Outdoor Programs Offered for Queer and Marginalized Gender WWC Students
Iris Seaton | March 24, 2022
The Outdoor Programs (ODP) Crew at Warren Wilson College (WWC) is a beloved staple of the school’s many facilities. They run multiple programs on campus including rock climbs, outdoor skills workshops and guided outdoor trips. A more recent addition to their many programs is their affinity programming for queer students and students of marginalized gender identities.
Special to The Echo
ODP leads a marginalized genders climbing trip at Worley’s Cave in Sullivan County, Tenn.
Recently the ODP Crew has offered a hike and hot springs trip for queer students and a caving trip for students of marginalized genders. In the near future, ODP is offering a queer paddle trip, which is upcoming on March 26. They also offer marginalized gender climb nights weekly on Mondays from 6-10 p.m., which are free and open to any students who do not identify as cisgender men.
Affinity programming is generally regarded as an important piece of the missions of many outdoor adventure programs. Outward Bound for example, a well known and respected organization providing guided adventure trips, has been providing trips specifically for women and girls for 50 years.
Many people may consider the question: why affinity programming? The ODP Crew offers many programs that are open to all members of the WWC population. However, their affinity programs tend to be some of their most popular.
“Usually our marginalized gender trips and our queer trips are some of our most well-attended trips, which is really cool,” said Corina Pittman, the student leader for ODP. “Because I think that people feel a little bit more comfortable going on those trips, they're a little bit more excited about them.”
Pittman touched on her understanding of the high level of interest in affinity programming at WWC, and ODP’s belief in the importance of said programming.
“Basically what we've been trying to focus on, especially pretty recently, is making our programming acceptable and comfortable for everyone,” said Pittman. “Outdoor spaces, things like climbing and paddling, have been very white, cis-male dominated, very heteronormative, they're expensive, that plays a large role in it. And so that has kind of left a lot of people out.”
Pittman’s personal experiences as an educator and leader in the adventure education field further reflected the tradition of cisgender, heterosexual, white men as the main facilitators of programming.
She reflected on her experience as a camp rock climbing instructor, where she quickly noticed that if a male co-worker or peer was present while she was teaching, people generally assumed that the man was the one in charge. She went on to relate this specific experience to her broader experience as an educator.
“With caving or backpacking, if I'm in a group and I’m working with a guy co-worker, people nine times out of 10 will default to the guy because that's just who people assume are experts in that kind of thing. So I definitely understand why it's intimidating. Because even after you do it for a long time, people still, you know, will question your validity and your knowledge if you're not a white man.”
She also encouraged WWC students who may feel intimidated by a lack of previous experience in outdoor adventure programming to consider participating in ODP’s offerings.
“We want people to understand that even if you've never touched a rock or a rope in your life, you're welcome to come with us,” said Pittman. “And, you know, we move at a pace that's comfortable for everyone. We don't want people to feel intimidated, just because they associate rock climbing with these crazy ripped guys, like, crawling through the mountains. That's not what we do.”
Pittman went on to discuss the ODP Crew’s trip to the Hot Springs Resort and Spa for queer students created in a partnership with the Queer Resource Center (QRC). Some of ODP’s more specific goals for inclusivity led to the trip’s conception. Pittman hoped this trip in particular would be included in her statements as an example of the importance of these programs for the WWC community.
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Pittman guiding within Worley’s.
“It was a trip for people who (are) trans(gender) and gender-nonconforming to be there with each other, to make a space for people who otherwise might not feel super comfortable, to be able to go and be with other trans folk and just be in their bathing suits and just feel comfortable.”
Pittman explained that this trip had such a high level of interest that they ended up having to turn some students away. The crew received a large amount of feedback from the WWC community with positive opinions of the trip.
Sky Pinktson, a senior at WWC, commented with his interest in said queer hot springs trip in particular. While he did not have a chance to attend, his interest stemmed from a similar place to Pittman’s understanding of the aim of outdoor trips specifically for queer students.
“Especially with the hot springs and any other swimming related ones, I do think it's really important for the queer groups themselves,” said Pinkston. “Because I, since I'm trans, I would not be comfortable swimming around anyone who might be cis-het or just, you know, hateful against that.”
Pinkston attended a queer hike led by the ODP Crew on February 12, and also commented on what caused his interest in engaging in outdoor programming specifically for queer students.
“I ended up going with one of my friends because he was also interested in it, that helped me go, and also it being a queer hike probably pushed me to do it because I've been wanting to see if I can connect with with more queer people on campus.”
Pinkston’s desire to connect with queer peers at WWC was one reason he was driven to attend the hike. He also spoke on a similar subject to Pittman’s experience with the intimidation that can be caused by the dominantly cisgender, heterosexual ,white male field of outdoor programs.
“I get intimidated often by those cis-het men,” said Pinkston on the skewed demographic often found in outdoor programming, “and I just feel a lot safer around other queer people. Especially on a trip like that.”
The ODP Crew continues to provide programming for the school at large, hoping to integrate values of inclusivity and accessibility into their general programming as well as their queer specific trips.
Students can look for further information on ODP in crew emails from Pittman as well as ODP fliers posted around campus.
Pittman encourages students to reach out to her with any questions they might have about affinity programming or other ODP offerings using her email: cpittman.f18@warren-wilson.edu.