I'm disappointed in you, Alligator. The year is 2007, you've been around for more than a century, and you still allow blatantly sexist columns to be published. I know they aren't necessarily your opinions, but Tuesday's column "Camping can be fun for both sexes" was highly inappropriate.
The author claimed men go camping and "weather the elements" because it's a humbling experience, while women want to stay at home with their "objects of beautification." Here's a humbling experience for you: Many of my female friends and I love to go camping. We rock-climb, we backpack, we kayak, we paddle, we surf, we ski, we go on adventures. We don't shower, we don't primp, and we leave no trace.
Perhaps when Kyle Cox made his sweeping generalization that women are more involved with their looks and beauty rituals than nature and the outdoors, he was really referring to girls. Because if he would like to find some real women, some nature-loving, non-showering, backpacking-for-more-than-five-days-at-a-time women, he can find us all over UF's campus. He must not be that much of an outdoorsman if he has yet to meet us.
So next time you go camping, men, enjoy your beers at your site next to the trailhead. My female friends and I will be enjoying the view from the tops of mountains - and laughing at your inability to find camping comrades among our gender.
