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smorgasboarder
controversy
Sexism: a dreaded word and often ultimately
polarising. At the extremes women take offense
for eternal oppression, and men bemoan their
perceived place in the world as the prime villain
in a patriarchal mess – an evil egg that’s ever
undergoing a furious attempt at unscrambling.
Over the years, many prominent female
professional surfers have spoken openly about the
sexism they have experienced as professionals
in the sport, and still do. At the highest level
there’s been past discussion about gender-based
pay-disparity in pro surfing, in the same way
that it exists in other industries. In a column in
the Guardian early last year, surf-legend Layne
Beachly told of her battle to the top of the sport,
however she also pointed out that modern surfing
as a profession seemed to be more even-handed
in earnings between men and women, citing Tyler
Wright as an example. So hopefully there are a few
more positive points in the pay debate today than
there were in 70s?
A more contentious and current area is the choice
of dress. For example, earlier this year Irish surfer
Sophie Hellyer had told the Sunday Times she had
experienced a significant drop in media coverage
because she was surfing in a wetsuit, as opposed
to a bikini. Similarly, Maroubra surfer Rebecca
Woods had previously stated that a bikini sadly
was the ticket to competing on tour and securing
sponsors. This is inappropriate, most obviously.
And unfair. That said, do the actions of media and
corporations hungry for dollars accurately reflect
the attitudes of men and women surfers at your
local break? And does this mean that women then
shouldn’t wear a bikini for fear of judgement by
others? Some female pro surfers seem to wear
the bikini with a sense of pride and empowerment
at the fact that their bodies are in peak physical
condition due to the dedication and time they’ve
put in the water. US surfer Courtney Conlogue
said as much about her naked shoot for ESPN
in 2016. So, when it comes to this one particular
talking point for sexism - the bikini – how much
does societal expectation, personal values and
choice play a role? How anyone chooses to dress
is sure to invite judgement of some kind, from
women and men, so where does that leave us? In a
Utopian surf-world, you would be able to dress as
you please and have no judgement for evaluation
- good or bad. Unfortunately, no human of either
biological sex or identified gender is wired that
way. We evaluate, we judge, all on a continuum of
benevolent to malicious intent. So, what ultimately
moderates the expression of our judgemental
wiring? Common manners, we would hope.
Moving away from the pro-surfing examples
though, as we always do in Smorgasboarder, let’s
talk about your local break instead. First-hand on
our travels, we’ve heard from women involved
in the early days of surfing about the verbal, and
even physical abuse they suffered at the hands
of male surfers in the 70’s and 80’s in particular.
While that seems to have improved in recent
years (perhaps more girls taking up surfing than in
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