Graduation Date
2001
Document Type
Thesis
Program
Master of Arts degree with a major in Sociology
Committee Chair Name
Dr. June Leahy
Committee Chair Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Dr. Jennifer L. Eichsteddt
Third Committee Member Name
Dr. Donna Schafer
Keywords
Sociology
Subject Categories
Sociology
Abstract
As an institution, gender is one of the most influential forces that determines the ways people relate to each other and the manner in which they organize their lives. Over the past decades, a body of work has arisen to address gender as it relates to sport and overtly feminist analysis of sport continues to grow. This thesis explores women's status in the subculture of surfing and seeks to determine the degree to which these women experience marginalization, as well as the various forms that this marginalization takes. I conduct a content analysis of Surfer and Wahine magazines to illustrate the marginalization that women continue to face in male-dominated surf culture, and the ways I which women surfers are beginning to present their own version of surf culture. This women’s surf culture may resist or collude with the dominant ideological messages presented by male surfers, as women surfers continue to face contradictions in how they are expected to act, and how they want to act. I conducted interviews with female and male surfers to present a sample of the ongoing discourse in surf culture that looks at general attitudes around surf culture and experience while paying special attention to the role and position of women within the culture. Together with the content analyses, what these women and men discuss is a window into the contemporary world of surf culture, with its debate around gender that reflects mainstream culture's own uneasy footing in the area of gender inequality.
Recommended Citation
Bennett, Elizabeth Anne, "Surf Like a Girl: Women, Identity, and Representation in Surf Culture" (2001). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 2392.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/2392