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A Visible History of Women’s Surfing
“A culture that cultivates silence for half of its population is not a healthy culture, even if the silence is unintentionally cultivated.” As a kid who was dragged along by my parents to events during the longboard renaissance in the late-1980s through the 1990s, I had the opportunity to mingle with the legends of surfing.…
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Nº5: #theonethatIwant ?
The new advert for Chanel Nº5, which features Gisèle Bündchen digitally surfing on a wax-less, black board, is making its way through the surf-o-sphere with commentary about how cheesy it is, but it may be the perfect representation of the desired trajectory of women’s surfing as it was created and disseminated by the surf industry…
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ROXY Pro Trailer: One Year Later
One year ago, the loudest and most visible conversation in surfing revolved around how women are represented by surf brands. Women of all ages, from every corner of the world and from every background you can imagine (lawyers, teachers, mothers, daughters, athletes of every kind), along with grandfathers, fathers, and our brothers, stood together, over…
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Ride the Wave to Victory
The image of surfing is often used to represent a certain kind of American global politics. This photo of Reagan illustrates the point nicely. So does Scott Laderman in his book Empire in Waves.
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Surfeminist Analysis of Gypsy Files-The Most Fearless
One task of Surfeminism is to analyze surf media and surf narratives. In this mode, we are able to distinguish Surfeminism from surf industry propaganda (often advanced second-hand by those who accept surfy propaganda) filtered through the image of the surfer girl. Surfeminism, as a tool, works to press into a solid (say, a story…
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“Riding Waves, Forging Communities”
“Two generations of feminists helped to build the sport, and now a more racially diverse, third generation looks to expand the women’s surfing community to numbers never before seen and with a pro-environment socially conscious transnational awareness.” -Riding Waves, Forging Communities: Surfing, Gender, and Feminism in 20th Century California Does it feel like a tide…
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Constructing a History of Women’s Surfing
“Those who don’t preserve their history end up with their stories told incorrectly or not told at all. It’s incumbent upon all of us to know women’s surfing history and tell it whenever we can.” -Mary Mills The History of Women’s Surfing has not been written. What little history we do have is littered among…
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Surf Splendor Interview (Podcast)
Last week I met up with David Scales of Surf Splendor for a conversation about everything from my many exits and returns in competitive surfing to burning journals to the film OUT in the Lineup to the current state of women’s surfing. What transpires is one of the most candid interviews I have given. Many…
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An Initiative for Change
For more info about Saturday’s screening of the film FLUX see the event announcement. And, coming soon… theinspireinitiative.org
Cori Schumacher
State of Flux
