#MeToo vs. #TimesUp!
I have been writing about surf for two decades now and today, two decades in, today, I read the funniest thing yet.
Something that has seriously kept tittering all day long. Tittering in the morning while drinking my coffee. Tittering in the afternoon while drinking beer at Chuck E. Cheese’s. Tittering right now in front of my computer and you while drinking Svedka and lemonade.
It is one of those church titters, though, the sort that sprouts out of boredom maybe and shouldn’t be shared, probably shouldn’t be shared, because it is impossible to explain and it loses all charm but I’ve never been one for decorum so here goes!
Yesterday, I read a story on the edgy sport website Deadspin about how the World Surf League CEO Sophie Goldschmidt referred to offering equal pay at the Mavericks event as “an abuse of the #metoo movement” and couldn’t believe she actually said it, especially while her Executive Vice President of Tours and Events Mr. Graham “Taste-my-Palm” Stapelberg was in the room.
I wrote it up, anyhow, casting dubious aspersions, then one of the principals in the room, a brave and gorgeous soul, emailed me:
Yes, that actually happened. After Sophie said it we looked at each other, we were both thinking the same thing, does she mean #timesup?!! I actually think Graham Stapelberg may have coached her to say it. We did not take the bait. We ignored the remark and told her we wanted equal pay.
And I’m dying!
Not dying about the substance, which is serious and real, but dying about Graham Stapelberg, the World Surf League Executive Vice President of Tours and Events, allegedly fucking up #metoo and #timesup then forcing the British ex-professional tennis executive and current World Surf League CEO Sophie Goldschmidt to fuck it up which then carried into the public record via Deadspin.
By way of explanation, #metoo refers to sexual harassment and/or assault. #timesup refers to inequality in the workplace which includes sexual harassment and/or assault but implicitly as it relates to the workplace.
The fact that Graham Stapelberg is weighing in on these matters, though, absolutely kills me. Will he #MetToo Eddie Rothman while trying to deny women equal rights/access/pay at big waves?
Also, how in the world did Sophie not know better? What in the World Surf League was she thinking?
I’m gonna keep hammering on this damned thing and get to the bottom of it all, even if it is just church titters, because…. hahahahahaha!