Back in 2012 my constant pestering was rewarded when I was given the task of interviewing Stephanie Gilmore for a special 50 years of Surfing World Issue. As it turned out I wasn’t able to speak with Steph but received her answers via email just after deadline. The editor asked me to put together a piece for the following issue.
Below is the piece I wrote about Steph being the first woman to feature on the cover of SW in issue 309. I sent it in, but it was never published. Since then, Tyler Wright has been on the cover (SW336) and Steph again in SW377. Last month SW featured Laura Enever on the cover of its 407th issue. 4 women versus 403 men in the history of the magazine. The last 8 years is an improvement on the first 49 years with NO women on the cover, but it’s still pretty shitty right? I’m not singling out Surfing World as the sole offender; this trend is reflected in all mainstream surf magazines the world over.
These surfing women making covers are victories to be celebrated. When I see them I think, Yes! But I also feel something else. When I see praise heaped upon the social media accounts of these magazines for featuring a woman on the cover, I feel icky in the same way I feel nauseated when men are applauded for looking after their own children. Like, why the hell wouldn’t a father look after his own child? And why wouldn’t a lady shredder be on the cover of a surf mag?
Acknowledging these milestones for women is important, but I can’t help but wonder whether lauding behavior that should be commonplace leads to the editors of these mags (all men) feeling complacent and satisfied that they’ve put their token chick on the cover. It certainly appears that way: I’ve either read or looked through every issue of SW in the last 10 years and I’d estimate that stories featuring men, written by men, make up 90% of the content.
Coverage of women’s surfing in the mainstream surf media has certainly increased over the last 50 years but there’s a long road to equality. The cover girl hasn’t risen just yet. But what is heartening is watching the women who have gotten jack of this begin to create their own content. Whether it be social media accounts, websites, podcasts, crowd funded mags and books; there’s a bunch of narratives about surfing women being put out there. They’re creating their own cover girls which is pretty fucking cool!
STEPHANIE GILMORE- RISE OF THE COVER GIRL
SW turned 50 last month — a half century of awesomeness. It’s trippy to think it took nearly all that time for a woman to grace the cover of SW, actually surfing solo, with hooves planted atop fiberglass and foam. Sure, there’s been plenty of females, especially on the early covers: poised with a mal underarm, framing the shot of a male counterpart, or delightfully clutching the hand of a cartoon Santa Claus. All elegant in their repose and artfully ornamental, yet their true beauty remained cloaked by their idleness.
Well, thank God Stephanie Louise Gilmore became the first lassie to slide onto page one in SW309 last year getting gloriously pitted in a backside Indo tunnel. When the golden haired empress of the sea was asked why it took so long for this to happen she mused “50 years is quite a while, and there has definitely been some beautiful female surfers and images of them surfing in that time so maybe it’s been the bad editors or something…haha. It is an honour that SW chose me to break the drought!”
Steph thinks the evolution of women’s surfing has shifted and boosted the abundance and quality of images depicting them: “I truly feel that female surfing has transformed in the last few years into the perfect mix of beauty and power, style and grace. It seems to be far more photogenic and now there are some great photographers that are actually interested in spending their time capturing us surfing these waves, and I guess this has helped to change the way female surfing is viewed.”
Steph’s cover sold more copies than the succeeding Dane Reynolds issue. Considering Mr Reynolds is widely considered the most popular surfer on this big blue marble, it’s a weighty indicator that there’s a tangible demand for increased coverage of women’s surfing. She affirms “I think the interest in female surfing has never been higher, whether that be the ASP women’s world tour or just the lifestyle we have, and I think its because magazines such as SW portray the female surfer in such a classy, interesting way. This may have been the key ingredient missing in female surfing coverage for a long time. So now it’s here, and quality is in demand.”
The demand is glaring, and more of the traditionally male dominated surf magazines have upped their female ante. Steph was also the first female cover of Transworld Surf in 2010, and Carissa Moore fronted Surfer in 2009 (16yrs after Lisa Anderson’s iconic Surfer page one was accompanied by the spray “Lisa Anderson surfs better than you”.) If these sporadic cracks continue to splinter the glass ceiling above, a sea of possibilities could open up for surfing folk world wide: the unsponsored tour pro hungering for an event in Hawaii, the twenty-something novice inspired by other girl’s charging, and the proud dad who wants his ripping daughter to have the same opportunities as his ripping son.
When asked what covers inspired her as a grom, Steph cites various portrait covers of Kelly, and Laird’s “Millennium wave” at Teahupoo, before declaring “And of course Lisa on the cover of Surfer was fucking rad.” Too right!
So, here’s to the rise of the surfing cover girl. The true beauty of the female form is showcased when in full flight — performing acts of daring athleticism, unfailing precision and wondrous grace — be it dangling ten piggies over the nose, threading the needle in a blue vortex, or hacking the bejesus out of a curling lip at full throttle. Now, what on this big blue marble could be more fucking rad than that?