It’s a good time to skate like a girl

In the field of skateboarding dominated by men in history, it has never been easy to create space for women. However, with the skateboarding entering the Tokyo Olympic Games and more and more female skaters showing their brilliance, the phenomenon of sexism in contemporary skateboarding culture has been dormant.

The theme of International Women’s day in 2020 is “each for equal”. In the field of skateboarding, women skateboarders are striving for gender equality.

Many years ago, it was hard to see women skateboarders on the street, most of them were boys – in fact, this sport is not suitable for girls, it needs strong explosive force, waist and even whole body strength, and it needs to make all kinds of fancy skills. Compared with men, women may need more time and hard work to complete these movements. As a result, skateboarding is not so friendly for many women.

But more and more women skaters have proved themselves in the international arena. Aori Nishimura from Japan is the first Japanese to win a gold medal in the X Game. She is a legend in Japanese eyes – which gives Japanese women skaters great confidence. Because compared with Europe and America, Japan is more traditional, so there are few women skaters. But Aori Nishmura’s achievements in the international arena have greatly promoted the number of skateboarding girls in Japan. Tamaki Morikawa, also from Japan, is currently studying at Newcastle University, and she also takes Aori as her idol. She thinks Aori has given the young generation of female skaters the direction to continue to work hard. “It’s very difficult for women skaters to win respect in men’s projects, but Aori has done it.” Tamaki said.

Coincidentally, the 2020 Olympic Games will be held in Tokyo in a few months, and skateboarding will be the first time extreme sports will be on the Olympic stage, which is undoubtedly a historic moment. More importantly, many countries have women skaters on their national teams. Britain has brought five skateboarders to the national team in 2019, including sky brown, a 10-year-old female skater. This shows that whether in the X Game or the Olympic Games, women skaters have the strength to compete with men.

But the problem remains that the gap between sponsorship and bonuses hurts women skaters. Dennis Martinez, a former professional skateboarder, sounds similar. “There are more marketing tools, more functions and more money for men,” he said “It’s a given, it’s a 100% given, it’s not just in skateboarding, in any movement, anything that’s going on. It all needs to change. That’s what our female skaters need to do today. “