We're queer and we're here

Someone I know through face book and chat to about how awesome skating is raised a question recently... Where are the queer skaters and queer culture within skating? He'd just come out as queer to his skate friends and it had been a complete non event (rather like my experience of coming out as queer to my skate friends), and he was wondering why, if skaters are so open minded (and they are), isn't there a recognised queer culture in skating?

It's a good question... The are undoubtedly lots of queer skaters, and queer and skate culture both have roots in rebellious counter cultures where the freedom to express yourself was prized, so why do queer skaters, by and large, choose not to share that bit of themselves with the world?

At this point someone usually chimes in with the “someone's sexuality has no place in skating, skaters are skaters” argument. Which is great, except for the fact that saying something doesn't actually make it true. When sponsored queer skaters are asking where the rest of the queer skaters are - it is a problem... Not because queer skaters should have to broadcast the fact that they're queer, but simply because virtually no one has. There are some high profile, openly queer female skaters but I can't think of any equivalent guys. EDIT - I now know that there is at least one openly queer male pro in the longboarding world.

There is a huge problem with homophobia in skating, and it's very rarely addressed. You may think that throwing the term “gay” about when your buddy does something stupid or a bit lame is harmless, but it isn't. It subtly frames gay in the negative, and given that even in these supposedly enlightened times people are still struggling with coming out, being reminded that gay = wrong by a bunch of people who claim to be accepting of difference can be like a kick in the cunt. And don't get me started on using faggot as an insult because right now, somewhere in the world, someone is being beaten to death by people yelling that very word at them*. So just don't okay.

There is a macho culture that permeates skating, you know, the whole lifestyle thing of how long your last standie was, how fast you've been, how much skin you've sacrificed to skatan and how many beers you've shot gunned at the end of the day. Which is cool, a lot of skating can be like that, but when it gets packaged up and sold by big business as the entirety of the skating lifestyle it creates a toxic space where being perceived as anything other than some sort of hyper-bro stereotype is frowned upon. And because stereotypical bros are always straight, queer skaters get pushed aside. Life isn't that black and white though, how you act and project yourself has little relation to who you're attracted to, but there's this enduring and completely false belief that queer women are women who want to be guys and queer guys are guys who want to be women. And that all feeds into the way the patriarchy deems anything to do with women to somehow be lesser than men, so we end up in a situation where gay and faggot are used as put downs for guys who don't conform.

This is bullshit and we need to call time on it right now, because the “skaters are skaters” line should be true... who you're attracted to has no bearing on your ability to skate, just as your gender has no bearing on your ability to skate. But skaters, and the skate community, need to act in a way that makes this true, rather than just firing off the line when ever anyone tries to talk about it. So stop throwing gay and faggot around as insults, and call out your friends when they do it, because you never know who is listening. Make skating a space that is truly welcoming to anyone who wants to be a part of it.

As skaters we've spent far too long ignoring this issue, pretending that it doesn't exist. But people are ready to talk about it... This is just a start. Basically we're queer and we're here... actually we've always been here. But that really doesn't change anything so lets go skate.

*I have no way of determining if this is true but it probably is because the world can suck when you're queer.

Skate like a girl

Alicia Fillback just put her latest edit out and it's covered in awesome sauce. She knows how to skate down hills and does it in style. This is not a problem, like I said it's awesome and she's a huge inspiration for me as a skater. The Cook Your Own Damn Meals edit she did with Carmen Shafer is still one of my favourite skate videos of all time, and I the first time I watched it I remember just wanting to be able to skate like that. Two years on and I'm firmly moving towards that goal.

What I'm pissed about is someone on facebook, after watching the video trotted out the “she skates like a guy” line and meant it as a compliment. And it's a compliment that often comes from the mouths of guys who will tell you that gender has no place in skating because skaters are skaters.

Except when they're girls it seems.

I can't speak for Alicia, and what drives her passion for skating but what I do know is that she skates like someone who understands the form of DH sliding and has begun to master it. I also know that form isn't gendered, form is merely technique and anyone can learn technique given enough drive, determination and most importantly of all, time. I get that there aren't a whole lot of female riders who skate that way and people are used to only seeing guys skate that way, but that doesn't mean that understanding and mastering form is an exclusively male domain, or that any girl who understands and masters the form has to skate like a guy, or be one of the boys, or any other of the tired cliches that people trot out in order to do it. If skating truly is genderless then she skates like a skater, and if you do want to bring gender into it, then she skates like a girl, a girl who rips.

End of story.

Except there's more to the story... I think the whole skating like a guy stereotype of girls who shred can put off other girls who want to skate like that but don't really want to be seen as that tomboy skater chick. Yeah there are plenty of girls who are tomboy skater chicks (I'm one of them), but the fact that we are tomboys has nothing to do with the fact that we're skaters... Okay, maybe a bit because we do fit the whole stereotype, but we still don't skate like guys, because (shock, horror) we aren't guys. There's a whole lot of macho bullshit culture in skating, which I think comes from big companies trying to sell a life style to teenage boys, and saying someone skates like a girl is often used as a putdown (also calling things gay, but that's another issue). We need to stop this, skating like a girl is a good thing, especially when the skating is defined by the girls doing it. And you know what, once we've accepted that we'll actually be moving towards a place where skaters really are just skaters. 

And here's the video because it is amazing and everyone should watch it and be inspired, because Alicia Fillback is badass.


Blood Orange: Introducing Alicia Fillback from Blood Orange on Vimeo.

Skate don't Hate - Longboard Girls Crew and why it isn't sexist.

I'm a skater, I also happen to be a feminist; and no, the two things aren't mutually exclusive. The statement that “LGC is sexist”, is one that crops up far too often and the very fact that people feel able to make it actually highlights why we need LGC in the first place.

Here's why:

There is no such thing as reverse sexism. Period. There is no all pervasive system of matriarchy that marginalises men and privileges women just for being female... It just doesn't exist. Sure women can be nasty, intolerant and discriminatory towards individual men (just so you know, this is bad too), but without that all important matriarchy to back up these negative behaviours it's a bit like throwing up into the teeth of a gale. You end up stinking of vomit after it ends up straight back in your face.
Sadly there is such a thing as the patriarchy, a system so ingrained into our various cultures that it is all but invisible, and it does exist to marginalise women and their voices, and gives systemic privilege to men just because they're men.

Now before I go any further let me categorically state that longboarding is generally quite open minded and accepting. However, it doesn't exist outside of the rest of society (well at least not until the time where we all move to Cali, kick out all the non-skaters and secede from the union), so things that are part of wider culture are part of longboarding as well. This doesn't mean that longboarding is a reflection of some of the nastier aspects of sexism, and it doesn't mean that every guy out there is a hurtful pig, deliberately being sexist (or indeed the girls who think the same way are being deliberately hurtful... Yes women can be misogynistic too). Most of the sexism in longboarding is of the unthinking everyday kind that has just been normalised because if you don't intend to be sexist you can't be sexist, right?

Wrong!

Regardless of intent, something is sexist if it marginalises women's voices and ability. You may think that telling the lady shredder that comes out to some sessions with you is “...good, for a girl” is a compliment, but you're judging her based on her gender. If she rips, she rips and tell her... She may not be the best skater on the hill, but she will have put in the blood, sweat and tears to get to the level she's at, just like you have, so respect that.

Oh and on the subject of judging ability on gender, please refrain from bitching that a female skater was “...only sponsored because she's a girl”. This may actually be the truth, certainly in surfing female pros almost always fit the stereotypical image of the surfer babe, and as longboarding gets more commercial this may happen as well. Just because the sexism has benefited her, doesn't change the fact that it's sexism, if you have an issue with companies sponsoring girls whose ability to skate is eclipsed by their ability to look pretty, take it up with the companies, not the riders. Support brands who treat their female riders as riders rather than marketing opportunities.

