Why do men want to go camping???

[Skimo]

I prefer hiking and camping with my brothers and close friends... I don't like other people camping near me unless it's dark frozen wilderness with hungry wolves... thank God bears hibernate!

Add a well trained dog and a shot gun with pistol and I don't think I'd want to be as near to other people in the wilderness.

Camping is great, you don't have to wear deoderant or comb your hair or shave, you can go barefoot or nekkid, climb a tree and look around, skinny dip, belch, fart, pick your nose, scratch your butt, let out a YAWP!!! throw rocks, play with knives/hatchets/axes/saws, build your own fire, cook your own meat, sleep where you want to sleep. the list goes on.

It gives us a break from what society demands of us, we aren't supposed to get in fights at work, we are supposed to smell nice. whatever, you know as much as I do that you want to catch your own food, cook it over a fire you made and wear its hide(s). You want to make sure you are still a capable man. working a 9-5 provides for your family, but it's sure not the same thing going to the store for a steak as it is to kill dress and butcher your own food, one is a real skill, the 9-5 is just a social skill.

 

[JasonSCarter]

I have an answer with a christian perspective. the first man Adam was made in the wilderness and then brought into the garden. So man's yearning to be in the great wild is was instilled in us from the very first of us by God Almighty. It was man's first "home"

Genesis 2:7-8 (King James Version)
7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

8And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

Now why Do women enjoy the order of the house... becuase she (Eve) was created in the garden, with walls and section's and boundries.

Jason

 

[Diomedes Industries]

Jason,

Let me give equal time here and give an evolutionary answer.

Women evolved, the ones with smaller feet (to fit under the sink) gave off more off spring as they were more attractive to men.




Okay - so that was a joke... but...



TF

 

[BOOMSTICK]

well I camp because my co workers don't. I don't like the city, but I live in one. I get tired of schedules, time, meetings, arguing, stoplights, people, ect. I love to see the things not everyone sees. when is the last time anyone you know voluntarily walked 90 miles for fun.....ha ha. I love the smell of fire and rain. check this video out on the PCT these guys get it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjS3LkuwWz8

 

[kgd]

well I camp because my co workers don't. I don't like the city, but I live in one. I get tired of schedules, time, meetings, arguing, stoplights, people, ect. I love to see the things not everyone sees. when is the last time anyone you know voluntarily walked 90 miles for fun.....ha ha. I love the smell of fire and rain. check this video out on the PCT these guys get it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjS3LkuwWz8

Also the ticks appreciate your company

 

[Mentor]

Well, here's a thought from a social scientist's perspective. Much of what we consider to be 'natural' distinctions between the behaviour of men and women - that is, 'gendered behaviour' - is socially constructed, instilled through culture and education, and not hard-wired. Patterns of behaviour differentiated along gendered lines often have deep cultural roots, but they are still social phenomena. And, as is always the case, the best way to ensure that socially constructed gender roles are performed and reproduced is to propose that they are natural and innate - or, better yet, divinely ordained. It may well be the case that camping, in our societies, is a masculine activity. But I would attribute that to gender socialization and culture, as opposed to fundamental differences that exist between the sexes. There is a robust body of literature on this. Of course, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion.

All the best,

- Mike

 

[JasonSCarter]

Jason,

Let me give equal time here and give an evolutionary answer.

Women evolved, the ones with smaller feet (to fit under the sink) gave off more off spring as they were more attractive to men.




Okay - so that was a joke... but...



TF

That's funny right there! :thumbup:

 

[kgd]

Well, here's a thought from a social scientist's perspective. Much of what we consider to be 'natural' distinctions between the behaviour of men and women - that is, 'gendered behaviour' - is socially constructed, instilled through culture and education, and not hard-wired. Patterns of behaviour differentiated along gendered lines often have deep cultural roots, but they are still social phenomena. And, as is always the case, the best way to ensure that socially constructed gender roles are performed and reproduced is to propose that they are natural and innate - or, better yet, divinely ordained. It may well be the case that camping, in our societies, is a masculine activity. But I would attribute that to gender socialization and culture, as opposed to fundamental differences that exist between the sexes. There is a robust body of literature on this. Of course, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion.

All the best,

- Mike

Perhaps, but as a biologist, I'm going to argue that the 'toilette seat up versus down' still holds some anatomical and physiological merit

 

[Mentor]

Perhaps, but as a biologist, I'm going to argue that the 'toilette seat up versus down' still holds some anatomical and physiological merit

I'll give you that one! And, as regards the OP's question, I would say that the comparative difficulty associated with wilderness bladder relief options has, in my experience, been a factor in hiking enjoyment. When you get right down to it, men enjoy camping because we can take a leak on a tree in the middle of a snowstorm.

