Skate Anthropology
Apropos of nothing:
I wanted to like the above short vid about pro skater Nora Vasconcellos, but kinda didn't. Mostly because of how much its narrative was about what some iconic white men think about her skating rather than actually about her skating. (Elissa Steamer was briefly interviewed but had nothing to say about Nora specifically.) Also: it's 2018 do we really still have to make movies about "what it's like to be a girl in skateboarding"?
I guess so. Sure, a men-curated movie for the men-dominated culture—it makes sense. But is it progressive? Is it revolutionary? Is it punk rock? No. It would be cool to get away from that "female skateboarder" thinking and celebrate (and support) Nora, and all the rest of us, simply as "skateboarders." That's what we are?
I'm psyched that Adidas has a woman on their global team now. But IT'S ONLY ONE. One skater. One movie. Should we take our meager offerings and be happy with them? No. If we continue replicating the hegemony through skate movies, skate ads, skate product—and all the rest—by focusing the apex of accepted skate awesomeness on the opinion/control of men, then we continue to limit skateboard society from growing and evolving. Toward community. Toward creativity. Toward even more future awesomeness.
And any woman who rolls 4 wheels will tell you the patriarchy is still thriving out there in skate-land. From pointed disrespects coming out of bro culture and the boys' club to softer daily annoyances, like the amount of times I get asked by men things like, "How long have you been skating?" Do any of my tight skater boiz get asked that? No. The condescension comes through loud a clear.
Anywayayayayay, I am happy for Nora out there getting that money, getting that movie, getting to skate for a living and getting to be herself ... whatever that looks like—cool, creative, weird, talented, female, free. Let's keep it going. Let's skate as much as possible. Let's have the most fun possible. Let's collaborate to smash the state and create room for groundbreaking new possibilities, like, say, the expectation that women could fuel skate culture as much as men do.