Side note: Adverts for skate gear that needlessly objectify women are not legitimised if said company runs an advert that needlessly objectifies a guy. Both are wrong and that's why I won't buy Caliber trucks.

So where have we got so far? There's no such thing as reverse sexism, and not intending something to be sexist doesn't mean it isn't. So how does this tie in with Longboard Girls Crew, and why if we have LGC don't we have a longboard guys crew. Well the reason there isn't a guys crew is because it already exists, I like to call it the bro club and it's pretty much called all of longboarding. Now before the red mist descends and you wittily post a comment calling me a man hating, dyke bitch (to save time just email all your hateful bile to Idon'tGiveAFuck@TalkToTheHand.com), consider how many female skaters regularly turn up to the sessions you go too. Now consider how many guys turn up to skate, particularly to gnarly, high speed skids kind of sessions. I would be pleasantly surprised if in a group of say 30 skaters at a session more than 5 were girls. The fact that I went to a freeride at the start of September and out of nearly 140 riders I was the only girl kind of suggest that things need to change. Especially as everyone wanted to see more girls on the hill and having fun.

Everyone, unless you really are a hateful, misogynistic twat, wants to see more female riders out there, having fun and taking part, but we have a long way to go before we have parity. Heck, if we ever get to the point where a quarter of riders at an event are female we'll have improved things, and maybe LGC won't be as necessary as it is now. But until then it won't be going anywhere.  

Dangerous Decks Shin Kicker review

I've been riding a custom shaped Holesom Sex Kitten for nearly a year now, but recently as I've started to try to do stand up slides at ever greater speeds, I've noticed a problem; my feet have a tendency to fly off at inopportune moments. So, for the past month I've mainly been riding a gloriously pink DD Shin Kicker- their newest top-mount speed board designed with input from team rider Gav.

Consider yourself spanked hill

Basically, it's a beast- the kind of beast that rears out of the ocean and then proceeds to flatten Tokyo or New York. The concave manages to be both aggressive, and comfy; feet are locked in and aren't going anywhere (especially with the addition of a couple of PSD outside foot-stops at either end). I've already more than conquered the fearsome right hand hairpin that is the top half of my local hill, without needing to put a hand down. This is something I've not managed before now. In fact the whole experience was so relaxed and easy I was soon pushing to go even faster and slide even further. My lovely girlfriend informed me I was "zooming", but it felt so laid back I might as well have been cruising.

Yes... Buying this board has actually made me a better skater, and it'll probably do the same for you as well.

At 35.5" long and 10.5" at the widest point, the Shin Kicker is a fairly compact board. It also has an impressive choice of wheel bases... From 29" to 25"- enough to suit any taste. While the 10.5"width may sound massive, that is just the widest point, at the trucks it's a more reasonable 9.5" which is just right for my size 6 feet. The concave and the routed wheel wells will also accommodate large wheels - I had (briefly) some 76mm Hesher Snowballs on the board without wheel-bite.

Construction is what I've come to expect from Dangerous Decks; basically rock solid and well crafted. Will takes pride in the decks he sends to people, and it shows. The price is reasonable as well, posted my Shin Kicker came in at under £100 and Will did it in pink just for me... What's not to like?

It's usual in reviews to list the pros and the cons of the item in question, but honestly I can't think of anything wrong with my Shin Kicker. True it's already looking a bit battered, but that's only because it's inspired me to skate harder than I have before, and it's not like I haven't abused skateboards twice the price in an even shorter time before now.

Basically, if you like compact top mount speed boards there is no reason I can think of why you shouldn't buy this deck, it's epic in every sense of the word.

Girls who shred

There has been a bit of an internet backlash today against Thrasher Magazine after the published an interview with Nyjah Huston... Specifically what he thinks about girls in skateboarding.

Yeah, it's horrific isn't it.

