“Furthermore, I don’t see anything preventing a woman from using or creating, in any facet, an EDC.”Įveryday Carry. (For example, of the 10 most upvoted posts this week with the gender of the poster in the title, only two are women.) “Most people have an EDC whether or not they realize it or put any conscientious effort into it, both men and women,” says Sean S. Others in the community disagree, calling it an egalitarian space, while still admitting that the /r/EDC is undeniably male-dominated. “When you see people post problems that they bump into as a woman, like not enough pockets on pants, you get folks who crawl out of the woodwork and wave a pair of niche work pants marketed to women and try to invalidate them,” he says. Although several subjects pointed to their mothers’ seemingly bottomless purses as inspirations for their EDCs, others, like Kevin Diale, feel that the subreddit can be somewhat hostile to women. That said, not everyone is entirely happy with the community’s stereotypically masculine overtones. “It’s my carry, which fits my needs and meets my standards.” (Others agree: For example, when Hayes started working at a bank after a stint as a mail carrier, he changed his EDC completely, dropping from a backpack full of outdoor gear to just a handful of items that could fit in his pockets.) “The intimacy is important because I know that what I’m carrying is not completely to the taste of someone else,” he says. (who asked that we not use his last name) stress that your personal choice of carry is ultimately a very intimate decision that says more about a person and their vocation than the community as a whole. The Boy Scouts in particular have been praised and criticized in equal measure for promoting a vision of rugged manliness that is inextricably tied to this idea of readiness, as reflected in their longtime motto, “Be prepared.” But while many admit that traditional Western concepts of masculinity certainly contribute to the popularity of the subculture, /r/EDC users like Sean S. I take back control and power by having the tools I need when I need them.” It’s the things we all run into in our daily lives that make us feel powerless when they happen. It’s not like I expect zombies to pop out of the ground or terrorists to attack. “I’ve used my carry to treat small cuts and burns, tie down loads in and on my car, repair my brakes when I was stranded dozens of miles from home, help a driver out of a snowbank. “EDC has been crucial to me, especially in the subcategory of vehicle everyday carry,” he says. As a former Boy Scout, Hayes was more than familiar with the concept of “readiness,” so when he stumbled upon page after page of carefully posed shots of high-end gear like flashlights and folding knives, he felt right at home. (Several people I talked to also cited this video as a major turning point.) The concept of treasuring the seemingly mundane objects that you carry every day was inculcated in Hayes by his father, who gave him a wallet that belonged to his own grandfather as a symbol of his entry to adulthood. He came to the hobby through a particularly popular 2013 YouTube video featuring Mythbusters host Adam Savage. The world of EDC has many entry points, and for r/EDC user Tim Hayes, having the power to control situations that crop up in everyday life was a big part of the appeal. While proponents of the EDC lifestyle stress that personal carry is ultimately dependent on your needs and personality, there’s a strain of perfectibility that runs just under the surface a creeping sense that the next piece of gear you buy will be the one that finally makes it into your ideal. Since these EDC hubs began to sprout up all over the web, from the popular Reddit community /r/EDC to the lifestyle blog Everyda圜, the meaning of the acronym has shifted from what people do carry to what they should carry, with a focus on “readiness” - often at a fairly steep price point. While the term - usually used as a noun, like “my EDC” - was originally born out of threads on outdoor enthusiast forums where users would reveal the items they carry on their person every day, such as your wallet, keys, phone, or even a knife or two, it’s now exploded into full-blown subculture. Scrounging for Father’s Day gifts for my dad over the past few years has introduced me to a world he would probably feel right at home in: “everyday carry,” or EDC. Users would reveal the items they carry on their person every day, such as your wallet, keys, phone, or even a knife or two
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |