Girls and Skateboarding

When I grew up girls didn’t skateboard. It’s not that anyone was discriminating against them, there weren’t any girls trying to skate to discriminate against. I remember one ad, a Powell ad I think, that had two girls in it, but that’s about all I remember. This is circa 1989 or so.

But I just read this article on Villa Villa Cola and it’s gotten me to thinking about the whole topic.

Villa Villa Cola isn’t a skateboard company that sponsors girls, it’s a bunch of skater girls who get together and make videos and stuff.

But what is the role of girls in skateboarding? Skate companies are designing clothing specifically for girls in ever increasing amounts, although the clothing doesn’t appear to be for girls who skate so much as it is skate-branded clothing for girls.

One question I’ve often had is why more girls don’t skate, or why girls don’t seem to be skating at a level on anything compared to the guys (not to say there aren’t girls that skate better than I can, I’m just saying the best girl skaters don’t compare to the best guy skaters, at least not yet). The second question can probably be answered by the first, but as to the first question I think it’s interesting when you compare skateboarding to other sports. Girls excel in ice skating, tennis, volleyball, and a host of other activities, why not skateboarding? Or is the real question why not yet in skateboarding?

Is it just the perception of skateboarding as a guy’s activity, therefore most girls never try? Is it that a girl’s body doesn’t adapt itself to skating the way a guy’s does and therefore girl’s aren’t having as much fun skating so they’re more likely to quit? Is it that there just aren’t enough girls skating and so it’s hard to form a group to skate with? Lack of examples to look up to? Do girls who want to skate get made fun of by the guys?

No doubt you’ve noticed that girls are physically different than guys, and generally you can see that girls look different when they skate than guys do. There are exceptions, like Alexis Samblone, who has the best style of any girl skater I’ve seen yet (disclaimer: I haven’t seen much footage of girls skating). But I don’t see how the physical differences would impair a girl from being as good of a skater as a guy. If anything, the fact that girls are more limber and can stretch farther would seem to give them an advantage.

I think each case may vary, but the reason why there are less girls skating than guys probably has to do with all the reasons I listed plus a few more I didn’t think of.

Regardless of what’s kept girls from skating in the past, the fact is that there are more skating now than ever before. How do you think this might affect skateboarding? Obviously you see that girl-related skate products are being sold in skateshops where no such thing existed before. Other than this I’m not sure what the effect will be. But I can’t see anything negative about it. I say the more girls skating the better, and if they can show up the guys, then great, it’s all progress and that’s a key element of skateboarding.