proof of how awesome I am

Okay, this has absolutely nothing to do with skating, but I recently promised my girl friend a tattoo… she had it done today and it rocks.

Yeah, I know… I rock.

Brand Loyalty?

In my defense, I have been back to the tattoo studio two further times in the week since I got this.

Good for a Girl

Here's a question for any female skaters out there…have you ever been complimented on your skating to have the suffix "for a girl" screwed on the end? For me it rankles just a bit, which doesn't mean I want put on my man hating dyke hat, lace up my DMs and kick the offending complimenter, because it's almost always meant sincerely…it's just the unthinking and misguided misogyny behind it that gets me.

Yes guys…there's sexism in skating. 

Now, before I get tied up and burnt as an evil feminist witch at the next freeride I go to…this isn't an attack on any of the guys I skate with, because believe it or not I'm just as guilty of the kind of unthinking misogyny I'm talking about.

Let me explain… when you quite sincerely tell one of your many female skater friends that she is "good at skating, for a girl" you're judging her buy different standards. It's actually quite demeaning and a bit condescending, it kind of says that you think that the skater in question can never just be good… only good for a girl. Imagine if we all started saying this to skaters with red hair?

"Oh you're good at skating… for a ginger."

See what I mean? You wouldn't base your praise of a skater on the colour of their hair, so why do the same with their sex?

And what about my unthinking misogyny? Well at the recent Bristol board meeting Mark Short ended up holding an impromptu slide jam and I was the only girl skating the hill. When it came to giving out prizes a bit of me was hoping for something for being the only girl on the hill. Mark actually judged everyone skating on their ability rather than sex and the right people were awarded the prizes. I salute Mark, and I'll dedicate my next safety meeting to his wisdom, because the fact I didn't get any prize made me want to be a better skater. If I'd been recognised as being "good for a girl" it might have made me lazy, as it is I'm determined to up my game… not because I want to win lots of swag (though everyone loves free swag) but because when I skate a hill with a bunch of guys I want to be their equal. As things stand, that will never happen while people tack "for a girl" on the end of compliments.

So, do a skate… and stop judging girls (and gingers) by different standards.