aythya_hybrid
real name Jonathan Dean
Ok, so it's a deliberately provocative title, but some recent postings on another controversial thread got me thinking about this issue. In the twenty or so years I've been birding, the birding community has become a fair bit more diverse in terms of gender, age and class background. However, I'm still struck by the prevalence of casual sexism among some birders ("tart's tick" an obvious case in point). I remember particularly vividly my first and so far only visit to the seawatching hide at Spurn in 2005 where the other birders' "banter" was an abhorrent melange of casual racism and sexism. Also, whilst there are now more women birders, the more hardcore members of the birding community are pretty much exclusively male.
I realise this is a potentially thorny issue, but I'd be curious to hear fellow birders' thoughts. How prevalent do you think sexism is among the birding community? What are your experiences of attitudes to women birders? How have things changed during your birding career?
I realise this is a potentially thorny issue, but I'd be curious to hear fellow birders' thoughts. How prevalent do you think sexism is among the birding community? What are your experiences of attitudes to women birders? How have things changed during your birding career?