Surfing in the gender war crosshairs after mag
collaborates with star of “10 man cum slam” “Daddy it hurts II” and
“Can she take it?”
Riptide Bodyboarding magazine was spawned in 1989 by
Morrison media on the Gold Coast at the height of the
boogie boom. Its then target demographic was a majority barely
post-pubescent male groms who had just taken up the sport.
As its readership matured, so did its content.
When the world ticked past the year 2000 C.E. thoughtful
articles and insightful interviews became its standard fare before
the great publishing collapse put it to sleep in the early
10’s.
And so it lay slumbering, inert and inactive until earlier this
year when a couple of crypto kids reached into their digital
wallets and declared ” Boogen” to be back and the Riptide rival was
on.
Funneling a “Yer the Boyz” good-time energy, the new Riptide
appears ready to harken back to its prospective readers’ halcyon
days in both content and tone.
As a nod to its newly minted nihilistic image, it seems the idea
of coughed up $390 for a video message from male porn star Johnny
Sins through celebrity content website “Cameo” was green lighted as
a witty and wacky way of promoting an upcoming film release funded
by the website.
Mr Sins, real name Steven Wolfe, is a muscular, bald, alpha male
type who has featured in a lot of porn films, having been in the
jizz biz for over ten years.
On the surface, the selection of the star of “10 man cum
slam” “Daddy it hurts II” and “Can she take it?” is seemingly
a strange choice to ask to voice over a clip of mid-twenty male,
West Australian based Bodyboarders. Unless one factors in the
target audience the Rippies boys were trying to titillate with his
appearance.
In the video message, Mr Sins encouraged the riders to,
“Rip up the waves like I rip up pussy”.
Innocuous? Salacious? Problematic?
Sophie Hellyer, U.K. based surfer, cold water swimmer and
podcaster certainly believed the later. She posted a thirty-second
Reel to her 44k Instagram followers decrying the link between the
use of such violent language directed at women’s reproductive parts
and wave riding.
Hellyer also detailed the shockingly high incidences of
violence directed at women in porn films, and how the
normalisation and emulation of sexual violence on screen leads to
the further perpetuation of violence onto women in the real
world.
Sophie’s followers stormed the comment section of Riptide’s
Johnny Sins post.
Riptide responded by deleting it.
Sophie in return received a stream of presumably nasty messages
from butt hurt bodyboarders.
Now, before we begin our a race to the bottom of victimhood with
trite claims of “They’re just words” and “Everything is too PC
these days”, (usually uttered by horrid people who want to be
able to say horrid things) let us acknowledge that language and
representation do matter.
Very much.
This is a truth that should be self-evident to generations of
boogers raised under the constant barrage of mocking monikers such
as “Dick dragger, speed bumps, cripples and on and on”.
If you’re a Bodyboarder who’s experienced even a little of that
humiliation, you’ll remember the shame and anger and resentment
that simmers from being made to fell less than others through the
use of words.
Boogers were also on the receiving end of acts of physical
violence that was unleashed, often with no provocation, because
violence towards bodyboarders had been normalised within surf
culture thanks to words uttered in surf media, particularly in the
80’s and 90’s.
Experiencing degredation and violence, even just a little, is
scarring and life altering. Words beget actions which have
consequences. If any community within surfing should understand
this, it’s Bodyboarders.
Participation rates in women’s sports have exploded
exponentially this century. Within the surfing world, Women are
taking to the waves like never before. The inclusive nature of the
Longboarding / hipster movement offers women a sense of identity
and feeling of belonging in the line up that they have flocked
to.
In women’s shortboard surfing, the establishment of equal
professional contest prize money, active promotion of star riders
and an encouraging culture that supports female surfers has seen a
generational shift in participation rates and performance
levels.
Both pastimes are booming thanks to inclusion and participation
of women.
Wifes and daughters sees Belinda Baggs gliding gracefully across
the waves or Caroline Marks belting out high performance turns and
the respect and admiration they receive for their skill.
In bodyboarding, they now see a male porn star encouraging
someone to rip up their pussy.
In the early 90’s, at the height of boogin’/surfer war and
adolescent appeal phase, Riptide put a shot of female booger Vicki
Gleeson on the magazine cover, perhaps the first surfing
publication anywhere to do do, certainly the first one in
Bodyboarding.
In the wake of that shot came a generation of Aussie girls that
included Kira Llewellyn, Mandy Zeiren, Lilly Pollard and others who
lifted the profile of women’s bodyboarding in Australia higher.
Women’s Bodyboarding remains a strong presence in Brazil, Japan and
Hawaii because of established cultures of inclusiveness and
representation for female riders.
Bodyboarding should be the most accessible and popular surfing
pastime for women. The equipment is cheap, safe and easily
transportable. It’s easy to learn the basics and caters to all
ability levels.
It’s time that the Bodyboarding community have frank and honest
discussions about how the sport is showcased to potential female
participants and what are the barriers to their engagement.
If we don’t, we’re essentially agreeing to exclude and dismiss
women from the sport, a decision that would stand in direct
opposition to the wider societal trends that are helping to empower
women around the globe.
