You probably think pretty much all of the world has been explored, and when you think of the people who explored it, you think of men.
And while a lot of the world has been discovered, that doesn’t mean it can’t be explored, especially not for Australian teen adventurer Jade Hameister.
The 16-year-old recently gave a TEDx Talk about her expedition to the North Pole, saying she hopes to inspire young girls to think beyond traditional boundaries of gender norms and stereotypes.
But, obviously, this is the internet, and she received backlash from sexist trolls who left her messages asking her to make them a sandwich.
One said:
Good on you sweetie, maybe could find a successful husband and make him a sandwich.
So what did she do? She made them a sandwich. Only she didn’t give it to them on a platter while they put their feet up and watched the football. Oh no.
Jade set out to the South Pole, and specially to show up the sexism of these trolls, she added an extra stop on her trip and made a ham and cheese sandwich for the trolls to pick up on their next venture to the uninhabitable place.
Posting to Facebook, she said:
It is seriously as close to what a Base on another planet would be like than anything else on the planet – a mini-town based around the scientific work of the National Science Foundation.
Tonight (it never gets dark this time of year) I skied back to the Pole again… to take this photo for all those men who commented “Make me a sandwich” on my TEDX Talk. I made you a sandwich (ham & cheese), now ski 37 days and 600km to the South Pole and you can eat it.
Mic drop. But this incredible put-down is nothing compared to her physical achievement in reaching the two (yes two) South Poles and crossing the Greenland ice sheet.
Posting about the incredible journey, she wrote:
My guide, Eric Philips said this was the toughest trip in terms of weather conditions in his 25 years of polar guiding.
The wind and extreme cold was relentless and brutal. So many stories, so many memories. I cannot thank the incredibly fun team I shared this journey with enough and everyone back home for your support. Here’s to a hot shower and some real food!
In the TEDx talk, Jade expressed just how her experience of being a woman has led her to pursue her dreams of being an adventurer.
She said:
As a young woman I live in a world where I am constantly bombarded with messages to be less. To eat less, to wear less, to be skinnier, to shrink my ambitions to fit in.
To wait for my Prince Charming to come and save me or to avoid activities that are ‘for boys’.
I have learned that all those messages I receive daily to be less, are wrong. I have learned that by expanding my dreams it has been impossible to think about shrinking.
Instead of focusing on how we look, let’s focus on what our bodies and our minds can do.
Words to live by, well done Jade. I’ll go make my own sandwich – you keep doing you.
