You’d think that freedom and safety are the opposite. They are.

Freedom is limitless, liberated, risk taking. Safety is controlled, calculated, stable.

Yet, at Camp VC, when these opposites collide, they generate a magical forcefield of epic proportions; creating the conditions for women to be their ultimate selves. 

If you haven’t been to Camp VC, close your eyes and imagine a world both free and safe where women can rip dirtbikes, skate on their own skate ramp, and party till the sun goes down, knowing there is a community there who will hold their drink and pick them up if they fall off. We get our nails done and then ride out for a wild swim.  We bomb it down a MTB track before dinner. We paint our faces in glitter, ready for a night of karaoke. We skate and then get tattooed from women only artists.

For the last 10 years, VC has created the conditions that make those moments possible. To our knowledge, no other brand or experience has ever been able to achieve this all in one place. And whilst we’ve been forging ahead with our vision of freedom and safety for women so they can explore… outside of our epic world of adventure, the needle for freedom and safety has barely shifted for women in the UK. 

An investigation by UN women UK found that 97% of women aged 18-24 have experienced  sexual harassment, with another Yougov survey finding that nearly half of female festival goers under 40 said they have faced unwanted sexual behavior at a festival. Alongside this, the NHS found that today women are three times more likely than men to experience common daily mental health problems and increasingly struggle to find real life community. But we know change is coming, and VC is at the forefront.

Some say we are entering the fifth wave of feminism.  We’ve moved on from simply waking up time and again to women’s struggles; instead we’re taking this knowledge and moving forward together with a clear agenda.  Women today are going beyond a rallying cry for equality (the old era of ‘anti-man’) rather we’re thinking about how to be the best 360 degree version of ourselves (a new era of ‘pro-me’).  We’re no longer thinking about #MeToo as the primary issue, instead we’re taking on many issues in an intersectional, nuanced and multifaceted way. We find little power in resisting the world. Power instead is in creating our own world. 

VC is our world, created by women, for women. When we stand onsite at Camp VC we see hundreds of women, trans women and non-binary people from all walks of life feeling beautiful, looking strong and confident, and held up by those around them. That's the magic. A community of people reclaiming their confidence and finding each other.

There’s a little flame inside us all that, with the right environment and the right community, can set a wild fire going. 

VC is here to throw petrol on that flame and provide space to feel free and safe so that women can do everything they thought they couldn't, or shouldn’t. And do it whilst falling off, laughing along with each other, getting back on again and feeling more badass than ever.  We want all women to feel the magic that’s created by feeling safe and getting wild and free all at the same time.

The world has a long way to go before it delivers for women, but we have hope.

Because we’ve seen it.