This time, our immodest selection is dedicated to girls who are addicted to surfing. As always, we decided to dilute the beautiful photos with interesting facts about the direction.
The exact date of the emergence of surfing as a sport does not exist, it is only known that its history is measured in centuries. This extreme sport and non-standard entertainment originated in the Hawaiian Islands from time immemorial. Initially, only a small number of people could accustom the wave with the help of a board, now surfing is much more accessible.
Immediately after the advent of surfing, this entertainment was monopolized by the royal family. It was possible to conquer the waves only to representatives of the ruling clan, as well as persons close to them. The authorities sought to control both their lands and water areas, any encroachment on both of them was seriously punished. For example, if a mere mortal acquired a board and tried to master surfing, he would face the inevitable death penalty. Nobody wanted to take risks, so for many years the sport did not have the opportunity to spread to the masses.
For the night, privileged people left surfboards right on the shore. Local residents did not dare to think about the theft of the royal relic, and the reason for this was not only a feeling of overwhelming fear. The fact is that the weight of the first boards reached 154lb, because they were made from a piece of solid wood. And the size of such a board ranged from 8.8 to 18 feet, such a bulky item is not easy to steal.
However, ordinary people were also indirectly involved in surfing. When the local nobility organized competitions, people gathered on the shore and watched the show, which was not forbidden. Many made bets, which made the process fun. Preparing for the competition was a real ritual, before each of them the royal priests chanted spells designed to cause a strong wave. Later, missionaries, carriers of Christian culture, arrived in the Hawaiian Islands. They were against such extreme entertainment, in their opinion, this method of recreation was in no way combined with the laws of Christian faith. Despite this, the locals continued to show interest in surfing.
The situation changed in the 19th century, with a turning point, after which surfing became accessible to everyone and even more popular. At that time, the Hawaiian princess Kaiulani was in power, she was actively involved in the popularization of sports, including among the inhabitants of the European continent. Surfing gained worldwide success in the middle of the 20th century, while the commercial industry immediately picked up the current trend. Surfboards began to be produced in many concerns, thanks to which their cost was significantly reduced. Now everyone could afford a surfboard. Accessibility has made it even more popular and surfing is one of the most sought-after water sports at the moment.
If you want to understand the position of women in surfing, you must first get to know the history of women in sports. Sports culture as we know it today traces its history back to the Industrial Revolution in England and the United States. To simplify things, cars made the working day shorter and physically easier, so people had more free time to spend on sports.
Men enjoyed themselves as best they could, but women were forbidden to play sports, because existing medical dogmas assumed that the physiology of a woman allowed her to use a “fixed amount of energy”, which was initially less than that of men. This meant that any additional stress, whether mental, emotional or physical, could lead to all sorts of problems, such as infertility or the development of masculine features in the appearance of women. With the development of science, women were allowed to participate in competitions with limited physical activity. In our enlightened time, women are represented in almost any sport. They even started playing traditionally male sports like soccer. However, this is all rather conditional: men accept women into their world with certain reservations.
If you are a woman and want to be successful in the world of professional athletics, here are a few things you should do. You have to train your body to be stronger and more capable than 99.9% of all people in the world, while still being feminine. No short haircuts.
You should want to defeat opponents more than anything else in the world, but you should never voice your desires lest you sound overly aggressive. You have to endure the insults of your man, who will judge you by your athletic performance and your appearance at the same time. You should wear few clothes. You should appear in magazines showing fifty to seventy-five percent of the surface of your breasts and talk about what type of men you are attracted to. You must become a walking controversy: a Roman gladiator in high heels.
There are currently 18 women in the surfing world championships. Their average age is 22 years. The “oldest” is Jacqueline Silva (33 years old). Her performances are not funded by Quiksilver, Rip Curl, Billabong and Hurley. Nike and Target are not asking for sponsors either. No sponsors, no money, no plane tickets. In this sense, it doesn’t matter how well the athletes skate. If they do not have sponsors or their own funds, the chances of competing in the World Cup tend to zero.
In the world of big sports, women’s surfing is a kind of barometer and example for fellow women in skateboarding and snowboarding. In the case of the latter two, targeted magazines are interested in girls who fit a certain profile. According to inside information from an employee who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, there has long been a belief that female surfing and its associated media show very low return on investment when it comes to promoting retail products. The same goes for the surfers themselves, if they are not the owners of big names like Stephanie Gilmore or Alana Blanchard.
ASP is often blamed for the current state of female pro-surfing – that is, little competition, poor spots, and little media promotion – but this is just a red herring. ASP was not created for profit through management, authorization, and licensing. It includes on a voluntary basis representatives of the organizing committees of the competition, pro-surfers, as well as independent experts who voluntarily donate their time.
“On the surface, the argument that the surf industry needs to somehow make money is legitimate,” said Dr. Kerry Kauer of the University of California. “But if you’re trying to sell surfing gear to young women, why not show their peers who actually ride the waves instead of lying half-naked on the beach next to the boards?”
One company actually took this path. Billabong Women’s Team Manager, Megan Villa, believes that filling the team with women with different outlooks, looks and surfing styles is the best way to reach as wide a market as possible. Villa notes that Billabong has different types of customers and each group needs to be approached. Sexuality, athleticism and talent play an equal role in choosing female athletes for a team, she said.
But some take a different approach. Chris Moore, father of 2011 World Champion Karissa, has helped his daughter secure sponsorships that work almost entirely outside the reach of traditional surf brands. According to him, he considered proposals for sponsorship of Karissa only from those companies that would support her as an athlete. Therefore, he preferred Red Bull and Nike.
Let us also not forget about the women themselves. While many of them do not admit in interviews that they are eager to get into the media, most young female surfers who have sponsors know how their photos in magazines can affect their careers. Sex sells – you can see this in the example of Alana Blanchard. She has more Instagram followers than any professional male or female surfer. But she’s not just a pretty girl, she’s also a talented surfer who works well on her look. And that’s not always a bad thing.
Everyone can draw the right conclusions from the judgments of feminists, double standards, the words of businessmen, history and theory on their own. But we can only say one thing with certainty: female pro-surfing, albeit without demonstrating its discriminatory nature, has found a way to weed out many (but not all) women whose external data will not help sell clothes. On the other hand, this does not mean that the current generation of famous pros does not deserve recognition.