Skateboarder performs his most terrifying trick yet
December 15, 2023 4:35 PM Subscribe
This post was deleted for the following reason: This is being flagged by the community for being insensitive to Trans Women. After some assessing, it just isn’t the right post for MeFi. This is not the kind of thing we encourage or give a platform to. -- travelingthyme
I admit I couldn't sit through 8 min of this even on double-speed, so maybe he learns some Valuable Lessons^TM at the end, but like, my dude: if you wanted your girlfriend to give you a make over (or wanted to indulged her desire to give you one), you could have just done that without making it a thing.
Also: a quick Google of "skateboard Barbie" returns hits, so his opening statement is also wrong.
Dudes don't need to pinkify themselves to make male-dominated things like skateboarding more open women. They need to stop gatekeeping, bullying, sexually harassing, and mansplaining. But that YouTube video doesn't get as many hits, I guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by smirkette at 5:31 PM on December 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
Also: a quick Google of "skateboard Barbie" returns hits, so his opening statement is also wrong.
Dudes don't need to pinkify themselves to make male-dominated things like skateboarding more open women. They need to stop gatekeeping, bullying, sexually harassing, and mansplaining. But that YouTube video doesn't get as many hits, I guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by smirkette at 5:31 PM on December 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
I'm amazed he found pink shoes in his size.
I wear a 9.5 and it's almost impossible to find any men's shoes in pink. The one brand that makes them that I know of has announced they're discontinuing them so I bought 3 pairs on Black Friday. I've been riding a pink bike for almost 20 years and it was weird this summer as I assumed strangers thought it was a Barbie-inspired move.
It's shocking how many times over the years I've been asked "Why pink?!" It's just such a bizarre question and there seems to be so much agro bullshit attached to it when associated with a male. I'll be stopped at a light and a pack of lycra-wearing cyclists will pull up and make comments. I love leaving them in the dust.
The world needs more pink.
posted by dobbs at 6:35 PM on December 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
I wear a 9.5 and it's almost impossible to find any men's shoes in pink. The one brand that makes them that I know of has announced they're discontinuing them so I bought 3 pairs on Black Friday. I've been riding a pink bike for almost 20 years and it was weird this summer as I assumed strangers thought it was a Barbie-inspired move.
It's shocking how many times over the years I've been asked "Why pink?!" It's just such a bizarre question and there seems to be so much agro bullshit attached to it when associated with a male. I'll be stopped at a light and a pack of lycra-wearing cyclists will pull up and make comments. I love leaving them in the dust.
The world needs more pink.
posted by dobbs at 6:35 PM on December 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
This is bullshit.
posted by OrangeDisk at 6:41 PM on December 15, 2023
posted by OrangeDisk at 6:41 PM on December 15, 2023
I sure hope this awakened something within some of his viewers.
There’s a tiny bit of separation here from just a dudebro crossdressing for the lulz because he is dressing as Barbie, a character. Like I’m happy for more people to play around with clothes and cosplay regardless of things like gender, skin tone, body size and shape, etc, so I’m not going to object to this because to me it’s a lot like a burly hairy dude going to a con dressed as Princess Peach. If you’re having fun and are committed to the bit more power to you.
But there are moments where you can see this separation waver. He’s all confidence and joviality video calling his buddies but then he finds himself in public at the mall and oooh nooo suddenly he’s not dressed like Barbie, he’s a man! In a pink dress! Is he ready for this? Is the world ready for this???? Yawn.
If he had gone more theatrical in the makeup and more outrageous in the outfit it would have read more automatically as drag. As it is he looked like a woman having fun embracing stuff like sparkly eye makeup and pink shoes after a lifetime of forced boy clothes except his attitude belied fear and a lack of enthusiasm. It is the opposite of Barbie’s girl-power. Later when he gets to the skate park you can tell from his body language that he relaxes into familiar motions and an environment he feels control over. I wish the video had just been that; I really didn’t need to see him making a Starbucks barista uncomfortable for a video.
Are there any openly transgender professional skateboarders? I hope there are, but I know nothing about that world. I had been under the impression that as a subculture it was open to more varied personal expression but a skim of the video comments makes me wonder. Blech.
posted by Mizu at 6:42 PM on December 15, 2023
There’s a tiny bit of separation here from just a dudebro crossdressing for the lulz because he is dressing as Barbie, a character. Like I’m happy for more people to play around with clothes and cosplay regardless of things like gender, skin tone, body size and shape, etc, so I’m not going to object to this because to me it’s a lot like a burly hairy dude going to a con dressed as Princess Peach. If you’re having fun and are committed to the bit more power to you.
But there are moments where you can see this separation waver. He’s all confidence and joviality video calling his buddies but then he finds himself in public at the mall and oooh nooo suddenly he’s not dressed like Barbie, he’s a man! In a pink dress! Is he ready for this? Is the world ready for this???? Yawn.
If he had gone more theatrical in the makeup and more outrageous in the outfit it would have read more automatically as drag. As it is he looked like a woman having fun embracing stuff like sparkly eye makeup and pink shoes after a lifetime of forced boy clothes except his attitude belied fear and a lack of enthusiasm. It is the opposite of Barbie’s girl-power. Later when he gets to the skate park you can tell from his body language that he relaxes into familiar motions and an environment he feels control over. I wish the video had just been that; I really didn’t need to see him making a Starbucks barista uncomfortable for a video.
Are there any openly transgender professional skateboarders? I hope there are, but I know nothing about that world. I had been under the impression that as a subculture it was open to more varied personal expression but a skim of the video comments makes me wonder. Blech.
posted by Mizu at 6:42 PM on December 15, 2023
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I'm gonna be the first trans woman who comes in to say I do *not* welcome this in the same way I do *not* welcome Rocky Horror, or any other time "man in a dress" is used for its entertainment value.
"Respect, bro"... Right. It must have taken a lot of guts to dress up as a woman for funsies. How brave! How secure in his masculinity he must be. Much respect indeed.
posted by tigrrrlily at 4:48 PM on December 15, 2023 [9 favorites]