We agree that skateboarding is more performing art than sport, often elevating people to legend status for their style over their technical prowess. This is standard when the skateboarder in question is male, but this changes with regard to female, trans or genderqueer skateboarders. Part of this is explained by the overwhelmingly male audience: the most common complaint men have about female skaters is their style, as it’s relatable to what they’re accustomed to seeing. By saying that the female body cannot perform as “well” as a man is ridiculous. Along with decades of intense research about how menstruation physically alters women and impacts them mentally, adding different stressors and chemical triggers throughout their cycle, Nora Vasconcellos also brought up an interesting point recently on The Nine Club, that women are wired to be risk averse and protect themselves physically as they get older, in order to stay healthy to have children and she feels that weight as she gets older. Sure, that’s also a part of aging and being less carefree, but it raises some important points that most men would never consider, as our biggest concern in that regard is sacking ourselves on a rail. Vasconcellos’ comments on the podcast are a positive step in educating men about what it’s like to actually be a female skateboarder.

Since most would agree that technical ability is not paramount in skateboarding, why handicap Baker or other females for not being able to perform the most technically advanced or dangerous tricks, which are reserved for a select few? Skateboarding holds style as its most sacred currency, so much so that we’d “rather watch Gino push,” so why are we lashing out at women for technical ability? Clearly, women are held to a much higher standard than men.

Is it a stretch to say, that like the boards of the ‘70s and ‘80s, the actual engineering of skateboarding equipment isn’t tailored to its growing audience? Generally shorter, with a different center of balance, skateboards and their wheelbases most certainly aren’t geared towards the women riding them. Remember how hard it was riding a standard-sized deck when you were 12-years-old? Perhaps Professor Paul Schmitt has some insight. We can also cite that the vast majority of skate shoes aren’t designed with women in mind and no, adding “feminine” colors to a current model doesn’t qualify.

If we’re to believe those commenting, they are saying, without any scientific knowledge, that a woman would never be able to 50-50 that big ass, million kinked handrail that Kyle Walker did in his Vans part, simply because they are anatomically different. I’m going to say that’s an “alternative fact,” Street skating as a discipline itself has only existed for a small fraction of skating’s entirety―isn’t it possible that women skaters are just getting their feet wet and progressing accordingly? Perhaps these detractors are forgetting that Marisa Del Santo secured herself a spot on what many see as a “rail/daredevil” company with Zero, delivering a pivotal part in Strange World (2009).

»Are mainstream sports flawed? Absolutely, but skating truly is an art, so why the hell are we acting like some out-dated macho stereotype and not embracing it as such?«

Personally, I’ve enjoyed Baker and Anderson’s skating for years, because it pleases me aesthetically and captures something I wish I had―the causal control and feel that I was never able to harness. That being said, there are hundreds of skaters I couldn’t give a shit about, who are measurably “better,” yet I don’t comment on their gender or sexuality when pointing out that I don’t enjoy their skateboarding. Sure, I might dislike their trick selection, spots, and yes, their fits, but that criticism is never based on their sexuality or gender, as if this was somehow a causal factor.