As someone that does have very few female friends that enjoy skiing the terrain that I enjoy most; this is how I would generally interpret a comment about skiing with "only" guys (and I could see myself saying it with exactly this meaning).
I would challenge anyone that is met with the impression that it's bragging rights to continue the conversation with that self-diagnosed-badass-lady. Ask them why they only ride guys and if they would want to ski with more ladies if they could find others that wanted to ski their preferred terrain. Some people simply don't have a preference of the gender of their ski partners, and just look for people that enjoy the same terrain at a similar speed. For the most part, I see far fewer women in trees and bumps. It's not to say there aren't any, but it's generally easier to find guys with a similar desire for that terrain.
I will say, it's always an amazing day when I can share it with other ladies with similar mindsets (just ask my husband how stoked I always am after a day of shredding with the ladies...I don't shut up about it).
I have no doubt that this is indeed the case with some women — the lack of female ski friends would certainly be a good reason to ski with guys. After all, connecting with other women skiers is one of the reasons I started this forum. I, myself, have many ski friends who are guys and ski with them regularly. And yes, continuing the conversation would certainly make sense. Because really, you never know. That said, context is everything. I have
without question known women who view skiing with men as vastly superior to skiing with women because, in their view, women
on the whole just don't ski as well. Now, it certainly could be that they don't know many good female skiers. Then again, maybe not. But the way that it's said certainly rubs me the wrong way. It's as if ONLY guys could keep up with them and that if you're a guy, you're automatically a good skier. And as well all know, there are a lot of crappy male skiers out there, too.
In short, I think both points are well taken. I agree with you,
@elemmac and
@MissySki , but I don't, too.
All that aside, I hate to limit this thread to just talking about this, since there were so many other good points in that article, too. It's one of the best I've seen about sexism and skiing.