Out in the Field

This commentary expands upon Bracken and Mawdsley’s 2004 paper, “Muddy Glee: rounding out the picture of women and physical geography fieldwork” to consider the experiences of LGBTQI+ people. Reflecting on our own fieldwork experiences between the early 1990s and today, we provide personal insight into some of the challenges faced by LGBTQI+ field scientists. Although the nature of our personal challenges differs through time, space, and based on our own specific identities and intersectionalities, we concur that exclusion of LGBTQI+ people is a widespread problem in fieldwork. This is true of many different modes of physical fieldwork, suggesting that redefining what fieldwork looks like does not automatically remove barriers to entry for marginalised groups. Instead, we argue that inclusivity should be championed across all types of field activities, and that discipline-wide effort is required to ensure safe strategies are developed for all at-risk individuals.