The Inertia erases important female story!
I have been locked into an awful technological whirlpool these past few days. My phone reached critical planned obsolescence forcing me to get a new one which either doesn’t have any memory and/or is broken. Maybe broken as last night it began vibrating and glowing green. Whatever the case, I have been missing very important developments in the surf world. I wish I could blame yesterday’s being scooped on bad tech but I can blame missing an important The Inertia piece that was violently evaporated.
By way of explanation, Jen See texted me a link to some The Inertia piece a few days ago that I was not able to open. The title was something like “I can drop in on whoever I want because I am a woman…” or something like that but more The Inertia-y. I begged her to write something on it anyhow and she laughed and agreed. Then, a handful of hours later, texted a horrified scream.
The Inertia had disappeared the piece!
I feel very angry at technology and The Inertia right now. Did anyone else read the story? As far as I can tell it rested on the premise that women deal with misogyny, paternalism, sexism etc. every single day and probably especially in the surf and, therefore, are entitled to any and every wave they want ignoring both traditional lineup rules and mores. Like restitution, I suppose, and a powerful sentiment. One that resonates in these dark days.
Why then did The Inertia vanish the work like it never existed in the first place?
I can only assume that behind the progressive stances on ecology and SUPing that The Inertia is a place like too many others where female voices are canceled out when they speak up. Where women are better seen and not heard. Where misogyny reigns supreme.
It is sad, beyond sad, that a surf website seems to hate women but I guess not surprising. Have you not heard of incels? The involuntarily celibate? Urban Dictionary defines as:
Incel aka “involuntarily celibate”, a person (usually male) who has a horrible personality and treats women like sexual objects and thinks his lack of a sex life comes from being “ugly” when its really just his blatant sexism and terrible attitude. incels have little to no self awareness; even when they see other “ugly” men with girlfriends, they consider these men to be tricksters who have somehow beat the system and can get women despite being cursed with unattractiveness (in other words, theyre respectful to women and women are attracted to their personalities, but incels cant comprehend such a phenomenon).
Yeah, it is a nasty nasty dark place but makes much sense that everyone who works for The Inertia is involuntarily celibate.
Very sad.
i read on my way home a few days ago, the name of the article was ‘As the Only Woman in the Lineup, Here’s Why I Don’t apologize for taking the waves I want’
I don’t remember every detail of the article….but to be fair, while she did say she does drop in on people occasionaly (specially surfers that get lots of waves), I think she didn’t mean she does it indiscriminately….she did comment that while she feels that the ‘rules’ serve to benefit man, as most girls are typically on a paddling disavantadge, her approach was short of acting like an a** and risk hurting anyone. At least that what I understood. And, many of the comments from women were actually disagreeing with her approach anyways.
And, the Inertia didn’t stop there…..there was a response to the article in inertia’s own site, by a dude..that also got erased…it was called something like “The Importance of Following Surfing’s Rules – No Matter your gender”….I think this one is actually what caused both articles to be erased.
In this one, the guy says that women that do this are entitled and selfish. While he did single out ‘women that do this..’ the tone was kinda generalizing women surfers a little, saying things like they should ‘sit on the inside if they can’t out paddle the guys in the lineup’, etc. Then he proceeds to do what the author of the 1rst article would surely call ‘mansplain’ the etiquette rules of the line up…stuff like …’person sitting more to the inside has the right of way…’, ‘dropping in is dangerous’, etc etc…The first author commented, and people arguing in the comments section…then, they deleted both articles.
Not sure why, since they had put it out there, why not just won it and let people discuss.
That’s it, ta.
Soft tops sit only slightly below SUCs on the allowable snake hierarchy.
Surfstich Jebus!
Yawn.
Holy demarcations !
INCEL Wetsuits has a nice ring to it. I’m trademarking that shit right away!
Clever Nik Karol! You should put in an underwear style penis flap out of a sense irony.
I want ImperviousB to weigh in on this.
As a trans-toaster who frequently tells others to “go” and “you want this one?” in the lineup, I am oddly placed to comment. (Kook)
Check out some of her other articles on the tarantula site. She seems very angry.
Jen are you still writing a piece in response from your perspective? Really want to read your take on it all.
i’m about 300 words in. Pullin’ a fresh espresso now.
Yay!
I prayed to Jebus for a new board and he gave me one. Praise Jebus!
Does he do wetsuits , accessories and wax too ? And set waves , what about set waves ? Is he related to the god of surfing tradesmen Cbus?
Haa, let’s not get too greedy! Although maybe Jebus likes greed. I’m deferring to our resident Jebus expert Twillsy to answer your important questions.
Its all gone troppo when some blond chick with a white teeth and a tight arse gets towed into a bombie then then ivites to jaws for a single shoulder hop on a pink board , and now is lauded as a big wave hell woman. Troppo man troppo.
Yes Roygbiv I am with you all the way on DINGDONG ,from infrared to ultraviolet.
I read the article via tarantula and though I agree and support the woman’s overarching struggle, in the world of surfing Men paddle inside and snake men all the time so in the ever evolving world of gender equality I don’t see why it should be different for the female surfers, you either have the ability and can hassle or go to a wave pool and wait your turn.
