Maiden

Maiden, so says its cover, is “the inspiring true story of the first all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World yacht race.”  A good friend of mine, commercial sail-sailor and Russian literature connoisseur, Frank G. sent me a message suggesting I watch this film, as it “is incredible.” Of course I followed his encouragement.

I disagree with Frank. And frankly, I’m not so sure what I’ve watched. Maiden, as its marketing says it is, is a story of the first all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World yacht race, though it is more of a promotion of the 1980’s feminism movement.

The points I’ll take from the movie are this: 1) the feminist movement was needed in multiple social sectors, to progress the ideology; 2) The Ocean Race, aka the Whitbread, is a physical and social event that kills, embarrasses, and awards – it is an amazing mix of human ingenuity, networking, and strength; and 3) we continue to struggle with adapting social norms to sex and gender differences – and the maritime has an opportunity to push the status-quo in a variety of ways on this front.

The Whitbread, is something any recreational sailor has heard of. The famous round the world ocean race has been around for five decades, having its first go, of 27,500 nautical miles, in 1972. The most recent around the world race included 45,000 miles, making it the longest race on Earth.  In addition to the Maiden’s entry and race in 1989, where they came in second place in the size division of 4 boats, multiple all female teams have entered and faired well in the sport/race. The teams who race these vessels are comprised of athletes throughout the sailing world, including America’s Cup and Olympic sailors.

The movie Maiden traveled through a course of great and interesting stories, plots and twists, and then it settled on something a bit bland for the 21^st century – it settled on 1980s feminism. The movie, Maiden, touched on the art and toughness of global yacht racing, 33,000 cold ocean miles of it. It sparks your interest in the networking and business side of working on and for yacht teams (the financer of the Maiden was a Turkish King!). The movie then angles in on the deadly side of racing – as two members from an opposing team fell overboard in Antarctic waters and were recovered lifeless.  Moving forward, the movie then peeks at the physical aspects of working a 15knt vessel in icy and gale forced conditions. Yet, the movie Maiden fails to follow any of these leads. It builds them ups, and lets them fizzle out.

Women in the maritime continue to get the short end of the stick, and, as we see, they also continue to get the short end of the stick throughout the globe, in most every aspect of organization and societal behavior. The maritime industry is at an advantage to isolate social environments, and therefore maintain social experiments (even informal ones) on those environments. Monitoring how women and men adapt to the 21^st century anti-sex-discrimination is important. Maiden captures a significant mile stone in this endeavor, and, sadly, after nearly 40 years, we are still only a few steps further along the integration line. Men still dominate the boating world, both operationally and administratively/logistically. In both the commercial and recreational side of the operations, women and men coexist in a world of divided resources (state-rooms, medical care, family obligations, available positions, and accepted social and sexual behavior). This division is continually creating conflict, which often shows itself in legal and career-wise showdowns. The maritime needs to collect data on organizational projected social norms and then on individual personal values. The difference in these two data-sets, I believe, will be enormous. As in my argument in the article on “Abandoned Shipmates,” I believe we need to destroy the social barriers between the sexes, and allow either sex to frolic at ease aboard and around the sea-going community, where heads are doorless, sex is anticipated, and bodily functions are understood and not a subject of embarrassment or aggression. Maiden shows an outdated, though perhaps necessary and honorable, methodology at displaying the female virtue. We need to label it as outdated. The place for feminism in the 21^st  maritime century must be within the world of humanism – not in an isolated corner. 

In short, and as always, watch the documentary!  Regardless of my critique, the movie certainly provides a subject of thought more worthy of your mind than any other garbage in theaters at this time (August 2019).  The Whitbread needs further attention from me, and so do topics of sexism in the maritime.

Thanks Frank. And thank you reader for supporting our endeavor of understanding and promoting the 21^st century mariner’s culture.