Based on the posts I have made on various websites, and the articles I’ve written here and elsewhere, I want you to think for a minute about what I might look like. Tall/short? Fat/thin? Sitting wrapped in blankets because I save on the heating to spend more money on preps?
It’s easy to think of female preppers as ruddy cheeked, wild haired women who can their own produce in the morning, home school the kids in the afternoon and spend their free time collecting seeds and foraging for wild mushrooms. Living in the middle of a city of more than a million people, this would probably, at a minimum lead to me being investigated by social services and at a maximum see me carted off to a security facility for the mentally ill.
We are all guilty of stereotyping in one way or another, we all have prejudices in some form or another. The question is, is it prudent to judge a book by its cover? I don’t think so, but that could well be me feeling a little confused, and indeed irritated by a few comments I’ve had recently.
I’ve never been one to lie about my age, so during a playground conversation at my daughters school (I am by far the oldest mom in the playground) where the age of the head teacher cropped up…to be followed by calling her an ‘old biddy’ I was somewhat irked as I happen to know we are the same age. I pointed this out only to be met by blank stares and then hoots of laughter…not quite the response I’d hoped for I have to say. It turned out they were laughing because they though I was joking, nobody at all had me pegged as being in my 50’s. I was no longer irked, I was happy, very happy.
I was called an ‘airhead’ this week by a chap who enquired if I could actually read road signs or was that beyond me? He was quite polite about it to be fair, so I was quite polite back and responded that men of his age driving cars like that usually did so to make up for what they lacked in the bedroom, he was very fast with his response ” women like you usually drive cars like that because they are the mistress of a man who can afford to buy them one” How rude. I continued pushing my way into the lane I actually wanted to be in order to get where I wanted to go…..
I have been told by HE WHO THINKS HE SHOULD BE OBEYED that I absolutely positively can’t have a really beautiful handbag I have seen, he says I have so many that if I sold them and gave the money to government I could reduce the national debt by a substantial amount. This is entirely untrue. He is just worried because I will want the shoes to go with the bag.
On deciding to try out contact lenses my eldest who is 32 asked why I was worried about not wearing eye make up at my age. Bloody cheek. I can’t see to put it on wearing glasses so I want lenses. Simple.
My youngest (aged 8 ) thinks I was around when dinosaurs walked the Earth so enough said about that.
The list goes on, each view adding a piece to the jigsaw that is me. Little chunks that viewed in isolation fail to give a view of the whole picture…and lead to stereotyping that’s based on what a person has seen or heard. For example I was chided for the amount of typos I made on shtfplan, until they got to know me a little and now they just tell me to file my nails down a bit.
The point of all this is simple. We are all different things to different people, few people outside of our immediate family ever see the whole picture of who we are, what we believe in, what we stand for. To the purist prepper I will NEVER make the grade. It’s stacked against me. I live in the city, I don’t spend every penny on prepping, I don’t spend every waking moment prepping either, and I have no intention of doing so. I like handbags and long nails and I love my car, especially if the weather allows the roof down. I like my blonde highlights and I like my winter sun holidays, I have no intention of giving them up until I have to, and we all know I will have to and possibly sooner rather than later. To others my mindset means I am not a prepper at all. Others may regard me as a good prepper just because I have more stuff stashed than they do, or because I have medical knowledge. It all depends on which bit of me they have formed their opinions on.
Prepping is a lifestyle choice, just like anything else and being awake and aware, to me at least does not preclude have a two week holiday that has been worked and saved for. It doesn’t mean I can’t look after my hair and nails, one does not preclude the other.
Painted nails don’t stop me scrambling into the loft to store my new items. Well groomed hair does not prevent me hunting for meat bargains and cooking daily from scratch. Driving a nice car does not stop me prepping for the lean, maybe desperate times I think we will face in the future.
Life is for the living and prepping helps me enjoy my life. It keeps me grounded, it’s very nature makes me aware of what’s happening not just in my little bubble but in the world as a whole. It allows me to enjoy a holiday in the knowledge that it may well be the last one we have. Prepping for tomorrow helps me live for today, to appreciate what I have because I know that in the not too distant future I probably will have no more than what’s stored in the loft and many very happy memories.
Take Care
Lizzie
Most female preppers I’ve come across outside my own group and family have tended to be politically correct, middle aged, preserve and job obssessed parts of the armed wing of the WI. Anything slightly contentious or icky and they are up in arms. You tend to be a refreshing change.
Northern Raider
That’s the best compliment I’ve had in ages. Thank you. Sadly I know what you mean. I wrote something recently saying in a dire emergency if need be wash your hands in your urine as its sterile and 100% better than the muck that’s all over your hands after wading through sewage laden floodwater. When I saw my in box the next morning I though I was hugely popular….no, that was not the case. 95% of the emails were from horrified women, out of which only 3 thought it was a useful if disgusting suggestion. I am considering sending them a detailed write up of how to clean a wound with maggots bwhahahahahaha
Take care x
Exactly I have clashed on many occasions with ladies who go up in arms when I say if neccessary to preserve hygiene in the house or retreat I would ban or kill all dogs and cats that could spread disease. I dont want felines roaming unchecked outdoors, walking in or eating god knows what then coming into the retreat and walking across food prep areas or licking children etc. According to many of these post menopause types I’m a barbarian for wanting to kill tiddles to protect the group or livestock from being slaughtered or spreading disease. I’m immoral apparently for telling people they are welcome in my group but their pets are not !!!.
