Feminist Views of Action Sports

Abstract

Action sports (i.e., surfing, skateboarding, climbing, snowboarding) emerged in a different context to many traditional organized sports, and thus offered the potential for alternative gender relations. Despite the potential for more equitable spaces for women’s participation, young white males have long constituted the dominant force at the core of most action sport cultures. Yet not all women accept their marginalization, with some adopting proactive roles in the action sports culture and industry. This chapter illustrates the various feminist strategies that are employed by women in action sport cultures to forge new space for themselves and others in both sport and wider society, and the contributions of an array of strands of feminist theory, particularly radical feminism, poststructural feminism, feminist media studies, neo-liberal feminism and post-colonial feminism.