Being a Woman in the Male-Dominated Shooting Sports

Yes, I'm a girl, and I shoot guns.

So what's it like being a woman in a male-dominated sport?

Most of the time, it's fun. I get to blow away stereotypes. I get to compete head-to-head with men on an even playing field. And I can be certain that the friends I make at these events are comfortable with strong-minded, independent women.

Sometimes, though, I run across an idiot.

Take, for example, the boys club at a local public range who felt it necessary to complain amongst themselves -- within my hearing -- about the range officer allowing "skirts" into "their" playground.

Or the guys who looked straight at me as I attempted to strike up a conversation with them about their equipment, then turned back to each other and resumed their own conversation as if I hadn't said a thing.

Or the obnoxious competitor at a recent Wisconsin state IDPA match who somehow felt it was appropriate to rip my personal rulebook out of my shorts pocket to prove me wrong about a rule.

Most of the men I meet at shooting events are excited to have women joining their ranks. It means their sport might have a little more longevity, or that maybe women aren't so different from them after all.

But there are these exceptions. How do I react to them?

Usually I'm so shocked that a member of the human race could be so incredibly stupid that I'm frozen for the one moment in time where it would be appropriate to come back with some kind of quip. My brain freezes, and then the moment is gone, unchallenged. I beat myself up over my inaction for days afterward, feeling as if I've let womankind down somehow.

But I wonder if it would make much of a difference if I did manage to get in some kind of remark. Would they just write me off as a bitch and not take me seriously? I have a natural dislike for the "female barracudas" I meet in corporate America who give up their femininity to make their way in a male-dominated world. If I turned myself into a confrontational person, wouldn't that be denying who I am?

Part of me says that I need to get better at telling off these idiots, otherwise we'll never make any progress in eradicating sexism in this world. But another part of me says that things are getting better all the time, and that as our numbers increase the men will come around.

Which is the answer? Only time will tell. But I'm sure I'll be proud of myself if I ever manage to get in a well-timed rebuke.