Bitch Skateboards

Skateboards themselves are vehicles skateboarding men use to express the jubilant hatred of women overripe in their subculture.

I never said “men will always be better at skating no matter what happens”. I’m saying that so far, when you actually look at male and female skaters (pros) then males are better. Again, I’m not saying that to hurt anyone’s feelings, I’m not saying it because I want males to be superior, I’m saying it because it’s true. If women find the truth discouraging then that’s unfortunate, men can’t MAKE women better at skating, that’s up to women. What do you people want me to do? Do you want me to lie? Do you want me to pretend that females are just as good at skating than men when it clearly isn’t true?

Just because men happen to be better at skating, that absolutely does NOT mean that skateboarding discourages females. Women are generally smaller and have less muscle mass so it would obviously be harder for a woman to pop a large ollie, that’s not men’s fault.

So yeah, I don’t see how skating discourages women from taking part.

You don’t think the assumption that men are always going to be better skaters than women doesn’t count as discouraging?

If women don’t really want to skate, why does it even matter? How is the lack of female skaters detrimental to anybody at all? You can’t expect men to MAKE females take an interest in skateboarding, that’s up to females to decide what hobbies they take up. If girl’s don’t want to skate, who’s gonna make them? Do you expect fathers to say to their daughters
Dad: “Get on that skateboard Hannah and smith that rail!”
Daughter: “But Daddy, I want to play the cello!”
Dad: “Get on the fucking skateboard!!!”

Skateboarding itself never discourages females from taking part. Interestingly, one of the girl’s I know took up skating and me and my (male) friends were cool with it and she came skating with us but after about 30 minutes she said “I’m bored, I wanna go shopping” and we all laughed, then she said “What? I’m a girl!”. She’s since given up skating.
Skateboarding culture doesn’t tell girls “Don’t skate! Shop for clothes and makeup instead!”. Us skateboarders welcome female skaters but if girls are worried about what society thinks or are more interested in “girl things” then there’s nothing skateboarding can do about that; that’s society’s problem, not skateboarding’s problem. Skateboarding wasn’t invented to flip society upside-down, it’s just a harmless hobby…like collecting stamps or playing darts.

Also, there are several people responding to you, of course we’re taking on different aspects. You think I was attacking you by taking your presented ideas and actually trying to think them through? Come on boy, have you noticed the context you’re in, a discussion of serious daily attacks by a misogynist culture of which skateboarding is but a microcosm? Despite the fact that you sound like 4/5 of the other male commenters I’ve read on every feminist blog that doesn’t stop that traffic, I still have trouble believing that logic will fail to get through. (There, that’s an insult for you, I hope you can be satisfied with one.) But that renewed hope is why I respond sometimes.

“Ask yourself why you feel the need to take up so much room here with that assertion.”
I wouldn’t have to talk about it so much if people didn’t accuse me of being sexist and calling skateboarding “a boy’s club” just because I highlighted an observable discrepancy between male and female skaters, I had to clarify my point because GXB was calling me sexist just because I was speaking the truth.

The reason that I pointed out that female skaters aren’t as good as male skaters is because 9-2 asked if there was a place for women in skateboarding, so I had to point out the fact that female pro’s aren’t as good as male pro’s, okay? Of course, I knew people would accuse me of being sexist, and they did. I knew people would try to make out as if skateboarding is somehow misogynistic, and they did. So I had to explain that male skaters are indeed better than female skaters, I had to elaborate because that assertion does sound sexist to people who don’t know anything about skating. I don’t know why men are better at skating, but that’s just how it is. I still haven’t seen any evidence that skateboarding is misogynistic (despite the desperate and feeble attempts).

“It’s time for you to stop and think about what you are actually doing in here.”
Really? YOU people need to stop and think and ask yourself; “why can’t I let this drop? Why do I have the incessant need to make skateboarding appear misogynistic when it clearly isn’t?” What revelation am I supposed to be reaching? What is it I’m not getting? Someone attacks skateboarding for no reason, then I respond based on my knowledge of skateboarding…I’m not confused here. If you’ve got a valid criticism of skateboarding, go ahead, enlighten me.

“Are you sure you would not prefer to be in a skateboarding forum?”
Me? but I’m not the one who initially brought up the topic of skateboarding and skateboarding culture, that was Nine Deuce.

I’m not the one who is figuratively flailing about and changing the subject, I’m just responding to what people say about skateboarding. It’s people like GXB who are changing the subject and attacking me personally and implying I’m a subtle misogynist just for stating facts.

I don’t even know why we’re still talking about this. If no-one has any well-informed criticisms to make about skating (which is what I *ORIGINALLY* asked for) then there’s nothing more to say. Please, don’t drag this tedious discussion on any longer. Don’t just carry on pointlessly digging around for an argument just so you can have an excuse to be confrontational.

Ask yourself why you feel the need to take up so much room here with that assertion. No one is disputing that female skateboarders are few and far between. No one is saying that those few are technically as good as their male fellow skaters. It has been argued, however, that the scarcity of good female skaters may not simply be the result of physical shortcomings in women. You are of course free to disagree with that point, but I just wish you would stick to it.

For fuck’s sake, no GXB, skating isn’t a “big boy’s club”. It’s skateboarding, not the federal government. I knew someone would accuse me of being sexist for stating the truth but I’m not going to lie and say “women are generally just as good at men in skateboarding” just to protect your feelings and make you feel better. You don’t skate so you don’t know the difference between male and female skating, the difference is massive. Anyone who knows anything about skating can deny it. The fact that I say “men are better at skating” is not evidence that skating is misogynistic, I’m saying it because it’s TRUE. Do you want me to lie to make you feel better? I’m not going to say women are just as good at skating because I’ve never seen a woman skate a 15-stair handrail, I’ve never seen a woman skate a triple-set, I’ve never seen a woman do a complex manual trick. Even if skating was a “big boy’s club”, how would that make women worse at skating? I don’t even understand what you’re saying. You’re saying: “Women aren’t as skillful in skating than men, therefore skateboarding is sexist”.

“Anyway, you may believe you don’t treat women any differently, but if you think female skaters have so little potential, I find it hard to imagine this attitude doesn’t come across whether you realize it or not”.
No, that’s a fucking stupid argument. I don’t treat people worse if I think they’re not good at skating. I know men who aren’t good at skating but I don’t treat them like shit, I’m usually courteous and I try to help them the best I can if they ask me for advice on how to do something. I don’t say to them “Hey, can you skate that rail over there? No? Well, fuck off then, if you can’t skate I don’t wanna be your friend!”. I’m just polite to people I meet despite their ability to skate. It just turns out that I’ve never seen a female skater as good as someone like PJ Ladd, that’s not my fault, there’s nothing I can do about that. It doesn’t make me sexist. The fact that you don’t like it makes no difference, your hurt feelings won’t suddenly make women just as good at skating than men.

Sorry if I’m being rude but this discussion is just so ridiculous. Why are you people trying so hard to make skateboarding seem misogynistic? Can you please just drop it? I don’t mind you criticizing misogyny and products of the patriarchy but skateboarding is not one of them. Skateboarding is not sexist, just deal with it. I wish women were just as good at skating, but alas, they’re not…whether you like it or not makes no difference. If you knew anything about skating you would be agreeing with me right now.