What about kids being pushed in by their parents ? Female or male on the best bank on the beach ? Kind of a moral conundrum . Should I give way to a six year old and be beaming with joy or should I be tearing my hair out that after 43 years of surfing I have not earned the right to a wave over an absolute beginner ? I have kids 4 and 2 . Is there a new code or does common sense prevail ?
See comment below
you should only give way if the pusher is a good surfer and has waited his turn to push the grom. Sort of like how you would treat a Longboarder that paddled out. Sure you can sit out further but don’t expect to take priority every set.
Sound advice from a former Grom pusher to ( hopefully) a future Grom pusher . Thanks .
If there are 6 year olds being pushed in you might be at the kiddies corner spot?
The bigger issue around here is hordes of leashless hipster long boarders invading the kiddies corners spots where kids used to learn to surf.
Cheeky bugger. 6 7 8 9 or 10 years old?It was a hypothetical child . Anyway I was not talking about kids being pushed in the white wash or perfect peeling mini waves in protected corners . I am 53 riding 6’x19” not 10’x21”.No a nice 3ft day out the back at North Boomerang and recently at my old local on the best bank on a 5km stretch of beach was obliged to look on as children (With parental assist) went straight in a crouched survival ( as they should ) stance on waves that were totally rippable . Funnily enough I had been avoiding surfing this bank because it was full of leashless hipster longboarders (pests) who all try to surf like an 18year old Wayne Lynch though they don’t even know he exists ?
I’m going up to Boomerang this weekend!
Do you guys remember a mid 2000’s quote from Wayne Lynch in a print magazine regarding retro designs? It was beautiful, something like “those boards were shit then and they’re shit now”. I think he was surfing Cloudbreak or something.
Emperor’s New Clothes.
OMG, I hear you loud and clear!
Totally agree but 70 compared to somewhere like Snapper with 1070 doesn’t seem to bad . Who am I trying to kid when in reality 70 minus 69 sounds fun unless we are talking sharky waters then 7 sounds like a lucky number .
I yell at everybody equally. My hair-trigger temper in the water knows no gender, socioeconomic, ethnic, religious, or surfing ability bounds.
Cruel, but fair.
You mean to tell me the quasi-Zen, relaxed, one-with-the-wave stylings of mid-length surfing doesn’t chill you out in the slightest, brah?
I’m very chill until I’m not chill.
I know that I sound pretty weak, but the ocean is one of the few places that I am at peace.
Oh yeah, BTW Inertia, nice balls there to run a story that you knew was gonna drive some clicks and then retracting that shit.
In an ideal world, this would never have to happen, of course. She is of course right to point out that the surfing world is still overwhelmingly male with misogyny looming over many breaks. Getting cut out of the lineup feels like a men’s club conspiring against you when there are 70 men and maybe five women in the water with you. No one should have to endure the Great Wall of entitlement that a lot of surfers bring with them in the water, especially out in the Maldives or wherever where no one can claim local status. AND YET…
She’s advocating for the total overthrow of the “unwritten” etiquette in the water. Etiquette that keep crowded breaks from becoming zoos and the really crowded breaks from becoming full-on war zones. I’m not down with that, no matter who it is. Shit will happen. And I am just going to go out to the farthest reaches of the galaxy of thoughts and suggest she is utilizing her womanhood to avoid most of the immediate consequences that someone who drops in on you deserves.
I mean, yeah, equality all around for everyone but equality would suggest that while hierarchies can be broken down, surf etiquette should be adhered to by everyone. A snake is a snake, right?
#metoo
Over the past 8 years I have watched at times with astonishment adult men snake my sons now 10 and 12 as they learn to surf. Now they are at a level they go deeper, take off earlier and call off the snakes.
So what girls are going through every surfer goes through, do the time, improve, go deeper. Dropping in is weak.
Just because it ‘feels like’ a men’s club conspiring against you, doesn’t mean it actually is. As the only male at school pick up most afternoons, I initially felt excluded, until I got to know the mums and realised they were happy for a male to be there and helpful with their time and advice. You might find that is the reality out in the surf.
Also – having surfed Jailbreaks just once, as a middle aged white male, I also was snaked and dropped in on. That joint is a fuckwit magnet that respects no gender boundaries.
She’s a female version of “Joe Average at Lowers” except she has immunity to getting punched in the face. Good work if you can get it.
Jebus of Starbucks, can you imagine the wordy-horror if every Joe Average also wrote for the Inertia?
Disaster! Right now it’s only a few of them. All of them would be impossible to fight off.
Zach Weisberg is Booger.
https://youtu.be/Zoc7UYVVyXY
Fuck no, Booger is way cooler.
You’re right. So I’ll see you at the Omega Mu party tonight?
If Booger is playing guitar I’m there.
He is! He’s quite the accomplished finger picker.
You can still access the article through the Apple News app.
https://apple.news/AcQ1rgXA…
And the rebuttal…
https://apple.news/AzIO-2Ql…
Wow, read the article. The psychology of victimhood is breathtaking.
It’s not a female thing, it’s victimhood which swells from having not spent the time in the water, advanced the skills and learnt the ‘order of things’-it’s because the barrier to entry, of people with limited skills and knowledge of the order in the line-up, is now so low at places where you can effectively paddle around the whitewash and get to the take off spot that they feel entitled to waves like those people taking off much deeper, with much more skill and time in the water. I see it every day at my local and it is particularly noticeable with those people who are ‘late to surfing’ often a person not unlike the one that wrote the original article.