Boy Surfer Girl Surfer (Ford & Brown, Hargreaves)

It is often seen in magazines and surf articles that women tend to always, somehow, be a part of the "surfing scene". Since the very beginning, surfers were male. Duke Kahanmoku, otherwise known as a miracle or "god-like man who walked on water". He earned his name in on January 15, 1915 when he set the surf world record. This took place in the beaches of Australia, which then became the "surf nation". Since early 1900's, individual surfers, surf clubs, and beach turfs were all created or organized by males. Gender has always been a questionable subject when it comes to sports, specifically the surf sport. Surfing has always been seen and recognized as a physically and symbolically "male" activity. Of coarse, there are girl surfers as well as women's surf competitions but they are not given as much publicity as the men's surf competitions. The article implied that gender roles are not significant in regards to surfing. Similar to any other sport, women have a right to be part of the sport even though it is usually seen as a male sport. The article explained how males and females have different levels of skill, fitness factors, agility, and coordination. These are the reasons and exceptions that affect the "gender power relations" in sports. Even though the male sex seems t be a lot more dominant in this subject, Hargreaves states that over-time, women are performing better than men.