While some aspects of the outdoor industry have been taking steps to increase diversity and inclusivity, there is a lot of work to be done to upend the narrative that participating in outdoor recreation is only for fit, straight, white, cis-gendered males. As a white, cis-gendered woman, I feel fortunate that I see women who look like like me increasingly represented on the glossy covers of fitness and outdoor magazines more and more through the years, but what about the rest of us? If we agree the outdoors is a space for every body, why are all bodies not represented in outdoor media?
There is a reason advertising is a multi-billion dollar industry. Most things you see and consume are carefully curated to communicate a message and a brand. We are bombarded by messaging from the time we are little children and we develop strong understandings of the world and our place in it based on these messages. Whether the messages are overt or subtle, without awareness we are pretty powerless to fight back.
Here is an example: If I say that a person is “outdoorsy,” what image does that conjure in your mind? Even if you know in your heart that the true answer is,”they could look like anyone!”, I bet for just a moment an image of a burly man in a flannel shirt with a beard appeared your mind. This is a function of decades of consumption of outdoor advertising featuring a specific look. We don’t see magazine covers featuring queer individuals building cabins. Is this because there are no rad, queer carpenters out there? Of course not! This is because turning the tide of mainstream outdoor advertising to represent the actual breadth of humans recreating in, working in and enjoying the outdoors has proven to be a momentous task.
REPRESENTATION MATTERS
Individuals who have not seen themselves represented equally in outdoor spaces and outdoor media may experience feelings of fear and apprehension when confronting their curiosity or desire to get outside and connect with their badass, adventure-seeking, outdoorsy side. Social media is one avenue through which many outdoorspeople are subverting the global messaging around who belongs in outdoor spaces. There is no doubt that social media can be harmful but it has also created a platform for more diversity, education and inclusivity in the outdoors. Achieving more inclusivity and safety in the outdoors is an ongoing battle but I’d like to highlight just a small sample of the individuals and groups working hard on the front lines to share their stories and create visibility around these topics.
I am happy to say there are so many more people out there doing this work than are listed here and while I simply cannot highlight them all, I would love to have you share your favorite people and groups working on diversity and inclusion in the outdoor spaces, in the comments below.
Native Women’s Wilderness: Founder and executive director Jaylyn Gough, from the Diné (Navajo) Tribe in New Mexico, created Native Women’s Wilderness out of frustration for the lack of representation of women of color, especially Native Women, in the outdoor industries. Jaylyn assembled a strong group of women to help carry out NWW’s mission to inspire and raise the voices of Native Women in the Outdoor Realm. To encourage a healthy lifestyle within the Wilderness. To provide education of the Ancestral Lands and its People. Their advocacy work aims to achieve many great goals ranging from promoting women of color in mainstream advertising campaigns of outdoor retailers and providing education of Ancestral Lands and their People to promoting a healthy lifestyle within the wilderness and inspiring more women to get outside and enjoy the outdoors. Their site also promotes awareness of the over 5,000 cases of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. To learn more about NWW, you can also check out their Instagram @nativewomenswilderness
Disabled Hikers: Disabled Hikers is an entirely Disabled-led organization developed to celebrate the experiences of disabled people in the outdoors. They are “committed advocates for justice, access, and inclusion, and work with parks, organizations, brands, and more. [They] challenge the dominant narrative of who is considered to be valid and which experiences matter in the outdoors.” The Disabled Hikers webpage is a wonderful resource filled with helpful content from personal stories to educational materials. Check out the book The Disabled Hiker’s Guide to Western Washington & Oregon, written by founder Syren Nagakyrie to see a guidebook that truly explores the accessibility considerations of local outdoors spaces in Washington and Oregon. Follow them on Instagram @Disabledhikers
Outdoor Afro: Outdoor Afro is the brain child and inspiration of founder and CEO Rue Mapp. From her hometown in Oakland, California, Rue envisioned a space in which Black connections and leadership in nature would not only be celebrated, but visible and accessible to Black communities everywhere. Outdoor Afro is active in 60 cities across the United States where they host year-round programs and activities to inspire Black joy in the outdoors. They train local volunteer leaders to guide and host events from ice climbing and sailing to birding and backpacking. As of 2022, 357 children and their caregivers have learned how to swim through Outdoor Afro’s Making Waves program. 60,000 people have participated in their events and over 100 volunteer leaders have emerged from their training programs. Follow them on Instagram @Outdoorafro
Fat Girls Hiking: Founded in 2015 with the straight-to-the-point tagline, “trails not scales”, Fat Girls Hiking aims to create a space in which fat and marginalized individuals can come together in community and create safer spaces in the outdoors. This group believes in representation for “fat folks, folks of all ages, races, ethnicities, religions, classes, abilities, genders and sexual identities. NO diet talk, NO weight loss talk, NO body shaming and NO bigotry of any kind is allowed in [their] online or real-life spaces.” With chapters in 10 states, Fat Girls Hiking organizes group hiking events for anyone who wants to be a part of this inclusive community. Interested in hiking but not sure where to even begin? Founder of Fat Girls Hiking Summer Michaud-Skog has written the Fat Girls Hiking book to inspire you to follow the call into the outdoors. Follow @fatgirlshiking on Instagram for latest group updates!
