Anti-"babe"

How is the surf industry's depiction of women hindering the potential for girl localism?

This question arose from my class' viewing of The Women and the Waves. 

The movie portrayed a homogenous image of women surfers that I believe is inaccurate.  The women interviewed for the film were all white, attractive (despite some tanned skin and graying hair), presumably high socio-economic status due to the relative accessibility of waves, and lack environmental and political activism. Many of these "girl surfers" were explicitly identified as mothers and wives, Krista Comer in Surfer Girls in the New World Order would identify these women as third waves feminists.  

Interestingly, I have yet to hear a male surfer comment on their partner or family life in any of the surfing films we've seen (but maybe I wasn’t listening for it. What does that say about gender roles?).

Comer addresses this homogenous portrayal of surfer girls in the male dominated industry. Enter: Lisa Anderson, sixteen and homeless with dreams of becoming a pro surfer, would have physically fit the surfer girl look but was too independent and rogue for the industry. It wasn’t until after Lisa's daughter was born did she commit to her surfing career- winning the world championship title four times (and all the fame and publicity that accompanies it.)

Comer writes, "Would she be as attractive a figure if she had continued as a hard-edged, uncooperative rebel girls and not become a responsible career mother? Would Quiksilver or Roxy tolerate a product spokesperson who was unrepentantly 'bad'? Would Anderson be as prolifically photographed were she not blonde, blue-eyed, and so classically 'babe'? Likely not."

Despite what industry indicates through commercials, there isn’t a world of blonde babes surfing the waves.

There are women who are defying these industrially perpetuated norms (of race, interests, sexuality, and non-surf related careers).  Cori Schumacher, the three time women longboard champion (who was the first professional surfer to come out as gay) and Sofia Silva Sanchez, a well regarded chef and surfer (who is a woman of color and entrepreneur) are only a few. These women, and many of their "anti-gidget" counterparts, for different personal reasons, ride without corporate sponsorships.

The homogenous image of the (blonde, cali) "surfer girl" doesnt allow alternative narratives and perspectives about the reality of female surfers, who are diverse in appearance as well as interests and backgrounds.