Women Hunters, Part 1: An Ethnographic study

by Jan 23, 2012Uncategorized

Women Hunters, Part 1: An Ethnographic study

A few weeks ago (Jan 12), I posted the beginning of a sentence here as well as on my personal Facebook page. The sentence started: “Women Hunters…” The following are the responses that I got on FB. The picture is of me and my best friend Jodie who is also a hunter.

1. rock!

2. should bring me some meat…

3. Turn me on. (earned 1 like)

4. can climb my tree stand anytime !

5. Are awesome!

6. …are probably not vegetarians (earned 1 like)

7. Get bigger animals than boys do. (earned 1 like)

8. SUCK!!!! Lmao. But I love you!!!!

9. are the same as men hunters

‎10. . . .are a better shot 🙂

11. have pet squirrels.

12. aim to please

13. scare the hell out of me..because they can shoot well ;o

4 of the 13 comments are men (#2, #3, #4 and #13)

To my knowledge, only two are hunters (#1 and #4)

Two are my best friends (#1 and #7)

One is my sister (#9)

One is my pseudo brother (#13)

Things that I noticed:

~ None of the comments made by men are encouraging or positive (although #13 is far better than the others)

~ 2 out of the 4 comments made my men have sexual undertones

~ 2 of the 13 comments have the ‘women are better than men’ tone (#7 and #10)

~ 2 out of 13 hate hunting (#6 and #8)

~ My friends like exclamation points!!!!! =)

Questions:

~ WHY are there ANY comments that have a sexual undertone to them?? I would wager a guess that when I post the second half of this test (men hunters…), no one will make a sexual comment. But why not? Why is it ok to sexualize a woman that hunts but not a man?

~ Will as many people respond? (I will post the ‘men hunters’ this Thursday at 9:16am -same day of the week and time)

~ Why do my FB friends (I currently have 98 and usually keep it around 100), who know I am a hunter, still post comments like this?

And I would love to hear what you all think! I will have 2 more parts with this topic; one after I post the second half with the results and the last one to wrap it up.

0 Comments

You May Also Enjoy…

Antler Point Restrictions

Recently, I have been doing some research on this topic and asking my friends on Twitter if they have restrictions like this where they hunt. If so, do they think it is an effective method for growing and creating a healthy herd. Here are some of the comments:...

The stories that stick

When I started writing for the Northwoods Sporting Journal, I had people reach out and share their stories and experiences in the woods. I would mark the emails and tuck them away to go back to every once in a while.  A couple of those stories have stuck with me since...

Grand Falls for lunch

After we went to find some Epic Moose, Brian, Robin and I went to have lunch at Grand Falls.  It was a perfect Maine fall day.  The sky was blue, the fall leaves were vibrant colors of orange and red and yellow and the Dead River was pristine.  Brian...

Recent Posts

Meet The Author

Erin Merrill, author of And a Strong Cup of Coffee, is president of Women of the Maine Outdoors, a senior writer for Drury Outdoors, a contributor to the Northwoods Sporting Journal and passionate all things Maine, Hunting, and the Outdoors.

LEARN MORE >>