.
The article is somewhat redolent of a smug superficiality ,
" I'm soooo smarty pants and understand the inner psyche of everyone because I've seen the movie "
I would put to you that you have no clue as to men behavior tough you can observe their effects , ergo you can pass judgment from on high .

No woman can claim to speak for men in general , you are not qualified !

.

HRS
‘I think there has been considerable amount of pressure on girls to cover up so they won’t get skin cancer, but most don’t.’

What this shows is that the pressure on young Western women to wear less, not more, is so strong that they will gamble with the probability of death or disfigurement in the future in order to rake up desirability points in the here and now.

‘There has also been women allowed into men’s surfing competitions, but no male has ever been allowed into women’s surfing events, so some patriarchy there is in surfing.’

Girls have been allowed to enter male or 'open' surfing competitions largely because of the lack of women’s competitions. Even so, in one of the Western world’s strongest male bastions, you mean male surfers would actually WANT to enter a women’s surfing competition? Get real.

‘There has been talk of few girls surfing, and the reason is because so often the girls don’t develop enough strength in their arms to paddle out through the break. They keep getting washed back onto the beach, so they give up.’

And you wonder why women complain about patriarchal arrogance? You remind me of a filmmaker who once told me that there are so few women in film because filming schedules are back-breaking. If it makes you feel better to believe that the reason there are so few girls in surfing is because their poor little arms are not strong enough to paddle out through the break, and that their tiny, weeny little resolves get so easily discouraged, then by all means do so. However, your ignorance of the psychology of male exclusiveness is breathtaking.

It seems that most of those who've commented thus far haven't seen the film that Darlene Taylor's article is about, nor considered that it's written as a film review rather than a deep sociological analysis.

I've seen the film, and I grew up in Sydney surf culture - albeit on the northern beaches rather than on the southside. The film certainly makes some claims about class and its role in shaping the 'Bra Boys' gang, focusing as it does on a dysfunctional family living in Housing Commission flats that were situated fortuitously close to the beach that apparently was the thing that enabled them to survive and ultimately prosper - at least in their own terms.

The film purports to present a documentary truth about the lives of these people, and is aimed at a general audience - most of whom presumably aren't familiar with the particular cultural milieu of the Maroubrs surf, gang and drug scene. My impression of the Bra Boys in that context is that they're a bunch of grommet street kids who've grown up to be adult thugs with redeeming features.

And yes, I agree that the almost complete absence of women in the film - and hence, appparently, from the lives of the Bra Boys - is worthy of comment. As a bloke, I've always been a bit suss about men who need to join gangs - or, indeed, exclusive clubs of any kind.

Overall, as a documentary film I think it portrayed the "Bra Boys" in as positive a light as it could, but ultimately they appear thuggish, puerile and ugly to this reviewer :)

Morgan gives it 2 stars.

SJF, there's something about this exchange...

HRS: "I think there has been considerable amount of pressure on girls to cover up so they won’t get skin cancer, but most don’t."

SJF: "What this shows is that the pressure on young Western women to wear less, not more, is so strong that they will gamble with the probability of death or disfigurement in the future in order to rake up desirability points in the here and now."

... that reminds me of this exchange from The West Wing:

Sam: Where d'you get the bathrobe?
C.J.: The gym.
Sam: There are bathrobes at the gym?
C.J.: In the women's locker room.
Sam: But not the men's.
C.J.: Yeah.
Sam: Now, that's outrageous. There's a thousand men working here and fifty women.
C.J.: Yeah, and it's the bathrobes that's outrageous.

Darlene,

There are no females in the Bra boys.

And?

If it is a case that you do not like to see a group of only one gender, then write a letter to the Office of Women in your state, or in the federal government, and find out how many males are in it.

Also write a letter to the Sex Discrimination Commission, and find out how many males are in it.

Also research any equity department in any university in this country, and find out how many males are employed in the equity department of that university.

I tend to think that those types of organisations have more relevance to Australia as a whole than the Bra boys of Maroubra beach.

SJF,
If women are so peeved off about surfing or any other sport played by men, then there is nothing to stop them from developing their own sport.

It appears to be the same situation, where a sport is developed by men, women enter into that sport, and then complain that it is dominated by mens.

So maybe women should develop their own sport for once. New water sports that have been developed recently include windsurfing and kiteboarding, and there is no reason why others can’t be developed.

Or maybe whinging about men is now a sport. Maybe it should go into the Olympic games.

HRS. To save Darlene the trouble, and cause I was interested, I looked up the sex discrimination commission. It's part of HREOC. There are three men and one women on the board.

There aren't any "equity studies" programs at any universities I could find. Which universities are you thinking of?

"If women are so peeved off about surfing..." SJF said nothing to indicate she was peeved off about surfing, she was reacting to the fact that you had a problem, because you don't have access to women's comp prize money. If you, or any of your female friends, have problems with discriminatory surfing comps, I recommend you direct them to the relevant club. This website can help you: http://www.surfingaustralia.com/index.aspx

This forum isn't really appropriate place.