Best,

- Mike

 

[Diomedes Industries]

Perhaps, but as a biologist, I'm going to argue that the 'toilette seat up versus down' still holds some anatomical and physiological merit

And the Neurological perspective will argue for brain structure.

The geneticist will argue for Chromosomal make up.

The Sociologist will argue for roles.

The Psychologist will argue for how the person was raised... and so on.



The only thing that clears up gender is what the person claims they are. The variables are too many to think that gender / sex is anything binary.


Speaking of off topic.

TF

 

[Cpl Punishment]

Most men camp as a compromise. Men don't want to camp - they want to LIVE. They don't want to hike, they want to simply move from one place to the next with all they need to live on their backs. Modern man 'hikes' and 'camps' as a socially acceptable way of being what he wants to be. Men don't want to 'hunt' - they want to kill to live. (No wonder we are pissed off when hunting is challenged.)

Men desperately, and I mean that in all its force, desperately want (I think need) to challenge themselves, to do things that matter, to live where their lives are on the edge of survival, and where decisions need to be made properly or death is a real possibility. However, due to what we have created in the name of ease and relaxation (society) we have neutered ourselves.

Like Thoreau said:

"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them."

In our current society, most men live their lives inert, emasculated, neutered, and domesticated. They do things, sports, collecting, business, and so on, in the attempt to live the life of testosterone and adrenaline. What camping and hiking is, is the attempt to live our lives by our terms, do things that matter (cut the wood, make the shelter, kill and dress the food...) and live like men... not the feminine men we have become.

I want to forge a blade that destroys the political correctness of modern culture (be honest and true, call people what they want to be called, but don't pussy foot around every subject so that it cannot be expressed at all), the artificial ease and pace at which we live (we make BOB's because we know this security we have is temporary and false), the lack of nature we build, the shoes on my feet that remove me from nature, and the rest of the things that drain my manhood, remove my purpose, and destroy my soul.

In a response, I want to load my pack, pick it up, move out with my family, and live a life that has purpose... It is difficult to do this any more... so I camp.

TF

Couldn't say it better.

Men are territorial predators. We don't like anyone but our extended family (tribe) in our territory. Society forces us to live way too close to those not of our tribe. Going in the woods gets us some needed time and space away from our enforced crowding.

 

[brians]

“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountain is going home; that wildness is necessity; that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.” John Muir

 

[Snow]

It's fun.

 

[dawsonbob]

All things considered, I don't like sillyvisation all that much, but I have to live here. Camping, even car camping at a campground, gives me a peace I can never find in the city.

 

[99f250]

Most men camp as a compromise. Men don't want to camp - they want to LIVE. They don't want to hike, they want to simply move from one place to the next with all they need to live on their backs. Modern man 'hikes' and 'camps' as a socially acceptable way of being what he wants to be. Men don't want to 'hunt' - they want to kill to live. (No wonder we are pissed off when hunting is challenged.)

Men desperately, and I mean that in all its force, desperately want (I think need) to challenge themselves, to do things that matter, to live where their lives are on the edge of survival, and where decisions need to be made properly or death is a real possibility. However, due to what we have created in the name of ease and relaxation (society) we have neutered ourselves.

Like Thoreau said:

"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them."

In our current society, most men live their lives inert, emasculated, neutered, and domesticated. They do things, sports, collecting, business, and so on, in the attempt to live the life of testosterone and adrenaline. What camping and hiking is, is the attempt to live our lives by our terms, do things that matter (cut the wood, make the shelter, kill and dress the food...) and live like men... not the feminine men we have become.

I want to forge a blade that destroys the political correctness of modern culture (be honest and true, call people what they want to be called, but don't pussy foot around every subject so that it cannot be expressed at all), the artificial ease and pace at which we live (we make BOB's because we know this security we have is temporary and false), the lack of nature we build, the shoes on my feet that remove me from nature, and the rest of the things that drain my manhood, remove my purpose, and destroy my soul.

In a response, I want to load my pack, pick it up, move out with my family, and live a life that has purpose... It is difficult to do this any more... so I camp.

TF

Well said!

 

[ieraseu]

For hundreds of thousands of years in human family units or tribes, the general structure has been that the men go out and hunt while the women stay behind and tend to the home.

That is also the same reason women enjoy listening to gossip. While the men went out to hunt, women would sit back and tend house, raise the children and chat with one another until the men returned home. It helped them pass the time and take their minds off worrying about the men.

So pretty much since the humble beginnings of the human race women have felt quite comfortable in urban or home settings, but most men would feel rather empty or demoralized if they attempted to do the same. We men, deep down inside somewhere, still want to go out and 'earn our manhood'.

 

[Bushman5]

If i could get my big surly tomcat to go hiking, I would lock the door, leave civilization, and disappear into the woods,