“The most worrisome thing with a clause like this isn’t whether it’s enforceable or not, but that it creates a severe chilling effect on free speech."
The New York Times, writing through its sports arm The Athletic, has published a long and careful piece on sexism in surfing triggered by the Tahiti rape allegation. It’s wrapped behind a paywall but go to archive.md if you wanna smash through.
Most of it is about bad men with weak discipline and tremulous cocks trying to get a piece of impressionable young surf gals.
(And, important, here, to remind ourselves that’s it not just the gals getting served.)
The most damaging part for the WSL, howevs, is a critique on their famous Gag Clause.
That’s the “damage to the image of the sport of surfing” clause, the ol toxic positivity thang. It forbids any act, at any time, anywhere, that casts surfing or the league in a negative light. Penalty: fines from $1,000 to $100,000, suspension or expulsion, even on a first offence.
Expulsion also kills an Olympic shot.
BeachGrit readers know all about the clause. We ran it in 2016, when it was Article 171 and the ceiling was fifty gees. The league has since doubled the hit for saying not super nice things about the WSL.
The context: on October 11 the WSL suspended an unnamed CT surfer over allegations from a private gathering after the Tahiti Pro. Alan Cleland Jr., 24, was the only Mexican in the event and has been widely named. The Papeete prosecutor has now confirmed a preliminary investigation into the alleged sexual assault and rape of a minor, expected to run several months, and has named no one. Cleland didn’t respond to The Athletic. No allegation has been proven and the French system, wisely, presumes innocence before guilt.
The WSL told the Times the rule targets public trashing of judges, rivals, sponsors and staff, not surfers speaking on serious issues, and is standard across pro sport.
Howevs, DeMaurice Smith, ex-boss of the NFL players’ union, said he’d never seen a clause that broad in sport or any job. Normal anti-disparagement terms cover a team or a league, not a whole sport.
“The most worrisome thing with a clause like this isn’t whether it’s enforceable or not, but that it creates a severe chilling effect on free speech,” he said.
Cori Schumacher, three-time world champ, said the rulebook proves the league’s real priority is image control, and that it treats surfing as marketing rather than sport.
The WSL has now hired former Australian Olympic Committee CEO Fiona de Jong to review its conduct and safety policies.
Is Toxic Positivity dead?
And is that a good thing, exchanging the blue pill for the red, or is the world a far more pleasant joint to inhabit if viewed through a Turpel lens?
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The ladies are speaking out all over the shop.
You said something else deep, secret agent free/longy/tom tom, about not being able to imagine… FFS. Stupe’ might be able to chuck crumpled, crippled, splattered, splintered, mashed, mangled, obliterated, pulverised, trampled, broken, puffy, puny, reassembled, patched up, drugged up, chemmy enhanced, smashed crab yogi bods under the bus, but… your imagination? Really?
Have a go! The ladies are thowing the flood gates open!
Wow you are so cool and funny and edgy
yikes, didn’t realize the nondisclosure/nondisparagement employment agreement clauses were that broad. not enforeable except to protect a legitimate trade secret (of which the WSL has none). what is likely enforceable is the arbitration clause in the employment agreements, which means that you technically cannot bring your claim in court, and are required to go through a private “judge” (an arbitrator) paid for by the WSL that is probably going to side with the WSL.
but you can always file in court to make it a public record and request declaratory relief to deem the arbitration clause invalid! you’ll still likely go to arbitration after the WSL moves to compel arbitration, but they can’t sue you for defamation for anything you put in that complaint!
Har – so the skinny is more$$$$$$ wins. Same as it ever was ….
Small expensive moral victories to be celebrated amongst close friends….
The problem is, in the wild west, here’s the cruncher. That the ladies are really facing up to.
“They treat it as it’s simply marketing. It’s just supposed to be a money-making machine.”
That, the backbone of the wild west, has become the backbone of surfing.
