Prepper chicks....

Are doomsday preppers batshit weirdo lunatics or just worriers who happen to be very resourceful? The stereotypical prepper type is at least an easy punchline. You know, marginalized white dudes, crazies, ex-military, religious freaks — outlier types who take a little too easily to conspiracy theories and are paranoid, or possibly even mentally ill. But perhaps that perception is slowly starting to change, as more and more regular unprepared people, the sort of people preppers might call a zombie or sheeple — and perhaps in light of recent natural disasters, global warming, or terrorist attacks — are finding their way to readiness training in the event the day comes when the all-mighty grid, or government, fails to provide and YOYO (you're on your own). Just, you know, without all the crazy. Though I'm not always sure how you can tell the difference.

Take prepper chicks, the term for the lady versions of these survivalist types. Some of them are focusing beyond the central tenets of survival to include ladycentric consideration for managing the end of days — sorry, er, TEOTWAWKI, or the End of the World as We Know It.
A recent New York Times piece called "The Preppers Next Door" takes a look at the growing number of people interested in disaster preparedness who decidedly lack the whiff of prepper mania stink covering so many of the crazies like homemade bug spray. A top disaster preparedness expert quoted says the movement now looks like " the strangest mishmash of people you could ever find — black, white, men, women, everyone. It looks like America."

It doesn't mention "Prepper Chicks" specifically but one of their sites (not covered in the story), sheds a pink-tinged light on the issue from a "girl's point of view." This means tips on lady things that help when everything gets crazy, like essential oils, uses for herbs and spices, cooking and food preservation, arming yourself, home schooling your kids and more. It celebrates general girl power and female strength in a pioneerwoman kind of way.
There's even a video out there offering the seven reasons prepper chicks are sexy (For instance: They have food. They won't run up your credit cards, because they only pay in cash.)

But real quick, a warning: With its pink font, pink silhouetted lady with go-go boots, an assault rifle in hand and a feather in her hair, not to mention cheesy music loads on every page ("We Are Family") your first response will probably be to laugh. The second is to suggest they use that "resourcefulness" to get a better website. On Twitter, they promote uses for raw soured milk. How to make goat milk soap. Gardening help. How to make raw vegan blackberry lemon lavendar cheesecake.
It's cheesy, to be sure, but the preparedness they are pushing is not entirely useless. Or even dissimilar to what might come in real handy if, say, Los Angeles ever gets hit by "the big one." It's even kind of reasonable. Like self-defense. Like water purification. Like basic first aid.