During the WWSA seminar I was lucky enough to hear Charlotte Kaufman talking about, among other things, why she started the original Women Who Sail group. You can read it here http://www.therebelheart.com/charlottes-blog/2013/9/27/why-i-started-women-who-sail.html but the gist of it was the way she was treated by the male sailors on cruising forums who thought they knew better than her leaving mean-spirited, and occasionally vulgar and offensive comments.

Unfortunately there’s still a bit of that around today. Yesterday I was reading a thread on one of the ‘Cooking on Boats’ sites. You’d think that would be a topic that would be pretty difficult for anyone to be snide about but alas no. Just a subtle put-down but a put down nonetheless.

I was just listening to a story about the #MeToo campaign started as a result of sexual harassment in the film/acting industry and how quickly it went global. This got me thinking of Charlotte’s mantra. Be kind …. but take no shit. I now propose a #bkbtns campaign! Whenever some knob puts a snide remark on a comment made by a woman we highlight it with our new hash tag!

What do you think, Sisters?! I’m sure it will go viral! Well, on the Women’s sites anyway. The men won’t notice.

#bkbtns #bekindbuttakenoshit #svbanjo #rebelheart #wws #wwsa #wwsmed