REC 3202 Leisure Activity Project

1. Charlene Evangelista Leisure Activity Project Women and Rock Climbing

3. The first climbers recorded were men who hardly spoke about their female counterparts that accompanied them on their climbs because it didn’t seem masculine to write of the women climbers

4. At the turn of the century, men brought climbing into popularity and it became more common

5. By the 1920's, climbing became a social event where women were drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes and rock climbing

6. In the 1930's and 1940's the women in climbing was still rare and most had been introduced to the climbing by their boyfriends or husbands

7. In the early 1970's Bev Johnson was a strong female force, as she was the first female on the Yosemite Rescue Team

8. The 1980’s were a time of increase in the number of women climbing and many of these women were leading routes, making all-female ascents of mountains, and pushing beyond the levels of difficulty previously achieved by the pioneers of female rock climbers

11. In a recent study by Vodden-McKay and Schell, they analyzed representations of women rock climbers in Climbing magazine and explored the possible effects such representations may have on women rock climbers and the climbing community

12. Of 421 feature articles analyzed, 13 (3%) were dedicated to women climbers and the first feature article about a female climber appeared in 1991

13. With regard to photographs, of the 114 issues, 18 (16%) female climbers appeared on the cover page, 16 (14%) were shown in the “Gallery” section, and 14 (12%) appeared on the table of contents page

14. In the textual analysis of the 13 feature articles, the foreground against which the narrative was present is the fact that rock climbing is a male dominated sport

15. Eight out of the 13 feature articles mentioned the climbers romantic relationships with men or raising their children thus emphasizing their heterosexuality

17. There have been increases in women’s participation but it is hindered by the assumption that men are better built to withstand rock climbing

18. In a study, 39 world-class climbers (21 males, 18 females) were assessed immediately prior to competition at an international World Cup sport climbing championship

19. Values for the height-weight ratio and sum of seven skinfolds in the female finalists were very near those of the male finalists, which may indicate that reduction of body mass and percent fat are primary adaptations in these female athletes and females can be just as adapted to rock climbing as men

20. Women bear possible fears of not being physically fit enough to participate or being unladylike, which hinders leisure participation

22. Due to a loss of masculine identification during the 19th century shift from an agricultural lifestyle to one of industrialization and urbanization, men dealt with this “crisis of masculinity” through sports

23. Men felt they were able to reclaim their masculinity through sports and physical activity because it was lost in their home and work life

24. Victorian men disciplined themselves through strict physical exercise while men outside the middle class took a more informal approach to sports

25. Sport has developed as a male preserve, a domain in which men expressed and cultivated masculinity through athletic competition

27. Women were believed to be physically and biologically incapable of participating in physical activity and sport and girls were instead usually confined to the house and not allowed to run, jump, and play actively because the emotional strain of physical leisure experiences would be injurious to the mental well-being of women

28. In a study performed by Watson and Pulford, test scores suggested that people who are attracted to high risk sports tend to be at the extroverted and emotionally stable end of the scale, with a tendency to exhibit Type A characteristics which conflict with the Victorian ideal of soft-spoken women

29. Such conflicts between the cultural and social ideals of a woman and rock climbing suggest the male domination of the sport

30. Women may not participate in rock climbing because their idea of their body image may lead to restraints in leisure participationMe climbing 

32. While rock climbing, I felt slightly anxious and out of control of the situation when I reached the top

33. I challenged myself to push myself to make it to the top and pushed myself to continue trying other walls

34. In a study, The Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule were administered to all climbers just before a competition. Analysis indicated that the mean Negative Affect score of women climbers before the difficult competition was higher than the mean Negative Affect scores of men before the competition, which points to the fact women are generally more anxious before rock climbing

36. Although there are many stereotypes about the abilities of females to participate in male oriented sports, it can be done just as well as men, and I even saw young girls rock climbing

38. It was definitely a bonding experience with my sorority sisters because we all were successful in reaching the top and overcoming our fears

39. In addition, findings suggest that a climbing program with higher volume of meters climbed can influence grip strength, upper body muscular endurance and the amount of relative body cellular mass

40. In a study it was found that indoor rock climbing is a good activity to increase cardiorespiratory fitness and muscular endurance

42. Images http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61HVEPSX5ML._SS500_.jpg http://www.climbing.com/photo/image/1990covers/climbing-magazine-120.jpg http://kazrat.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/rock-climbing.jpg http://www.climbandmore.com/upload/Image/training/Lynn_Hill.jpg http://www.sportsposterwarehouse.com/catImages/rockclimbdetermination07pp-1.jpg