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Original poster

writing women back into the countryside: a book

86 replies

makespaceforgirls · 04/03/2021 09:35

I mentioned on the play equipment thread that I was writing a book about women and the countryside and didn't want to derail that conversation, so for anyone who is interested, here's a bit about it.

The book is based around me walking two of the oldest roads in England, the Ridgeway, which runs along the chalk of Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Dorset and the Harrow Way, which runs from Andover to Devon via Stonehenge. It's in part about me getting my courage back to walk alone, and about why women feel threatened in the countryside, but it's also about why women in general are meant to be at home, or in the garden, about how the countryside is not a 'natural' thing, and how so many men walk all over the countryside for books and women don't.

On a more lateral tack, it also looks at why archaeology is done by men and through men's eyes, how almost every walk I take is done to the accompaniment of gunshot because the army are everywhere around me (see also the countryside is not natural), why John Betjeman was a terrible husband and how he would have been torn to shreds on MN and much else besides.

There are some very short excerpts from it on this website:

tenderfoot.co.uk/s-walker-text/

It's just gone off to be read by someone else. I have no idea whether it is brilliant or an insane cheese dream that only I would read. We will see;

If anyone wants to read a chapter or two, I'd be happy to oblige.

OP posts:
Original poster
makespaceforgirls · 04/03/2021 18:05

I do walk alone - in fact the whole thread of the book is me doing long ish walks entirely on my own. But I had plenty of women say to me that they would never do that, they'd far rather walk in a town.

And I'm not frightened of nature at all or being on my own but I am scared by lone men loitering in white vans, or walking near me in isolated areas. Which seems quite sensible really.

But I don't think generalising works. Plenty of women do work alone and walk alone, but others wouldn't camp or walk on their own ever; some are scared of camping at the end of their garden.

Also, it's not about rural women being kept at home, it's about the writers and artists walking out all over and leaving their wives with the children and the run down house; it's about the way that archaeological stereotypes put women in the roundhouse and men out on the road; it's about the way in which, as Rachel Hewitt relates, men feel threatened by women out in the countryside or town and do, sometimes, harass them. And the fact that there have been women writing about the countryside and somehow we forget them but remember the men.

OP posts:
springdale1 · 04/03/2021 17:12

@Shedbuilder it is just such an odd concept to me. I’ve looked up writer Rachel Hewitt that OP talks about and it doesn’t seem relevant to people who actually live and work in the countryside. She interviews marine biologists, ultra runners and paleontologists for her book. Not groups of people I’d interview for views about being women i rural spaces.

My last two houses were rural, my last a mile from the road and the only house down the track. Before that a hamlet 30 minutes from the nearest shop in the Lake District. I rarely locked my doors and felt much safer than I do living, coincidentally on the Salisbury Plains.

Shedbuilder · 04/03/2021 15:30

@springdale1

Me and nearly all of my friends and family work in agriculture and rural land management - whether actually farming the land, managing the land, working in conservation or as agronomists and I can’t say that I think any of us feel threatened. Agriculture is an entirely different place now, my ag uni had a pretty much equal split of females and males.

I feel far more unsafe or threatened walking in cities and towns!

This with bells on. I lived in London for years, then in very rural parts of Wales. Currently much more urban but thinking about a move to rural Ireland. This narrative that women who live in the country stay at home and women are too scared to walk on their own is a townie's perspective on the lives of others.

Like you, Springdale, I know female farmers, female foresters, female stone-wallers, female vets who do nothing but large-animal work on farms, women who run smallholdings and market gardens and rural businesses — and many of them women living alone in areas that townies would think were remote.

Please stop spreading the message that women feel alone and frightened in the countryside. Many of us long for an open moor or a deserted beach.

Hollyhocksarenotmessy · 04/03/2021 15:19

[quote makespaceforgirls]**@Hollyhocksarenotmessy* To some degree @ErrolTheDragon* is right, and it's a personal narrative, but there is a lot of research in there as well, although it's more about the way in which men 'police' women going outside - Rachel Hewitt writes and tweets about this very well - and the history of this. Also the way in which the vast majority of nature books are about men walking out, while some barely mentioned wife stays at home doing the actual family work. Also, in a more metaphorical way, I walked a lot of the way around and across Salisbury Plain, so it's about meeting that maleness head on.

