Can women escape the male influence when surfing? An ethnographic study of female surfers in Southern Spain

Abstract

This article explores how female recreational surfers in southern Spain experience a marginalized status within the male-dominated sport of surfing. The main objective is to determine if there is a male-legitimized criterion that describes how surfing should be and what is considered an authentic practise of this sport. The results indicate that there are certain cultural assumptions originated by men that affect not only the relationship that women build with this sport at the time of its practice but when they share it with other women. It describes a scenario in which women have been deprived of the opportunity to establish their own criteria to feel identified when surfing. The lack of female referents or the absence of women in this sport could explain this paradigm.