UKH

Lace up and find your pace. Unwind from the day in the adidas Terrex Agravic Flow Shoes. Pavement to trail and back, your feet stay cool and the transitions are seamless with a smooth roll-off and fresh energy in every stride. Foot-hugging support and sure-footed grip let you move across rocky, rooted terrain, wet or dry.

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In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:

Following the link from the comp to their website, I see Adidas also make "Terrex Agravic Flow Shoes" for women. 

So WTF UKC?  Is this another competition with a prize for men only?  It certainly reads that way.

In reply to deepsoup:

The male and female versions are both called "Terrex Agravic Flow" so presumably the winner can choose the model that suits. 

In reply to Pedro50:

It's possible that you may be right, but there's nothing in the article to suggest that is the case. 

It just says "these men's running shoes", followed by the usual not-quite-a-lottery competition to win a pair.  If the winner can chose their size and chose between the men's & women's version, why not just "these running shoes"?

UKC have some form for this - there was a competition to win some fancy new pack a while back, the blurb was promoting both men's and women's versions but the comp offered only the men's version as a prize.  Thoughtless, casual sexism on the part of both the advertiser and UKC in that case, and after they were pulled up on it both resolved to do better in future. 

By and large, since then I think they have.  This isn't as bad as that, but it's clearly a slip-up.  Maybe you're right, the prize is available in the men's or women's version and that's just a typo resulting from a careless copy/paste.  Then again maybe you're not, and this is just another bit of hum-drum ordinary low-level casual background sexism.  We really don't know, you & I.

I don't know about Adidas, but I believe UKC generally aim to do better than this so some clarification is in order.  And if turns out this comp is promoting a shoe that Adidas make for men and women by offering a competition prize of a men's pair only, that wants sorting out pronto - it's really just not good enough!

In reply to deepsoup:

Here, here.

Well done for calling out those renowned misogynists at UKC Towers. Once again they use their free to access climbing forums to oppress us with their patriarchal views. It is time to take a principled stance against these manufacturers offering us plebs these lotteries to win their latest baubles.

I will consider cancelling my subscription and accessing the vast amount of high quality content from another source until I can assured that some ubermensch hasn’t just inadvertently cut and paste from the manufacturers blurb.

In reply to deepsoup:

It's strange that your original post has received so many dislikes, because I can't see anything to dislike, as your point is completely valid: the link is towards the men's product, the images featured are of the men's product, and the text revolves around the men's product. Even if a women's model were available (which it is), it hardly gives a shining example of gender parity...

The issue was face is that it's ultimately the brand's responsibility to supply the copy/prize; however, to counter this I would argue it's our responsibility to question the brand in much the same way that you - as a site user - are right to question our values. The option of both men's and women's prizes should always be the case, but not only that - both products should be given equal importance within the Comp itself.

Having had a quick scan of the recent competitions the vast majority (where gender options exist) succeed in achieving this. It's the case with the Arc'teryx Proton LT Hoody, the TNF Summit L5 Futurelight Jacket, the Rab Microlight, and the Sprayway Hain/Oust Jacket. As such, we're not doing badly, but exceptions occur, such as the Anatom Q4 Cuillin Comp (where it wasn't made abundantly clear whether the women's model was also available, as it wasn't featured within the text/imagery).

With this in mind, I agree with the point your are making and think we're applying these rules to a high percentage of the competitions run on site; however, it would be good for the small percentage that don't to be eliminated - or updated - so that they clearly display both men's and women's models.

Hopefully that addresses + answers your concerns anyway.

p.s. I've updated the Comp in light of the above

In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

It does, thanks.

I had a quick search to try to find the comp that first prompted me to notice this - can't seem to find it now, it was a while ago.  That one was quite a boo boo, but your response in dealing with it was exemplary.  (The brand not so much, if I remember right they more or less said they'd be happy to offer the women's version to the winner instead *if* they could find one kicking about in a stock-room somewhere.  Seemed a bit grudging somehow, like they didn't really get it.)

This one just seemed weird - the manufacturer make a men's and women's model that are near identical, and then seemed to be using the comp to promote the one while forgetting that the other even exists.  It's a little bit of low level humdrum thoughtless sexism, but also seems like a strange way to do business - it's like they just can't be arsed with half the potential market for their shoes.

In reply to TMM:

I'm not well up on my Nietzsche, so I'm not even sure what "ubermensch" means in this context I'm afraid. 

Nevertheless, thanks very much for your offer of support.  Happily Rob is obviously a mensch, so you'll be glad to know there's no need for a boycott.  Saves us both a bit of time we can devote to smashing the patriarchy elsewhere eh?