Edinburgh based skate collective Skateboobs promote inclusivity at their core, with an all female line-up and plans to support their local community and beyond. SKATEISM sat down with the crew to talk about their message, what they hope to achieve and their visions for the future…
Interview by Nathan Tuft
Photography by @princessmeeg, @nancy.hankin
and @buzin_photo (cover shot)
What were the motivations behind creating Skateboobs?
We all met and just clicked. Together we were committed to skating and encouraging others to skate. It was good because we didn’t all have people to skate with and some of us had just moved to Edinburgh, so we suddenly had people with similar interests that were down to skate and get involved – we wanted to have a female community to skate with. For some of us who had come from London (Meg and Amy), there was a worry that there wouldn’t be that much of a community of skaters so it was surprising for us that we were able to find such amazing people so quickly and we just gelled.
Tell us about the Edinburgh skate scene?
Bristo Square in Edinburgh is like a second home to us and the history behind the spot is amazing. With the scene being relatively small and with the terrible weather, there are several indoor parks and people come together and know each other pretty well. Having Skateboobs as a collective to be a part of has been a massive thing for most of us in terms of enjoying it and making the most of the skate scene in Scotland. Obviously, there’s always a stigma around skateboarding and the scene which has led to the council putting skate stoppers on spots and that’s why we use social media to help dismantle these stereotypes.
Pre-lockdown, you’d shot some visuals in Scotland, London and even Barcelona – how were those trips and where else would you like to skate and film?
We want to go everywhere and anywhere – the idea is always about finding new skate spots and seeking out other communities. With Barcelona, it was our first trip together and a massive bonding experience for a lot of us. To go to skateparks and see predominantly 60% girl skateboarders and see people we’d seen on skate films like Nike SB just showed us how normalized female skateboarding is. It was so nice to be able to go somewhere else and have a completely different change of perspective. I think in terms of where we want to go next, we were planning on going to Berlin, would love to hit up Madrid and we really really want to do a trip to the US because the female skate scene, surfing, and skate spots along with the sick visuals are so tempting to us.
With regards to motivation, what pushes you to keep developing the identity of Skateboobs?
There is not one reason we could pinpoint that motivates us; by definition we’re a collective, and so each person is individually motivated by Skateboobs in different ways. However, we all integrate our personal talents and morals and passions into the content we create. We are all best friends and spend a lot of time together, so as our friendships develop the brand of Skateboobs naturally does as well. Initially, we made it just for us and our friends to post our stupid edits and memes, it then grew and developed quite naturally, and we started to think more about the content we were put out there and developed a motivation to change the way females are viewed in the skate scene and use our platform to encourage more girls to start.
“It’s rare to see 7 girls cruising into a skate park, being present and being visible, and it’s when we feel most empowered and when we feel we can change what people expect of skaters”
Why do you believe it is important to connect with other projects and are you particular about who you want to work with?
There is a fine line between people being tokenistic and people who genuinely want to work with us. We are really passionate about supporting local and small businesses and companies, especially those with strong values and good messages. We feel like we are able to expand our community through helping out other small startups – we want to seek out personal and authentic brands.
Do you think women and girls are represented fairly in the skateboarding scene and how do you think crews like yourselves help to change that perception?
In all honesty, no; especially from a broader context if you look at who is signed, who is shown in films and who represents brands. It doesn’t feel like it’s the aim of many brands to actually feature women in prominent roles with regards to skateboarding but seen as a tokenistic bonus. It can be tricky because we obviously want to be featured more prominently but we also don’t want to be trivialized and featured just because we are females – we want to be featured and valued as skateboarders. We try to make ourselves as visible as possible in order to challenge people’s perceptions of skateboarding.
What would your message be to young girls and women who want to take up skateboarding and may be hesitant to start?
Go to a female skate night, find collectives and groups to skate with, go with your friends so you aren’t alone, talk to your local skate shops about good spots to skate, and other girls to skate with. Importantly – just fucking do it and remember nobody cares if you fall over, the more you do it, the more girls you’ll meet, the more you’ll get involved with the scene. It can be really intimidating, and so daunting, but all of us have experienced that – even with each other before we met, but generally it is a really welcoming community, no matter what gender.
“We all made a conscious decision to be a part of it, be that through just hanging out, creating content, taking photos, we were all somehow involved”
Do you think enough is being done in the UK scene to represent inclusivity?
As the majority of us identifies as queer, including the LGBTQI+ community has always been on the list of priorities. Not enough is being done to represent the community, and we are striving to give the LGBTQI+ more visibility and support, and this includes tackling the lack of role models in the skate community. We also understand that mental health for male skaters is a massive issue that is not being tackled enough, and more needs to be done to support everyone, especially men in the skate scene.
Skateboobs is completely open to everyone and we strive to support and encourage absolutely everyone, no matter what ability to start skating. It is an area which more far needs to be done, and we are inspired by Doyenne, and their starter sessions for people with physical disabilities or illnesses and wish to follow in their footsteps of forward thinking.
What would you like to say you have achieved by the end of this year?
We’re four months off our first birthday and we think we have achieved so much already – not only have we helped and encouraged people to skate but we have created a voice for female skaters – both in real life and on social media. Even if we only encourage one more girl to start skating in the next year, we will be proud. At the end of the day, we have no idea what the future holds for us, but we are really excited and hopeful.
