Frankenboat - what's yours?

Originally posted by zippyRN Originally posted by ttc546  Your interpretation of this is complete bollox. Show me a dinghy club that exhibits racism. Show me a dinghy club that discriminates against opposite gender. The issue is far more complex than your simplistic view. if anyone is displaying a simplsitic view it;s the   'white middle'  when these topics come up -  as demonstrated by the denial of the problems, the faux  offence at  it being pointed out that those who have   the major privileges  often have no conception of  privilege  and it;s  impact

Privilege is the same as racism? I don't think so. I'd say it does poor service to both issues.

Understanding that being brought up with a support network that was able to, say, send you to a recent school, maybe get some tutoring to ensure the grades for a decent university, have some contacts for a start on the employment ladder gives you things many do not have is important. I'm sure some in that position think they did it all without help, and see those without he same opportunities as lazy or stupid. Many don't, too.

It may also be true that many in the UK without those opportunities are from minority backgrounds. It doesn't mean that privilege and racism are the same.

Lots of privileged people in sailing, that is undoubtedly true.

Originally posted by turnturtle “A range of evidence suggests about three-quarters of regular dedicated water sports participants are likely to be men aged 18 to 60 years. Over 60% of participants in inland water-based sport and recreation are from social groups A, B, and C1, although these groups comprise less than 50% of the UK population.” The stats don’t lie... given the lack of participation by women and ethnic minorities, it’s pretty clear the sport has institutional racism and gender inequality issues, even if individual participants feel that they are not racist or sexist. http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx?Document=WC01001_1350_FRP.pdf

To claim a single or group of sailing clubs have institutional racism and/or gender inequality issues I would be looking for more than stats for this. I would be looking for specific instances and then the best way of dealing with this is to drive it out by shining a light on it. I have grown up in sailing clubs where I have never seen direct racism and if I had I would have called out the individual aggressively. Where chauvinism existed then this got a pretty rough ride as guess what well off women don't like taking sh*t and the well educated younger females of the world who inhabit these clubs are even less likely to tolerate this.

It is important to remember that just because large sections of society are not interested in joining a sailing club this is not down to the sailing clubs themselves. For the cost of a entry level boat and membership you can buy an iphone, high end clothes and go to the gym. If you club has a problem with gender inequality and racism then address the issue at hand and stop telling me and my other fellow sailors that we are the problem. Get yourself off to a hockey or netball forum and you can talk about how there are too many white women and this is proof of racism and gender inequality.      

Did the trolls just out-troll themselves and have people nibble on their trollingness?? This forum just hit a new level of weird

Any sport or pastime appeals to different sections of society. That's not bias, any-ism, prejudice or any other detrimental attribute. It's just the way life is. Hockey / Netball / Synchro swimming --> mainly female; Rugby / Football / Baseball --> mainly male; Boxing / Basketball --> mainly non-Caucasian males?

What all this has got to do with Frankenboats I've no idea, I don't care what your ethnic background is and I can count amongst my son in laws and would be son in laws as diverse a background as anyone could imagine and I've tried to get them sailing but so far failed other than one pathetic attempt when they both put their wetsuits on back to front, city boys that most of them are. They took a trip out in a Vision found it brain bleedingly boring and I've never bothered to try since, they've gone off SUP and Kitesurfing since. Now maybe if I'd had one of those new three hull foiling do dahs they might have been a little more enthralled, who knows, the moment has past. We have to accept, well I do, that we're not doing this for excitement, I do it because it tests my brain as well as providing light exercise and the reason we currently have the racial profile we have is because mostly you are all here because of your parents before you, or you went to posh schools or uni that had sailing as part of the PE available.

Dinghy sailing has long past the 'sport of the moment' appeal that likely would attract a wider more representative example of the current population, as for example does SUP, or Kite. My business these days has an incredible variety of un pronounceable surnames much much different from even 10 years ago, so they are out there, but like everyone else, sailing aint attracting them.

Edited by iGRF - 14 May 18 at 12:09pm