Beers, boards and bros.

Skateboarding is a gendered hobby. There’s no doubt about it. A good example of this, aside from the number of boys and girls at any given session anywhere (allowing specifically gendered comps), is the regularity in which beer is connected to skateboards and skateboarding, in one way or another. Beer shaped skateboards, beer bottle graphics, tricks for beer and the documentation of beer drinking on tours all play their role in terms of symbolizing the connections between skateboarding and wider displays of hegemonic (traditional/everyday) masculinity. In this case, getting pissed. Fair enough, contemporary statistics concerning gendered binge drinking might reflect the contrary, but certainly historically, getting pissed is a ‘man thing’ – definitely with beer. More often than not, in the context of skateboarding and other sporting cultures, these connections are taken for granted. The gendered nature of certain pastimes is just assumed – and there’s a problematic but also somewhat wonderful simplicity in this (depending on your interpretation). Skateboarding good – Beer good. That’s not to say that the community is an exclusive one, or that there’s no place for girls in skateboarding. It would be great to see more girls on skateboards - But I’m bang into the connection between skateboarding and stupid man stuff. Beers, boards and bro’s and beers and beers.