Feminism by definition is the advocacy of equality of sexes and genders. The distinction that society makes between genders is still heavily overweighted by the rights that have been currently acquired after decades of battling for them. Women, specially, have had a harder path to travel through, which does not mean that men are not affected by this patriarchal society. Women’s struggles, however, go from basic rights over own bodies to not being able to find Elite mountaineering gear that fits because the male body is still the standard and even the extra-small gloves are loose.

Due to this reason, I will focus my research on women’s empowerment through mountains. The feeling of conquering not only your ghosts and past but the society that teared you down, by arriving to a new summit every time you climb has become a salvation to multiple women over the last couple of decades, especially thanks to the liberation of women from the belief that they are weak and fragile.

Furthermore, there are a number of Non-Governmental Organisations that focus on helping women who have suffered trauma to heal through nature and exercise, and empower themselves in a, still, male dominated area. During my research I will emphasise the life and experience of Silvia Vasquez Lavado, a Peruvian-American woman who became the first openly gay woman to complete the Seven Summits and is part of the few women who have done it. Also, her past as a child abuse survivor and battle with depression and alcoholism, and how mountains saved her life.

The memoir recently published by Silvia Vasquez Lavado is touching, admirable and encouraging for girls and women around the world. Her words are powerful, her feelings relatable and raw. Her life has inspired me and has let my creativity flow as few times before. I hope that by the end of this process, my own words can express and portray the feelings and voices of, not only Silvia but all the women I have and will encounter.

-Magpie

Sources:

“About Courageous Girls.” Courageous Girls- A San Francisco Non-profit Founded 2014, September 29, 2019. Accessed March 8, 2022. https://courageousgirls.org/about/.

“About Me.” Seven Summits Women Team. Accessed March 8, 2022. http://sevensummitswomen.org/about-me/.

Chisholm, Dianne. “Climbing like a Girl: An Exemplary Adventure in Feminist Phenomenology.” Hypatia 23, no. 1 (2008): 9–40. Accessed March 8, 2022. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25483148.

Crone, D., A. Smith, and B. Gough. “‘I Feel Totally at One, Totally Alive and Totally Happy’: A Psycho-Social Explanation of the Physical Activity and Mental Health Relationship.” Health Education Research 20, no. 5 (2005): 600–611. Accessed March 8, 2022. http://www.jstor.org/stable/45110188.

Easton, Martha. “Feminism.” Studies in Iconography 33 (2012): 99–112. Accessed March 8, 2022. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23924276.

Kandula, Ikya. “Climber Silvia Vasquez-Lavado on the Healing Power of Outdoor Adventures.” Condé Nast Traveler. Condé Nast Traveler, February 3, 2022. Accessed March 8, 2022. https://www.cntraveler.com/story/climber-silvia-vasquez-lavado-on-the-healing-power-of-outdoor-adventures.

Vasquez-Lavado, Silvia. “In the Shadow of the Mountain.” Octopus Publishing Group, 2022.

Wang, Qian Julie. “For This Mountaineer, Everest Was a Challenge and a Path to Peace.” The New York Times. The New York Times, February 1, 2022. Accessed March 8, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/01/books/review/in-the-shadow-of-the-mountain-silvia-vasquez-lavado.html.

Wesely, Jennifer K. and Emily Gaarder. “The Gendered ‘Nature’ of the Urban Outdoors: Women Negotiating Fear of Violence.” Gender and Society 18, no. 5 (2004): 645–63. Accessed March 8, 2022. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4149423.

World Health Organization. “Nature and Health.” Compendium of WHO and Other UN Guidance on Health and Environment. World Health Organization, 2021. Accessed March 8, 2022. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep35857.14.