Gender Considerations With Sleeping Bags
The constant struggle for equality and parity of
treatment between men and women is not really a battle that rages in the
arena of sleeping bag purchase.
Biological factors are the only real consideration for why many company
design bags specifically for men and women, and these differences simply
cannot be disregarded. Though a
sleeping bag is technically unisex and bestows its benefits to the user
without discrimination, the fact remains that certain bags will perform
better for men than for women, and vice-versa.
The features that cater to each gender are very subtle, but in the
great outdoors, these little details could be the dividing line between a
comfortable night’s sleep and a restless, constricted, bitter awakening.
- Temperature
– it is an unusual quirk of nature that, although women tend to have
a higher overall percentage of body fat, which is related to their
ability to bear children, they tend to sleep colder at night, and are
generally more affected by drops in temperature than men.
It is a common occurrence for couples to fight over the
thermostat setting in their homes, and there have been humorous jibes
about how, in the same temperature, a man will be wearing shorts and
sitting around relaxed with his shirt open, while a woman in several
layers of winter wear will still be shivering and looking constipated.
Sleeping bag manufacturers have taken this into account when
designing a bag for the adventurous woman.
Women’s bags tend to have thicker, loftier insulation with the
same temperature ratings, to ensure their warmth.
They will also have extra insulation in the chest area and around
the foot box, as these are primary areas where body heat escapes, and
they have a tendency to get colder than other parts of the body.
- Size –
women tend to be smaller than men, and even at different sizes, the
men’s sleeping bags may still be an awkward fit.
Optimizing warmth means having as little extra space in the bag
as possible, so there will be less air that needs to be heated up by the
body. A bag that is too big may
provide added room to maneuver, but this advantage may be offset
significantly by the coldness that will likely penetrate the bag if it
isn’t filled properly by the user’s body.
- Shape –
obviously, women are shaped differently from men, and not just in the
private regions. A woman has
wider hips, again related to her ability to bear children, narrower
shoulders and torso, and breasts of varying size that may not fit
comfortably in a standard straight bag shell.
Consequently, women’s bags are shaped accordingly to conform to a
woman’s different dimensions, being narrower or wider where it counts,
and hugging a woman’s body so that she does not feel suffocated, but at
the same time is sufficiently protected from the cold outside.
- Color –
well, this is really a matter of preference, but there are women who
will only buy equipment or merchandise in a certain color.
It is a bag purchase, after all, and manufacturers are more than
happy to comply with a range of “feminine” colors for their sleeping
bags.
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