As for archaeology, I can give you a lot of links but the following is pretty much true:

senior archaeologists are still mostly men

too much archaeology is written from the point of view of men, in a way which can be distorting

conventional stereotypes of what is male and female are used to interpret times which may have thought very differently about sex and gender and archaeology is often used to reinforce these stereotypes even today

subjects which are perceived as male get investigated far more than those seen as 'female'

Female archaeologists spend a lot of time being cross about all of this because it is really quite regressive[/quote]
Now it does sound interesting Smile

Original poster
makespaceforgirls · 04/03/2021 14:09

@Highwoman I LOVE that, and am going to buy it for my scottish friend right now!

OP posts:
Original poster
makespaceforgirls · 04/03/2021 14:07

@SuseB I am so glad it's not just me. Honestly, he is one of the main reasons I wrote the book because I was so sick of Manly Men Walking Out without even thinking about after school clubs or whatever.

I did read a worse one though - and I genuinely can't remember the name of it because it enraged me so much - in which the Gentle Author moves his entirely family to a rugged bit of the south west, then goes out for endless long walks. At one point he returns to the still unrenovated house to the domestic scene of children on the trampoline while his wife digs the potato patch. I still don't understand why she didn't brain him with the spade. This book also contains the scene in which an elderly woman - who is pretty much the only woman apart from his wife in the whole book - shows him round the house which used to belong to an Eminent Male Poet, and I felt it was a symbol for the whole sodding book.

Have you read Kathleen Jamie on Robert McFarlane as the Lone Enraptured Male? She nails it.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v30/n05/kathleen-jamie/a-lone-enraptured-male

And @ArabellaScott, I do find Nan Shepherd a bit too lone enraptured female, but Kathleen Jamie is probably my favourite nature writer of all, because she writes about her view of birds from over the washing machine, and of walks to and from school. Cannot recommend her books too highly.

OP posts:
Highwoman · 04/03/2021 14:07

*daughters

Highwoman · 04/03/2021 14:06

I love this idea OP!
Sorry if this has been mentioned but I bought this for my daughter's... shop.historicenvironment.scot/where-are-the-women

BoreOfWhabylon · 04/03/2021 14:05

Thank you for this. It would make a wonderful TV series.

FlaviaAlbiaWantsLangClegBack · 04/03/2021 13:14

Thanks for the tag makespaces looking forward to reading it!

I read the essay in the Economist and so much rang true, I've just taken up running and am sticking to reasonably populated pavements with lighting. There's no way I'd run round the park close to me with woods and no lights at night.

SuseB · 04/03/2021 11:23

Absolutely agree about men's books and the barely mentioned wives and children - there is much to like about Robert McFarlane's books for example, but they also enrage me as he takes lengthy jaunts with male friends for many days to for eg the wilds of Scotland. He is mid-forties and has three children... His wife (also an academic) and three children are barely mentioned

ErrolTheDragon · 04/03/2021 11:15

There's certainly some interesting reevaluations of male-focused archeological assumptions now that bones can be accurately sexed!

Original poster
makespaceforgirls · 04/03/2021 11:01

@Hollyhocksarenotmessy To some degree @ErrolTheDragon is right, and it's a personal narrative, but there is a lot of research in there as well, although it's more about the way in which men 'police' women going outside - Rachel Hewitt writes and tweets about this very well - and the history of this. Also the way in which the vast majority of nature books are about men walking out, while some barely mentioned wife stays at home doing the actual family work. Also, in a more metaphorical way, I walked a lot of the way around and across Salisbury Plain, so it's about meeting that maleness head on.

