In bombshell twist surrounding Kirra longboarding Klassic imbroglio, contest director and surf feminist appear to agree “The girls are not particularly good”

“It’s a bummer women’s surfing is so disappointing to people…”

Four days ago, battle lines were drawn when the surf feminist hero Lucy Small mounted a January 6-style insurrection against the organisers of a longboard competition after it was announced there would be one pro division, open to both men and women, instead of separate divs.

The organiser’s decision was, I think, reasonable enough given the recent evaporation of gender, men can have babies and periods, there being no appreciable differences between sexes anyway so let the transwomen twirl daddy. 

“The chances of a man winning the money is a lot higher so it’s not really fair,” argued Small who said she asked the organisers of the Kirra Longboard Klassic to split the five gees prizemoney into two divs.

 

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After the organisers said no, Small marshalled other female surfers, organised a women’s surf label to cover the $250 entry fee and secured fifteen of the sixteen slots in the open division, one man grabbing the final spot.

(He later withdrew in solidarity with the gals.)

Now, in an interview with the government-owned broadcaster ABC, the contest’s director Sean McKeown has dared to mention the elephant stalking the room.

“The object of this particular division is high-performance surfing. The girls are not particularly good. There’s only a few of them in Australia that are really good at high performance.”

Which is Small’s argument, too, “the chances of a man winning the money is a lot higher” etc. 

McKeown added that he thought women’s surfing was “far more stylish… the girls tend to be more like ballet dancers on a surfboard and they look really good doing what they do” and “We had made this an open division so that men and women could compete equally on the same waves against each other… If I turned around and made it a man’s division, what would the reaction be?”

At the other end of the spectrum, @surfequity describes open divisions as a “form of discrimination against women”.

As the story gathered momentum, Australia’ national youth broadcaster Triple J ran a lengthy news piece on the story, director Sean McKeown saying the contest sponsor has been made uncomfortable by the contretemps and that there may not be a pro div next year. 

In the same piece, and comparing Gabriel Medina to Stephanie Gilmore Small described aerials as a “strength” manoeuvre, something which might be news to the ten-year-old kids hucking 540s everywhere. Are not women capable of astonishing feats of strength? Watch a little gymnastics.

As an aside, I watched my little girl shred alongside the boys until came the inevitable segregation, girl’s only surf club, girls divisions. And with the diminished competition her progression plateaued while the boys soared.

I believe Stephanie Gilmore’s great skills were honed alongside men at Snapper not from being told to surf only alongside gals.

But, maybe I’m wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time.