
Airsofter, photographer.
tacticalali (www.instagram.com/tacticalali)
Airsofter, team leader, Pink Rangers, WOA.
Kris AKA Snap Shot.
ladylynnairsoft (www.instagram.com/ladylynnairsoft)
SoCal Airsofter, WOA, Designated machine gunner.
airsoft_princess (www.instagram.com/airsoft_princess)
Airsofter, WOA.
xo_airsoft_nazzykins_ox (www.instagram.com/xo_airsoft_nazzkyins_ox)
Airsofter, Marshal, WOA, Battle Bitch.
bibbles87 (www.instagram.com/bibbles87)
'I'm a plus sized, 27 year old beauty blogger and content creator from Ireland. I spend most of my time playing with makeup, shopping for vintage dresses and crafting. Before my foot injury I enjoyed Airsofting with my husband. The past year and a half has given me plenty of time to plan my dream kit and hopefully post foot surgery I'll be back on the field soon!'
p90_Girl (www.instragram.com/p90_girl)
'&& my add on to @femmefataleairsoft series of photos. Being a girl doesn't mean what it use too. I'm a girl. A Milsimer, a speedsofter, a student, an EMT, and I still find time to wear dresses. My gender has never held me back'
And in the interest of Gender Equality and the fact it is effing fabulous, here is an #effyourstereotypes pic submitted by Selwyn Brooks (www.instagram.com/doomcrewairsoft) for the movement:
Great post about empowering women and challenging stereotypes! I love your girly approach to the sport and that you also look pretty to boot! There aren't that many Women of Airsoft here in Canada yet but I'm aiming to change that. We just recently hosted a #Slaydies night on our home field Siege Airsoft in Toronto, so hopefully more ladies come out. On that note, how did you get into airsoft? And how did you convince your lady friends to join?? I have some female battle buddies but am still trying to find the right angle on convincing more women to join.
ReplyDeleteHey Pia! Glad you liked the post :) and thank you for your kind words, they are much appreciated! That's awesome to hear, we need more women in the sport :D I was first invited to an airsoft game in 2011 by one of my best girl mates who wanted to try it for her birthday (she got shot in the face and never went again unfortunately!) and I didn't play again until 2014 when my boyfriend at the time hosted a private airsoft skirmish at a local site and brought me the G&G FF26, which sounds very stereotypical but I fell in love with it! A lot of my girl mates see my photos on Facebook and say 'it looks pretty cool' so I invite them to come along - then just see how it goes! haha
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