I remember when I got my first skateboard. When I was 9 years old, my family was visiting my Aunt and Uncle in Oshawa, Ontario. For the most part, I was probably just a big pest to my cousin Frankie. He was sixteen and spent most of his time skateboarding or working on his Camero. So when he said I could try his skateboard, I was thrilled.
Lending me his skate for the day was probably a wise thing for Frankie to do. After all, I was so busy riding up and down the driveway, I stopped bugging him. At the end of the day, when it was time to go home, Frankie said I could keep his extra skateboard. I was so happy I ran up to my parents displaying my new skateboard. But as I proclaimed my joy for my new deck, I could see the disapproval on my mom's face. Before I could get the board in the trunk of the car, it was out of my hands and being returned to Frankie. My dad comforted me as best he could, but it was no use, I whaled. (What can I say, I was 9?)
As we drove home, my mother explained how skateboarding wasn't a sport for girls; about how it is too dangerous and how "Girls just don't do that kind of thing." I still remember that day. I remember it being the day I became a feminist. Maybe I didn't know it at the time, but it was the day I decided that I could do anything a guy could do. The day I decided that girls are equal to boys. I'll never forget the impact that moment had on me and I'll never forget that plastic yellow banana board.
