I've mentioned my pet-peeve before that the term "paintball girl" refers to females who play paintball, not models who take off their clothes and hold paintball guns. While most people know of some paintball girls (and might even play with or against them on a regular basis), very little in the way of media coverage focuses on the players. Just a quick survey of the most recent paintball magazines shows an emphasis on skin over skill when it comes to females.
Social Paintball, though, recently did a story about a female paintball player - Jennifer Ulich - that I recommend you check out. While it's not going to mark the beginning of the end of bikini shots in paintball advertising, it does show that females are a part of playing paintball and not just selling products and magazines. Maybe if the industry encouraged women to play paintball the sport would grow more than focusing on just the male half of the population.
Comments
David, thanks for helping us highlight the fact that females CAN and DO play paintball.
Yay for girls playing paintball especially in the NCPA
I play for Virginia Tech… all the way
One day they will be on the professional teams and guys will realize girls can be just as good as they are.
Thank you, David, for your perspective on this. I have been fighting that image for years – even with those close to me who played directly by my side. I sincerely hope that I amounted to much more than eye-candy out there, and created some strong proof that we can give and take it on the field equal to the men who play. Kudos to you for breeching this subject.
My daughter started to do paintball when she was around 11 years old/almost 11 years ago/she was taught to handle the marker the same way you handle a M-4 carbine/and yes the studs always wanted to do the stud thing/I always make sure stud and daughter ended in opposite teams/poor stumps never new what hit them. I/we have played with and against some that got your attention/good players/lots of fun/and been girls didn’t matter at all.