Why not just Drop Trou?
It isn't just about you...
There are reasons why some folks can't just drop trow and pee. The specific situations warrant further consideration and are plentiful and diverse.
I don't care if someone sees my bum, but I respect modest women. For me, what is interesting and on the cusp of feminism, is enabling people to do things in which they are at a disadvantage due to toilet access.
An article was published recently about a female scientist in Antarctica who had rocks thrown at her by the male boss while peeing during a research mission - maybe she would have preferred to not bare ass. These are the types of humiliations that women sometimes suffer to be included in male-dominated fields.
Gear and safety features are regularly designed for men and men's bodies. Female climbers have to unbuckle their climbing harnesses and wiggle their pants down over their butts to pee, risking their safety on a cliff, while men can just whip it out, simply because gear hasn't been developed for everybody. As women, we are accustomed to this and are inclined to respond "I can get by without it." The only way we were included in the male-dominated world was if we proved we didn't need special treatment, when really, in the world of gear, men get all the special accommodations.
I am a general engineering contractor, and the safety on my skill saw doesn't fit my hand; I have to use my other hand to awkwardly pull it out of the way because my hands aren't big enough. I can't fight the fight of every tool and piece of equipment - to have this profession I must 'get by,' but I understand better than most the importance of research and development into gear and equipment that fit female bodies. So when someone says 'why not just drop trou...' I assume they do it out of ignorance. There are a hundred reasons why women, especially those trying to be exceptional, need pants with a fly that works for their bodies...
Tina, a salvage diver in Germany recently contacted us to say she can pee with Chickfly without taking off an enormous amount of gear - she bought six pairs because this is the piece of equipment she needs to make her work life, in a highly male-dominated profession, easier.
Gwen just completed a 50K race in the Qatar desert and peed standing without showing anything, shaving seconds off her race, and taking third place.
Corrie, a wilderness lover and forager in Canada, has diabetes and uses the pants to thread her insulin pump wires through the fly. Before Chickfly, she ripped the port out of her leg many times by pulling her pants down to pee, which is painful and costly as the port sometimes breaks.
One-hundred years ago women had flies in their bloomers. When women started wearing pants to ride bikes and have jobs that were traditionally male-dominated, they gave up this female fly 'access' to be empowered to be able to do things that society claimed one had to wear pants to be able to do. It has taken over a century for there to be a pants revolution, in which women's pant flies and funnels are being invented and made available by many companies.
If you are not limited by clothing or gear in your life, I am stoked to hear it, and ask that you come out in support for the revolutionary women on the frontier of feminism and join the pants revolution. It's about more than just pants.
If you are not limited by clothing or gear in your life, I am stoked to hear it, and ask that you come out in support for the revolutionary women on the frontier of feminism and join the pants revolution. It's about more than just pants.
Here's a personal story, I was doing my master's research in hydrology at the University of Montana. There was some really cool snow research going on. My adviser put together a team of men to do this winter research and invited my husband (who was doing a bachelor's in documentary film, not hydrology!). When I expressed interest in participating, he said that women couldn't come because there were no appropriate bathroom facilities! Now, firstly, I would have gotten by (yeah, as I said above, women get by to be included), and secondly, it's a lame fucking excuse. Thirdly, I don't mean to suggest that Chickfly pants will solve every bathroom problem for women. Still, they are part of a toilet access revolution that is happening today that begins to address these issues - this is the pants revolution. This story underscored, that bathroom issues are still an issue that limits women in science.
Here are some photos from their trip... The team was using radioactive dies to do water budgets for watersheds. Don't you think I might have wanted that on my resume?
So when you ask, why not just drop trou? My response is... It isn't just about you!
It is about the many situations that help women, mxn, and disabled people have access and achieve their goals and dreams. Share this if you get it.
#JoinThePantsRevolution #PantsRevolution
1 comment
In the early seventies I was on a bus from the Assab to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. Nobody spoke my language and I didn’t speak theirs. The bus stopped periodically and I really had to go. I wondered what the other women were doing and realized when I saw them gathered in a circle squatted on the ground with their beautiful white embroidered dresses spread out and I saw a little trickle. Oh, right. I was wearing jeans of course.
Mary on