Why I’m thinking of quitting skateboarding
I used to love skating. The feeling of trying a trick a million times and finally landing it. The time you spend with your friends skating or just chilling together at a skate-spot. But nowadays I just feel tired. It was never super comfy as a FLINTA* person at a skate spot. Unsolicited advise from cis guys, misgendering and sexist comments are only a few reasons why I didn’t want to go skating alone. In the beginning I had energy to deal with stuff like this. Do put in work, so maybe someday it will change. I have the feeling I lost that energy. I lost it because people using the transphob term ”tranny” and the response after you spoke up about it, is that they keep using it with the excuse that words are always about the context. It’s still transphob even if it has a different meaning for you. I lost my energy because after we ask if ”Girl session” can be renamed to FLINTA* session, so non-binary and trans people feel welcome, the first response is ”being trans is just a trend”. I lost my energy because two cis people who manage a skatepark are telling us how safe Vienna is for queer people, one
week after teenage boys next to the skatepark told me and some friends should get gasified because we are trans. I’m tired of the response that these are just individual cases. No, things like that are constantly happening. I’m tired that the work to change things, to educate are only done by FLINTA* persons. Everybody should put in work. Just start at the bare minimum. Listen. Don’t look away. Speak up. Ask for pronouns.
week after teenage boys next to the skatepark told me and some friends should get gasified because we are trans. I’m tired of the response that these are just individual cases. No, things like that are constantly happening. I’m tired that the work to change things, to educate are only done by FLINTA* persons. Everybody should put in work. Just start at the bare minimum. Listen. Don’t look away. Speak up. Ask for pronouns.