Soy Sauce Nation: Coverage of snow sports like skiing and snowboarding has highlighted predominantly white, male athletes since these high octane sports caught the attention of cold-weather athletes around the world. Nirvana Ortanez and Andrew Kelly are working to change that. After recognizing one summer at the High Cascade Snowboard Camp that they were the only Asian snowboarders there, they decided to found @soysaucenation as a way to increase the visibility of snowboarders of Asian heritage. The lack of visibility of athletes of Asian heritage is not proof of their absence on the mountains. It is only evidence of the inclusivity of media coverage. When kids, teenagers and adults never see people who look like themselves participating in sports, it sends a message that they do not belong there. Soy Sauce Nation wants to change that and their platform on social media highlighting Asian snowboarders and skateboarders with some iconic figures mixed in, is just the start. Check out their Instagram account to get inspired and find out about Soy Sauce Nation events!
Latino Outdoors: Founded 10 years ago in 2013, Latino Outdoors is a Latinx-led organization striving to create a world where latino communities feel safe and welcomed in nature and in which the outdoors is a place where history, heritage, family and leadership are valued. Latino Outdoors began as a blog and networking platform in 2013 created by graduate student José González for the purpose of connecting members of the Latinx community who were interested in outdoor recreation, environmental education, and/or conservation. Though the Latino population is one of the fastest growing in the United States, this community remains underrepresented in environmental education, conservation efforts and outdoor recreation. Latino Outdoors aims to change this through their three primary programs emphasizing outdoor experiences, outdoor leadership and outdoor narratives with events located across the country. To learn more about how to get involved in their events, check out their website and follow them on Instagram @latinooutdoors
Amplify Outdoors: In recognizing a lack of representation of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) in outdoor lifestyle marketing and advertising, Amplify Outdoors was established to promote a more diverse and inclusive narrative around ‘”who’ should enjoy nature and ‘who’ is considered outdoorsy.” Not only does Amplify Outdoors host events and create products to exemplify their mission of encouraging diversity in outdoor spaces, but they offer consultation services and webinars to organizations and businesses who are looking to employ diversity, equity and inclusion practices in a more informed way. Check out their Instagram @amplifyoutdoors
Andy Neal, the soothing yet commanding voice of The Hiker Podcast, is a plus size social media influencer, a producer and filmmaker, plus size and outdoor model, host and actor. If you’ve ever wondered if it is possible to follow all of your passions, Andy is your proof. An active outdoorsperson, Andy uses his many platforms (Youtube, TikTok, Podcast) to share his personal story of how the outdoors and hiking has improved his life and to highlight individuals who are out there enjoying and protecting our outdoor spaces and working to support inclusivity and diversity in the outdoors. Andy also works with brands like Columbia Sportswear to promote inclusive sizing in outdoor apparel brands. Having access to comfortable, stylish, durable and well-fitted clothing is important to everyone looking to get outdoors and the idea that only people who fit into small to extra large size clothing want to be outdoors is both misinformed and a significant barrier to allowing more people to get outside. To follow Andy, check out his Instagram @Andyfilmsandhikes.
Evolving Adventurer 
This was a good read.
Here is what I think of it
This post is inspiring and highlights the importance of representation in outdoor media. It’s great to see organizations like Native Women’s Wilderness and Outdoor Afro working hard to promote inclusion and visibility. My question is, what are some tangible ways individuals can support and promote these groups and their missions?
Thanks, Ely Shemer
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Great question, Ely! I think there are a few ways we can support and promote these groups and their missions:
1. Using platforms like social media to share and spread awareness of these groups’, individuals’ and organizations’ presence in the outdoor space. Visibility has a lot of power in today’s society and you never know who amongst your own followers will be inspired to think more openly or inclusively when they are encounter content that they may normally never engage with. On the other side of the coin is enhancing visibility of these platforms for individuals who do feel marginalized and excluded from the outdoors and who may never encounter these groups or individuals on their own based on how social media tends to give us more of what we are already interacting with.
2. The power of the dollar– some of these groups have opportunities to provide financial support for their work and that is a very tangible way to support the mission of these groups. More broadly, choosing where to spend our dollars for outdoor gear, clothing and experiences, does have power. Brands that are already getting a lot of money may have no incentive to make their gear, clothing or mission more inclusive but choosing to spend our money on brands that align better with a goal of enhancing and supporting diversity and inclusion in the outdoors is a powerful way to show that we want change.
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