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Girl Gangs, Zines, and Powerslides: A History of Badass Women Skateboarders

by Natalie Porter

A grassroots history of women in skateboarding

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AlbakiReads Editorial

A grassroots history of women in skateboarding

Tracing women’s participation in skateboarding from the 1960s onward, Natalie Porter combines interviews, research, and material from DIY zines to document a history often left out of the sport’s public image. The book connects underground networks and collective action in the 1980s with the greater inclusion visible in women’s skateboarding today, including competition on the Olympic stage. It also considers community-building and validation as part of how women and non-binary skaters made space for themselves within a hostile industry. The result is both a historical account of grassroots organizing and a record of the communication tools skaters created for one another.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in the history of skateboarding and women’s participation in sport.
  • Readers curious about DIY zines, grassroots movements, and community-building.
  • Women and non-binary skaters interested in accounts of earlier generations’ experiences.

Themes

Women and non-binary people in skateboardingGrassroots organizingDIY zines and underground networksInclusion and community-building

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

"All thriller, no filler."-- Dr. Indigo Willing, sociologist and lead researcher of Skate, Create, Educate and Regenerate and co-author of Skateboarding, Power and Change

A vibrant, meticulously researched celebration of the women and non-binary skateboarders who defied a hostile industry and redefined skateboarding around the world

With enthusiasm and empathy, Girl Gangs, Zines, and Powerslides celebrates the relentless participation of women in skateboarding from the 1960s onward who defied a hostile industry to carve out their own space through underground networks. Skater librarian Natalie Porter presents interviews and meticulous research, including the DIY zines created by female and non-binary skaters as a means of communication, to expose this unacknowledged story while offering a personal narrative about the importance of community-building and validation, with or without your own video game.

Girl Gangs, Zines, and Powerslides disrupts the image of skateboarding as an exclusive male domain, offering historical context for the seemingly rapid progress of female skaters today seen competing on the Olympic stage. Discover how the collective action of a grassroots movement in the 1980s established meaningful change, building a foundation that has led to greater inclusion and diversity, which has inspired women, girls, and non-binary youth worldwide to roll on a skateboard for the first time or rediscover their youthful obsession as an adult and feel inspired to drop once again.
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