This is where I work:

This is Becker Surf & Sport in Malibu. I have been working there and riding their boards since I was 16-years-old. Its a fun little shop, the management has changed a few times, faces come and go, no big deal. One summer I tried to be high and mighty and get a job somewhere else (GUESS?), and it backfired in my face in a big corporate explosion that left me sputtering out types of denim and bad acne from wearing so much make up. 

But now I'm back at Becker. 

And let me tell YOU something about being a girl in a surf shop. Not matter how many times those shoppers have seen you surfing at the beach out back, they DO NOT care what you have to say about anything surf related. So many times some one has come up to me:

"Hey, I have some questions about surfboards."

"Alright."

"Um..."

"I can help you."

They give me a quick scan up and down, making sure I'm a young woman like they suspect. The wince and say, "I'll just wait for Mitch."

Alright, I'm just going to go but on my hibiscus flower embroidered Roxy dress and brush my hair in the corner, kay?

But yesterday was different. 

An older gentleman came in looking for a longboard, my fifth limb. I walked him back to the boards, listened to what he wanted, discussed with him the perks of each model, and ended up writing him up for a custom 10'6" San O model. My name was on the slip and everything. We talked rails, thickness, paddle, noseride, and he believed every word I had to say. 

He mentioned how he has seen me out in the line up before. The man respected me as a surfer, and thusly a woman. 

Sexism is slowly fading the surf world my friends. Let it ring from every point.