And the honchos, this lot, male, two faced rats are running for cover, desperately trying to reposition and save themselves, and claiming magnificence and innocence everywhere.
https://youtu.be/su-Rt4QJZ08
And the cone of silence protection racket? Like this stuff? Not only tolerated, but protected. And enabled. Still out there. Or lookawayed. Anyone who spoke against that, and plenty, plenty, plenty more, and way worse, including abusing women, and wanted it gone? Gone. While this still stands, and the protected dream team run the show.
‘BTW. i saw a women at the market in Dandenong the other day with a burqua or maybe it was a Niqab it was kind of in-between couldn’t see her face though, i was waiting for my missus so did a bit of people watching with her, to be honest she didn’t look oppressed like the full black robe ones I’ve seen in Indonesia that look like servants of the men, actually looked the opposite in this case she had her little middle eastern guy following her around and from the body language she looked like she was wearing the pants so to speak.
It was quite crowded and was thinking maybe i will accidentally go bump into her and say sorry etc and see if she will interact with me and see the reaction of her husband, but by that time my missus had finished.’
https://www.swellnet.com/forums/politico/307178?page=63
Anyway the new headquarters is down at the burbs, yeh the burbs, of Nene Valley… and burbed out limey surrounds. Where ya pedigree, burbed, well groomed, basic mutts, form a tight knit… roll on their backs, tail between their legs, yipping and yappin’ out melodies, chokin’ on maltesers.
DR will you throw out a link for the BG article from 2016 you mentioned above. Thanks in advance
I always considered Holly Beck, who is widely quoted in the Athletic feature, to be one of the best surfers I have ever worked with, male or female.
She was always the first one awake in the morning; ready to go, did anything we asked her to do, was never fussy nor petulant, had good ideas and suggestions for getting the material we needed and never complained about anything.
In the world of pro surfers, it doesn’t get any better than that.
Surf photographers aren’t coming out of this looking good.
Know any with a name for it or seen any creepy behaviour?
Of course – everyone has plenty of sex and drug stories.
But as we saw from the long investigations into Andy Iron’s addiction issues and Paul Sargent’s unlawful sexual conduct, few people are willing to speak and those that do are blacklisted from the surfing industry permanently, like Brad Melekian.
wouldn’t bother you would it?
Your past caring about being blacklisted aren’t you?
…. There’s a certain perversion inherent in preferring to (visually) document, rather than participate in reality. Label it ‘Art’ ( the artists’ curse/compulsion), ego, voyeurism, even narcissism, but attempting to ‘own’ a snippet of reality as profession, has always irked – and I LOVE photography!
Howeves, you want truly creepy cunts, male ‘fashion’ photographers have no competition! Nada.
When I come back, I want to come back as Vince Cavateio.
The Wall is Impervious and Permanent.
Try to break and fail – Weaklings !
A quick google shows that the ATP (tennis) has similar clauses.
Conduct Contrary to the Integrity of the Game: This blankets off-court and on-court behavior. It covers acts that intentionally damage the reputation or financial best interests of the ATP, its players, or its sponsors. This includes extreme public statements that maliciously disparage officials or tournaments.
Fines are over $100,000.
NFL dude probably lives in an alternate universe given the NFL doesn’t follow WADA code either.
who knew what and when: do we get there?
I hope so, but honestly the statistics on this kind of thing are dismal. I know much more about this topic, from event to court, than I wish I did (not me personally, but someone I love dearly). Institutions protect themselves. In the case I’m referencing, the institutions included a university and two fraternities.
where is there?
The truth?
Nick Carroll and all the other surf industry spivs won’t want any truth coming out. All this shit got suppressed by the brands from the year dot so it never got published.
This party is just getting started.
Barf me out! Gag me with a spoon…like totally.
Zappa!
Moon Unit, his offspring~
And dweezil
Silver lining
Flicks out.
that thing at the bottom of a mezcal bottle and what happens when people drink too much…
https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/c/can_of_worms.asp
.
Kelly as James Bond, yes!!
Jason Statham heehee?
Who dis?
The Mechanic~
Thats a spiderman
There’s no “i” in “team” but there’s one in “spiderman”.
There’s a “me” in team.
There’s a u in fuckhead