Following our recent Improbable article on the male bias in military bunker enthusiasts, may we recommend a follow-up paper by Carrie Mott at the Department of Geography, University of Kentucky, and Susan M. Roberts University of Kentucky; Department of Geography, and University of Turku, Finland; which examines (amongst much more) the ‘testicular fortitude’ of ‘urbexers’.
“Urbex means different things to different people. For some, it’s about in filtrating a city’s storm drains and subway tunnels. For others, it’s climbing bridges and radio towers. Generally speaking, though, Urbex is the exploration of TOADS (Temporary, Obsolete, Abandoned and Derelict Spaces). Industrial complexes, military installations, junkyards, asylums, hotels — you name it (Troy Paiva, 2008:9).”
see: ‘Not Everyone Has (the) Balls: Urban Exploration and the Persistence of Masculinist Geography’ in: Antipode, Volume 46, Issue 1, pages 229–245, January 2014.
Bonus : A video explaining the research project
[Illustration above adapted from photo courtesy Wikipedia]