Lotta Hintsa tells Yle about the comments she received.
Lotta Hintsa opened up about her experiences to Yle. Inka Soveri
Mountaineer Lotta Hintsa37, says In Ylen’s storyhow the swimsuit photoshoots she did for Sports Illustrated magazine a few years ago caused confusion and belittlement even among her acquaintances.
This also exposed the toxic culture of mountaineering.
Hintsa tells Yle how she had to experience how appearance and femininity can raise doubts about being taken seriously in the male-dominated world of climbing.
– A lot of people, even acquaintances, said that I can’t do this kind of thing and that it eats away at my credibility as a climber. I don’t understand this at all. I’m an equally good or bad climber whether I do this shoot or not. I don’t even skip a single workout because of filming, Hintsa tells Yle.
Hintsa was chosen as Miss Finland in 2013 and the background also followed her in the early years of her climbing career. It easily provided fodder for belittling and criticism.
On social media, many followed Hintsa’s activities in the mountains particularly closely. Hintsa tells Yle how some even jokingly asked who would carry her makeup on a climbing trip. According to him, some of the commenters were Finnish male climbers.
Hintsa describes mountain climbing as still being a sport that operates strongly on men’s terms.
– In the extreme world, there is an assumption that women are allowed to join extreme sports, but you have to be like a man and come on men’s terms. Everything feminine has to be left out, it can’t fit there in any way, says Hintsa.
Hintsa is currently expecting her first child together with her husband, an actor and musician by Sebastian Rejman with.