Gender and Risk in Outdoor Adventure Education

We analyze how gender intersects with risk processes and practices in outdoor adventure education. Language, binary logic, and societal norms work together to gender risk and offer three ways that risk may be gendered in the context of outdoor adventure education courses with youth. First, hierarchical language and the gendering practices of order, labeling, and omission place girls and girls' needs as external or additional to a “neutral” masculine norm. Second, adherence to a rigid binary in the definition and conceptualization of risk parallels and perpetuates a gender binary that prioritizes masculinity and boys above femininity, girls, and non-binary youth. Third, societal norms influence stereotypes, assumptions, and expectations that gender risk on outdoor adventure education courses. We conclude by offering practical suggestions for how this research can be applied to outdoor adventure education and youth programming more broadly.