Three days ago, a post on the Instagram page of Rip Curl Women celebrating the pioneering trans-surfer Sasha Jane Lowerson went viral after anti-trans-women-in-sport activist Riley Gaines slammed Rip Curl as “crazzzyyyy”.
“You mean to tell me that Rip Curl dropped Bethany Hamilton for opposing men surfing in the women’s league then picked up male surfer who surfs in the women’s league as a women’s ambassador?” wrote Gaines.
Calls to boycott Rip Curl grew from a murmur to a raw.
Skateboarder Taylor Silverman joined in the chorus, unsparing in her criticism of the New Zealand-owned company.
“According to Rip Curl this man is a ‘waterwoman’…reality is he’s just a mentally ill man making a complete mockery of actual women and “The “community” is so supportive that Rip Curl had to disable the comments!”
For context, Sasha Jane Lowerson is a talented strawberry blonde goofy-footer of middle age who created history last year when she added the Western Australian women’s longboard trophy to her mantlepiece where it sits alongside the trophy she won when she was still Ryan Egan.
“Trans-girls aren’t going to take over the world, we just want to be included, we’re humans too,” Lowerson says. “I’ve been hiding in this male shell up… for 42 years. To still be made to be that guy that I’m not, it’s shattering,”
Very inspirational and pioneering and very much on the prevailing progressive zeitgeist.
Rip Curl had joined two other Australian swimsuit brands in a pivot to the queer market describing their trans ambassador as, a “West Australian waterwoman who loves the freedom found in surfing, disconnecting from the mainstream, and the feeling of dancing on constantly changing waves… It’s a state of mind, always being ready to try something new, curious to seek out knowledge and learn the rules – and break them.”
After the post disappeared late last night skater Taylor Silverman delivered her coup de grace,
“This won’t undo the damage they have already done to their company. It will only make trans activists hate them too.”