Now as a girl woman who shreds and has taken her fair share of bails, stacks and falls I have to say I find this pretty god damn offensive. Women do down hill because they think it's just like sidewalk surfing? 

Really?

Is my judgement somehow less because I'm female? Does my flighty female nature mean that the lessons I've learnt the hard way by hitting the road and earning my scars will be forgotten as soon as the road rash has healed? Of course not, we live in the 21st century rather than the 19th and the female half of the human race are generally considered to be more than capable of making their own damn minds up about what they want to do with their lives. And sometimes what we want to do with our lives is skateboarding, be it downhill, street, slalom or whatever... And you know what, we fucking rock doing it. 

I could go on, but I really don't think I have to, especially seeing as how the bit of the skate-verse that I inhabit has been incensed by the opinion expressed by Nyjah Huston, because it isn't skating. Skating doesn't care whether you male, female, gay, straight or whatever... Skating just cares about skating, having fun with your friends, smiling and the sheer joy that those little wheely planks bring into our lives.

  

Dangerous Decks SE10 review

At the end of last year I finally had a go at tech sliding and realised how much fun it was... There was nothing for it, I had to get a tech slide board. I knew pretty much straight away that I wanted a Dangerous Decks SE10, and after months of making do with a set up that I'd swapped for unwanted skate gear I finally got one.

look at the shiny

My first thought when I first opened the package was “ooooooooh pretty!”

I had spent a bit more on a board with a carbon fibre layer on the bottom (pink carbon fibre no less) and the finish was beautiful. In fact I know how much effort went into it as Will, the guy who builds them, spent a few extra days re-doing the finish because he wasn't happy with it. Now that's craftsmanship.

The SE10 is 34” long, 9” wide, and has wheel base options from 15.5” to 17” adjustable in 3/4” amounts. There are decent sized kicks (7” with the shorter wheelbase) and an aggressive tub concave. The cave flattens out at the kicks so you have really nice pockets to lock your feet in. The board was designed around Indy 169s, I wasn't able to get any because I'm extremely poor and I had to swap more unwanted skate gear to get some suitable trucks. I ended up with a set of 9” Gullwing Mission 1s, which are slightly taller that the 169s, but seem to work fine set up without risers. For the wheels I went with the ubiquitous Earthwing Slide A in 62mm... Which are epic, somehow managing to combine (possibly through witchcraft) zero hookup with a lovely smooth (and fairly quiet) slide. Like I said... Witchcraft.

no hand HS drift

The deck is very stiff with minimal to zero flex and had a decent about of pop, and as mentioned the combination of aggressive concave and kicks really locks your feet in when your going sideways. Basically it inspires confidence to try new stuff, first time out I was managing to do hands down 360s without even thinking about it. Early grabs magically improved as well... the usual pathetic couple of inches was magnified to over 6... Yes size does matter, especially when it comes to getting air. I also tried a lot of stuff I would never have attempted soft wheel sliding, like laybacks, switch colemans and even hands down blunt slides. Admittedly they all ended badly and I now have a nice collection of bruises, but I was trying.

Nathan trying a blunt slide

The SE10 is also fun away from the hills, the kicks mean you can do all manner of flat land tricks and there's even enough space to do some board walking (I managed a peter pan, but failed at cross stepping). Stick some soft wheels on and it's great for cruising round town or going on a beer run to the local shop. Speed was also handled well, I never felt out of control and the board felt solid under my feet when foot braking.

Overall the SE10 is a solid deck, it may have been designed as a tech slider, but it's certainly versatile enough that you'll want to use it all the time, and certainly with soft wheels it makes cruising round town a lot more fun. This said there were a few down sides... The carbon fibre, while looking pretty, is already pretty shredded (I have abusive relationships with my skateboards), in hind sight I think the plain birch version would be the better choice (it's also the cheaper option). I also managed to delam the nose attempting a kick flip. It's nothing serious and easy to fix but worth mentioning. Despite these minor issues I still love the deck and would gladly hand over more of my money for a new one when this one dies.