“Don’t tread on us.” Photo: Unsplash//Photoshop
Goofy. Regular. You’ve innocently used these words to describe which foot is placed forward when surfing, skating, or snowboarding.
You thought the outdated phrasing was innocent. It’s not, at least according to Venice, California surfer Shane Wentright. He’s leading the charge in the latest upheaval of social activism, which targets the term “goofy foot” as exclusionary and discriminatory speech. The argument is pretty straightforward: “‘Goofy foot’ socially conditions the world to think of right-foot-forward surfers as less than,” he explained.
An art history major from Portland, Wentright moved to Southern California to get his conflict-free, elderberry-infused ginger beer brewery off the ground. But activism consumed his heart and business took a backseat once he realized the prominence of the term ‘goofy foot’ and how casually it’s thrown around in surfing circles.
“I walked into a surf shop to buy my first board and it was the first question the clerk asked me,” he recalls. You can see the frustration and trauma building as he tells me the story, making it difficult for him to enjoy his breakfast of avocado toast and boba tea. “I instantly asked why that mattered? I felt violated. He backpedaled and pretended it might influence which waves I start to frequent and possibly even my board selection, but I know better. Gatekeeping 101.”
That initial encounter lit a fire in Wentright, who has built some support around his cause in the past month. What started with a simple petition shared with customers during his morning shifts as a barista soon turned into painting the neighborhood with leaflets inspiring activism. “Goofy Feet Are Still Feet,” reads one flyer, advertising the first Right-Foot-Foward equality march. “What Makes Their Feet So REGULAR?” challenges another leaflet. The endgame? To have the terms “goofy” and “regular” wiped from the lexicon of boardsports. Wentright and his growing group of Venice activists propose the terms be swapped out for the monikers, “Left-Foot-Forward” and “Right-Foot-Forward.”
“The wording may be exhausting but it’s the only stance-neutral phrasing that doesn’t subliminally oppress one group while elevating another,” he shouts through a bullhorn in front of Whole Foods.
Two women stop to read his petition. They sign. Two minutes later a man walks by and reads Wentright’s literature. He signs the petition, too.
The movement is growing.
Editor’s Note: Johnny Utah is an “Eff-Bee-Eye” agent and an expert in works of satire. More of his investigative work can be found here.