As for archaeology, I can give you a lot of links but the following is pretty much true:

senior archaeologists are still mostly men

too much archaeology is written from the point of view of men, in a way which can be distorting

conventional stereotypes of what is male and female are used to interpret times which may have thought very differently about sex and gender and archaeology is often used to reinforce these stereotypes even today

subjects which are perceived as male get investigated far more than those seen as 'female'

Female archaeologists spend a lot of time being cross about all of this because it is really quite regressive

OP posts:
AbsintheFriends · 04/03/2021 11:01

I love your ideas, but you need to do some research, and not start off with conclusions based on gut feelings, if you want your book to be published. It could be absolutely fantastic

I actually completely (but respectfully) disagree. I think a woman's personal account of a solo journey is far more marketable and readable than a sort of academic analysis of women walking alone. The success of books like The Salt Path have established the personal travelogue as a massively popular genre.

ArabellaScott · 04/03/2021 10:58

Nan Shepherd another writer who springs to mind on this subject

ArabellaScott · 04/03/2021 10:57

Sounds really interesting, OP. I met a very elderly lady some time ago who had walked the length and breadth of the UK, sleeping in hedgerows. She was one of the first female academics, I think, though I can't remember where exactly.

ErrolTheDragon · 04/03/2021 10:52

I love your ideas, but you need to do some research, and not start off with conclusions based on gut feelings, if you want your book to be published. It could be absolutely fantastic.

It sound more like it's a personal account, her feelings on this. Which is absolutely fine.

Alltheprettyseahorses · 04/03/2021 10:51

Your book sounds delightful and clever and I'm looking forward to buying it :)

Hollyhocksarenotmessy · 04/03/2021 10:50

It sounds interesting, Op.

Just don't generalise your experience without evidence. You can write about why you feel afraid in the country, but is there any research to show this is how the majority of women feel? It would be really interesting to find a rural/urban inhabitant split of data on this, and to compare male/female results. In my experience people who live in the country are not afraid of walking alone in it, men or women. Whereas people who haven't lived rurally at some point, find it 'creepy' regardless of sex.

Is it still true most archaeologists are men.

I love your ideas, but you need to do some research, and not start off with conclusions based on gut feelings, if you want your book to be published. It could be absolutely fantastic.

FeistySheep · 04/03/2021 10:38

@makespaceforgirls thank you for explaining. To be fair I would be afraid of going into the Sahara on my own - lions?! I did mean the UK though. I have camped alone and really enjoyed the 'me' time.
What exactly is it that makes you feel vulnerable though, you don't say? Is it attack by men? Or having an injury and being unable to call for help? I can't see how the last would be an experience exclusive to women though.
If it is attack by men, do you think it is an irrational fear? Or is it backed up by statistics that show that women are more likely to be attacked by men in the countryside than in urban areas?
Genuinely interested!

lottiegarbanzo · 04/03/2021 10:35

Sounds fun OP. I love walking through the countryside alone, especially on a week day when footpaths are quiet. There's a wonderful sense of freedom to it.

Original poster
makespaceforgirls · 04/03/2021 10:28

Thank you everyone.

@FeistySheep. Part of the book was trying to work out why. I walked alone for mile after mile before I had my daughter, and then I became afraid, perhaps because I didn't matter to anyone before and now I did. And I love walking alone, but am aware that it makes me vulnerable.

This is in the book, but I can heartily recommend a website and FB group called Adventure Queens. Some of them are crossing the Sahara on a unicycle (I exaggerate only slightly) but others are posting about being afraid to camp alone, or doing a mini adventure with their kids in the garden. They are very accepting of both being afraid and not being afraid.

OP posts:
FedNlanders · 04/03/2021 10:17

I would be scared to do a hike and camp alone

springdale1 · 04/03/2021 10:15

Me and nearly all of my friends and family work in agriculture and rural land management - whether actually farming the land, managing the land, working in conservation or as agronomists and I can’t say that I think any of us feel threatened. Agriculture is an entirely different place now, my ag uni had a pretty much equal split of females and males.

I feel far more unsafe or threatened walking in cities and towns!

BlackWaveComing · 04/03/2021 10:12

When I lived in the UK I walked alone in the countryside a lot - back in AU, never. The bush is creepier.