From Gidget to Gonad Man: surfers, feminists and postmodernisation

Abstract

This article presents a case study of the surfing subculture in Australia as evidence that some collective reactions to the process of postmodernisation can actually be detrimental to the status of women. The circumstances under which this has occurred in the surfing subculture are outlined, and possibilities for a feminist reaction to developments like those in the surfing example are discussed.

‘Stand out, not up’: bodyboarders, gendered hierarchies and negotiating the dynamics of pride/shame

“…Our principal interest is in theorising surfing practice, including how surfers shape and are shaped by the spaces of the surf. There are a number of empirical studies that could by described as 'Foucauldian' in that they derive at least some inspiration from The Archaeology of Knowledge including research by Booth (1995Booth ( , 2001Booth ( , 2008, Segal (1990), Rodwell (1999), Stedman (1997), Henderson (2001) and Perera (2006). These works primarily deal with Foucault's interest in the discursive construction of surfing identities to understand the 'entry restrictions' to Australian surf spaces.…”

O surfe brasileiro e as mídias sonora e audiovisual nos anos 1980

“…Diversos autores têm chamado a atenção para as ligações entre esporte, mídia e indústria do entretenimento (Beattie, 2003;Booth, 2001;Borges, 2003;Castro, 2003;Fisher, 2005;Fortes e Melo, 2009;Melo, 2003;Scott, 2005;Stedman, 1997;Wheaton e Beal, 2003). Como define um deles, observa-se a construção " [d]esse cenário multimídia, no qual o esporte moderno foi transformado" (PILATTI, 2006).…”

“Such a Site for Play, This Edge”: Surfing, Tourism, and Modernist Fantasy in Papua New Guinea

“…The pioneers of the Australian surfing industry, the magazines Surfing World and Tracks, used the counterculture to sell magazines and used the magazines to sell the counterculture (Booth 2002, 113;Stedman 1997). The seemingly alternative practice was being used to "advance capitalism by pioneering new commodity forms, particularly in music and leisure" (Booth 2002, 117).…”

“…At the same time, the companies that were commodifying every aspect of surfing were selling rejections of commodification back to the community in the form of alternative "lifestyle choices" (Stedman 1997, 81;Lanagan 2002). As surfers grew uneasy with the fact that by buying a t-shirt or a factory-produced board or by reading a magazine one could identify as a "surfer"-as well as with the fact that almost all of the professional surfers with corporate sponsorship were highly skilled athletes and not "alternative" figures-the surfing companies began to market products, magazines, and experiences for the "authentic" and "alternative" surfers (Stedman 1997;Wheaton 2005).…”

“…By the 1970s, Australian surfers were representing themselves as "hedonistic," as "uncon ventional," and as a "subculture," juxtaposing themselves against lifesaving club members who were "conformist" and "establishment types" (Stedman 1997, 77; see also Pearson 1979). The sport was becoming a site for the self-fashioning of alternative identity, and magazines played a key role in this (Stedman 1997).…”