Ollie by Shaz
Here is a mini interview with female skateboarder Shaz conducted by Liyana Yeo. It focuses on the stereotype and misconception that skateboarding is a male only sport and that girls are not welcome.
Interview with Shaz conducted by Liyana Yeo
Why do you think that there are very few female skateboarders, not just in Singapore, but worldwide?
Skateboarding is an extreme sport and you have to get hurt in order to learn. I guess people see skateboarding as a rough sport and they still have that mindset "only guys can skate". I've heard people telling me tha t girls are not supposed to skate because it seems to be a "guy" thing just because you might fall down and get hurt. I think girls are just scared to fall because they are scared of getting hurt. But that's not for all girls, like not all guys like to skateboard too right?
Have you faced any discrimination (verbal or non-verbal) while skateboarding?
First, I don't know why some people are against skateboarders. They think all we do is vandalise, make noise and all that shit. But anyway, yeah I usually feel a bit sad if people compare me to guys and they say that girls can't really skate. But there are some who are nice because to them girls who skate are those determined ones and ready to fall.
Do you believe that there is a misconception of female skateboarders?
Yeah, in the skateboarding scene people often think that female skaters can never go far and can't perform tricks that men can do when in reality that's all bullshit. Everyone's the same, anyway, and all you have to do is practice like any other male skaters and then if you really have passion you can be at the same level as the guy skaters. And people should stop thinking that we're posers! I skate becuase I want to, not to show off or anything. People should respect that :)
13 comments:
u guys should start a girl skateboard meet up or something. so u can meet and skate with each other.
i dont think there's a problem with girls skating or the gender vs. Maybe its more of less amount of girls willing to dedicate themselves to skateboarding which reduce the amount of skilled girl skater.
Who cares what pple say about skating..it used to be about bad pple, vandal and whatsnots, but now its a vibrant sport and also a form of art. I agree that there's nothing with regards to gender wise. It's either u like it or not, and also whether u want or not. Ups and respect for skater girls!
whoa skater girls! power ahhh! more girls should skate man. it will open up those close minded locals to skateboarding! girls will somehow make them feel its a sport afterall! come on girls, lets go skate!
Hey everyone,
Thanks so much for being open-minded to girls who want to skateboard. This project I did was based on my attempts to skate back when I was 12, and was made fun of. So I did a fair load of research (literally sitting at all the skateparks for hours for weeks on ends to observe) earlier this year, and it's nice to see that there are girls who are awesome on the board. Although the fact still remains that there are many people who think that it's a dude's sport. Oh well, nothing changes overnight.
Still, do have faith in girls who really want to skate because of the sport.
CHEERS!
this is very good article.
I wanna skate... :(
but just cldn't bring myself to start/
to hafyzza,
where do ya stay?
chicks who skate are hot >.< tho another reason why there is the stereotype is that girls who happen to have boards on them tend to just ride them -.- this is what i've seen at least. Though it was a girl who pointed everything out that was wrong with my ollie back when i couldn't pop tricks at all and was still trying to ollie. tho i do have to agree if you can't take the pain or are afraid either dont skate... If you still want to skate, get over that fear, cuz there is nothing better than landing a trick for the first time after all the falling and hard work you put into it.
i wanna learn how to skate.But no one wish to teach me nor, do I own a skateboard. how now? tsk.
Check out Girls' Ride Out group on Facebook..theres 60+ girls skating/longboarding and counting!
I still want to skate even though I have torn my right foot ligament:-)
Girls should just skate freely and don't let what other people say about this sport get into their way
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