Oh, you forgot she rips? Photo: Clare Plueckhahn
Recently, a 13-year-old Australian girl by the name of Olive Bowers picked up a copy of Tracks Magazine at her friend’s house. What she found annoyed her to the point of writing Tracks Editor Luke Kennedy a letter about its exclusion of women surfers. The teenager found the lack of women in the magazine offensive, but even more offensive was the fact that the only girl she could find in the magazine was the “Girl of the Month,” who “wasn’t surfing or even remotely near a beach.”
This prompted the below letter, which got picked up by Jezebel.
This isn’t the first time accusations of sexism in surfing have circulated the Internet. Last Spring, Roxy was vilified for a Roxy Pro France event trailer featuring Steph Gilmore that showcased Gilmore in her underwear – and not surfing. Anastasia Ashley was scolded for a pre-heat twerk at Oceanside. Laird said Maya Gabeira had no business surfing big waves, a few months before she posed for GQ Magazine.
That said, Alana Blanchard’s popularity has skyrocketed more for her bum than her surfing despite competing on the WCT, which should never be overlooked. And last week, Ellie-Jean Coffey claimed that using sexuality as a means to build her career has been nothing short of empowering. In wider current affairs, a freshman girl at Duke University made national headlines after she was outed as a porn star (Belle Knox), using pornography to help pay her college tuition. Knox is a self-identified feminist, claiming: “Feminism means I can take ownership of what I enjoy sexually.”
