Yesterday I got the new issue of TransWorld Skateboarding magazine. Immediately I opened it up and began flipping through the pages. I saw familiar face after familiar face. All of them were faces of the men. It was no surprise to me since I don’t know when the last time I saw a woman skateboarder in a skateboard magazine, but it still always manages to disappoint a little, tiny bit.
I took the magazine to the gym with me and read it while I was doing my time on the elliptical. There was an article about a guy who was from a small town in the South who dreamt of becoming a sponsored skateboarder. His inspiration came from videos and magazines. He knew that if he just worked at it and made it to California he could get sponsored and get in the magazines and videos, too. This was his career goal. A path to making money at something he loved to do. It was a nice story, but it made me realize the true difference between women and men that skateboard, and it has nothing to do with athletic ability or talent. It does have to do with the love of a sport without the opportunity of financial support or gain.
Women who skateboard don’t get to look at a magazine or a video and get inspired by other women. We have to look to the men to see skateboarding. The tricks and the terrain don’t care if we are men or women. The physics is the same, but the faces and the style are different. Another boarder in the same issue was talking about how much easier it is to skate when you can visualize yourself doing a trick and the clothes and the shoes and the board all fit. Well, the last time I was in the mirror I looked nothing like a man in physique or dress. So, how do we visualize the trick when all we’ve seen are men doing it? We can’t so instead we work hard to get it down and have it fit us in our bodies. That’s how women get it done without the representation in magazines and videos.
When a female skater is practicing and falling on a trick for the 50th time she doesn’t have the hope that someday she’ll be in a big name ad. It doesn’t work that way. She won’t get to grab the golden ring when she has a stash of tricks, because for women there are no 4 star tours through Spain. As a rule, women that make it don’t get ads, they don’t get months in Barcelona and they don’t get a board with their name on it. What they get is the admiration and love of all the other women out there that support them. What women skateboard for is simply the love of it. That’s it. The love of being on a board and riding for ourselves is why we skateboard. Period.
I took the magazine to the gym with me and read it while I was doing my time on the elliptical. There was an article about a guy who was from a small town in the South who dreamt of becoming a sponsored skateboarder. His inspiration came from videos and magazines. He knew that if he just worked at it and made it to California he could get sponsored and get in the magazines and videos, too. This was his career goal. A path to making money at something he loved to do. It was a nice story, but it made me realize the true difference between women and men that skateboard, and it has nothing to do with athletic ability or talent. It does have to do with the love of a sport without the opportunity of financial support or gain.
Women who skateboard don’t get to look at a magazine or a video and get inspired by other women. We have to look to the men to see skateboarding. The tricks and the terrain don’t care if we are men or women. The physics is the same, but the faces and the style are different. Another boarder in the same issue was talking about how much easier it is to skate when you can visualize yourself doing a trick and the clothes and the shoes and the board all fit. Well, the last time I was in the mirror I looked nothing like a man in physique or dress. So, how do we visualize the trick when all we’ve seen are men doing it? We can’t so instead we work hard to get it down and have it fit us in our bodies. That’s how women get it done without the representation in magazines and videos.
When a female skater is practicing and falling on a trick for the 50th time she doesn’t have the hope that someday she’ll be in a big name ad. It doesn’t work that way. She won’t get to grab the golden ring when she has a stash of tricks, because for women there are no 4 star tours through Spain. As a rule, women that make it don’t get ads, they don’t get months in Barcelona and they don’t get a board with their name on it. What they get is the admiration and love of all the other women out there that support them. What women skateboard for is simply the love of it. That’s it. The love of being on a board and riding for ourselves is why we skateboard. Period.
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