"Paving the Way" from the Founder of Womxn Skateboard History
Vans Global Skateboarder Arisa Trew is making history in skateboarding. In 2023, she shattered barriers by becoming the first woman to land a 720 on a skateboard and then the first to perform the trick in a competition run, clinching the Women's Skateboard Vert gold at X Games California 2023. The next day, she added another feather to her cap by winning the Women's Skateboard Park Gold, making her the youngest X Games double gold medalist at 13. These remarkable achievements led to her being honored with the 2024 Laureus World Sports Award for Action Sports Person of the Year. Following the award, Arisa became the first woman to land a Switch 540. Now, she's taking Skateboarding to even greater heights by becoming the first female to land a 900, a feat accomplished 25 years after Tony Hawk's groundbreaking achievement. Vans - Costa Mesa, CA , May 2023
Arisa Trew has landed the 900 and it is glorious! Congratulations, Arisa – you are an inspiration. This moment is an opportunity to recognize the blood, sweat and tears of badass women and non-binary skaters over the decades demanding space, equal opportunity to compete, and equal prizes. They opened the doors.
Explore the bios of 1970s innovators like Vicki Vickers, Kim Cespedes, Terry Lawrence, Brenda Devine, Jana Payne, Leilani Kiyabu and Kim Adrian, to name a few, who were ripping in vert!
In the late 70s and early 80s, Pattie Hoffman, Cara-beth Burnside, Lisa Forman, Leigh Parkin, and Peggy Turner, were among those persevering.
Through the 1980s, Cyndy Pendergast and Bonnie Blouin were ruling out east, Lori Rigsbee captured the hearts of many, and due to Lynn Kramer’s ‘Equal Time’ zine, we witnessed the progress of Stephanie Person, Sue Hazel, Michelle Ticktin, and Nathalie Richter. And when Cara-beth scored the cover of Thrasher in August ‘89, that was next level!
In ‘92, the video SK8HERS (dir. Ethan Fox) showcased the momentum of women skating ramp, including Cara-beth, Rhonda Doyle and JoAnn Gillespie, who would defend her friends’ rights to skate.
This led to the All Girl Skate Jam, thanks to Patty Segovia’s vision which offered vert contests for Cara-beth, Jen O’Brien, Jodi McDonald, Candy Kramer-Hiler, Heidi Fitzgerald, Kim Petersen, Holly Lyons, and many others to make their mark.
Tammy “Bam Bam” Tangalin and Liz Brandenburg launched the Wicked Wahine series (2004-2009) as an inclusive contest.
Then the Women’s Skateboard Alliance in 2005 demanded media coverage and prize equity at the X-Games. Shout out to Cara-beth, Mimi Knoop, Jen O’Brien, and the street skaters who enacted this change. Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins began hucking 540s and mega ramps, and in 2012, Amelia Brodka launched the Exposure contest, which celebrated a line-up of fearless groms! Thanks to the kickass skaters out of Brazil and Japan, there’s a global movement which resulted in Misugu Okamoto blasting McTwists at the Tokyo Olympics, inspiring a new generation. I’m missing many names, but this is just a reminder of how far we’ve come.
Natalie Porter is the founder of the Womxn Skateboard History archive and Instagram account @womxnsk8history which launched in March 2022. She is a skateboarding librarian and the lone female skater-historian on the Smithsonian Museum’s Skateboarding Advisory Board, in anticipation of a traveling exhibit. Natalie began skateboarding in 1995, and in 2003 she was the first academic to write a thesis paper from the perspective of women skaters called “Female Skateboarders and their Negotiation of Space and Identity.” While a #metoo experience in 2007 sidelined her skateboarding journey, she returned to her passion in her 40s and is determined to celebrate and share the stories of women and non-binary skaters, which she has been tracking for over twenty years. Her book, Girl Gangs, Zines and Powerslides: a history of badass women skateboarders will be published by ECW Press in Fall 2025.
Please explore Natalie’s full list of publications and interviews.
Photo & Video Credits
Photos & Video of Arisa Trew by Anthony Acosta for Vans
Historical Collages by Natalie Porter
On a Mission, and Rolling, by Matt Higgins (2006) New York Times
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