I actually believe these folks wont have the mental strength to survive after TSHTF because if they cannot bare killing a cat to protect a group they wont cope with everything else.
Are you sure your not my missus? lol, you and her have about 95% the same mentality she’s 38 and if SHTF some time I would have her as my backup anytime. You keep on going as you are, your kids and old man are prob jealous of what you know and can teach them.
Hiya Kiddsy
No don’t think I’m your wife lol. Rather too old for that. The family are actually great all in all, very different characters but all good people. It’s good to see couples acting as a team, a bit more of that and we would as a society be in a far better place.
NORTHERN RAIDER
Stop dissing post menopausal women you lol. I did a post on that very subject a couple of days back, got a fair bit of good feedback. As for killing kitty….I have heard it tastes like chicken. With regards to dogs, my big bruiser of a girl is a security asset so remains safe. As for the rest of them,if its good enough for my local take away its good enough for me. Nuff said
Take care both x
Nice one Lizzie,
Your last paragraph sums up beautifully.
We are prepping for possible difficult times ahead, but until they arrive life is to be enjoyed.
Thank you
Lightspeed
Thank you for taking the time to read it. I get a few comments from the same females over and over regardless of what I write trying to convert me to the live off grid, buy a beat up truck and home school my girl. They are all Americans. They have no concept of how different prepping is in the UK. For example, if you own land in the US, and Canada, if it is outside of the city limits and not covered by what they refer to as city ordinance. You can build your home/bug out and there’s no hassle. Can you imagine buying an acre or two of prime Devon/Cornwall/ Durham/Sussex or anywhere else and sticking a house or cabin on it without submitting planning applications and waiting for five years to get told no chance? The land is also a mere fraction of the price it is over here making the building of a retreat a much more viable option. Sorry, I’m waffling again…it’s my age lol.
Take care
One of the main reasons for my sticking by this particular site is that it is UK based and therefore deals with UK problems and scenarios.
I like the overall mix of articles and comments that follow on.
Long may it continue – I will try to contribute whenever I feel able.
Keep up the good waffle!!
men of his age driving cars like that usually did so to make up for what they lacked in the bedroom
LOL.
Fred,
Thanks for reading my musings.
Take care
I loved your posts, both of them. As I type I am wearing 4″ heels (black suede square toe court if you were wondering) and a silky knit wrap dress. Not traditional prepper gear either. I have a shoe collection that probably rivals your handbags and my handbag collection isn’t too bad either. But I can shoot (ish) fish, skin and gut most animals presented to me. Given the choice I would rather sleep in my bed with a soft duvet and a cup of tea in the morning but if I have to sleep in a bivvy bag I’ll do it. Personally I quite like people not quite knowing what to make of me. My husband always says he likes wearing a tweed suit when he goes to London for meetings because “it keeps the natives on their toes!”
I wish I could say I had long painted nails but I have never managed to achieve that!
Ferret,
Loved your comments…we would get along soooo very well lol. Yes the not quite sure thing makes me laugh as I move on through life. You do realise between us we possibly could write down the national debt lol.
Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment.
Take care
I fear I might be able to write down the national debt on my own if I put my shoes up for auction, but I might need you to wiegh in with your handbags if we are to save Greece and Spain as well.
More seriously, whilst I am not naturally of the cloak and dagger persuasion, the fact that I am not an immediately identifiable “earth mother” or “wild woods woman” means that I can’t be pigeon holed and if you can’t pigeon hole me you can’t make assumptions about me. If you can’t make assumptions about me then you just have to take me as I am.
Perhaps we should have a preppers shopping trip …… Selfridges and Harvey Nicks !!!
Hi everyone,
I’m not a member on the forum but I just had to answer this.
I am a woman pepper, I started prepping a long time ago, not seriously until 2006, when another prepper friend explained the coming crisis to me. Then I really started prepping. However prepping has not stopped me buying shoes, belts, handbags, and gloves, cashmere sweaters, LaPerla underwear, and going on holiday in winter. In fact because I paid all my debts off (best prep yet), I am able to afford all my luxuries and prep. I don’t have a high paying job, I work in a shop, I don’t have a car, but cycle to and from work, and I have a trailer for the big stuff. I have paracord bracelets to match almost every outfit I have, usually with diamanté buttons to keep it closed.
Preppers have the same mindset to a certain extent, plan for a unknown, maybe scary future, but besides that we are all different, like
different things. I prep and like girly things, clothes, I also liked hand cranked kitchen appliances, treadle sewing machines. People looking at me would never guess I was a prepper, and if they opened my handbag they would get a shock!!