this girl's gold.

[Nick Carroll]

tell me again how hard it all is. you know, crowds, newbies etc

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2012 ... Mc.blogger

she's a gem.

[collnarra]

thanks for sharing that one. What a gutsy woman.

[dUg]

Nice find NC, wonder if it can get some traction in the mainstream aussie press...

[offshore1]

obviously a harlot. worse than surfiec.
I could see her ankles.

[swvic]

Thanks, Nick. Hope nothing or nobody ever stops her

[rmb]

"Women should be at home looking after children, we don't want girls hanging out at the beach" 1min 25 sec in.

[Trev]

Good on her.
But some slimeball will probably shoot her.

[alakaboo]

I was swimming with a Pakistani girl at the Gold Coast about 10 years ago and an Indian family started throwing rocks at us and abusing her, then me for being with her.
She flashed a (magnificent) boob at them and told them to fcuk off, which they did after the lifeguards intervened. Was an intense and very strange experience.

More power to her (the surfing chick in the film).

[rmb]

I wonder how many locals actually care? Al Jazeer probably found the local nut jobs to beat up a story much like our media manipulates stories. The Husband obviously didn't give a shit.

[Beanpole]

Oh, I bet they care all right. The simple fact that the words free, just a person and not just a woman were used to describe what she liked about surfing and that she is out doors in mixed company adds up to a reason to worry for her safety. More power to her.
The concept of moving with the times doesn't get much traction in fundamentalist countries.

[rmb]

Oh, I bet they care all right. The simple fact that the words free, just a person and not just a woman were used to describe what she liked about surfing and that she is out doors in mixed company adds up to a reason to worry for her safety. More power to her.
The concept of moving with the times doesn't get much traction in fundamentalist countries.

Is Bangladesh that extreme? I thought that nation was more moderate compared to others in the region.

[rmb]

I didnt find Sri Lanka to be like that but I didnt spend enough time there to be indefinite. The other countries I have never visited.

[Beanpole]

Bangladesh may be nominally less extreme than Pakistan Proper but the rise of anti western ideology is spread across the Arab World. Everyones not like that of course but the idea that individualism and its logical extensions about personal freedom are a mental condition that is ruining the world is well entrenched. The idea that it is best dealt with by ripping it out of society at the root and returning to a pious medieval existence is the basis for anti western sentiment. The realty is that many communities haven't even really left that state yet.

Sri Lanka is mainly Buddhist. The Tamils tend to be Moslem.

[Nick Carroll]

OK fong. This is a link to a report from al-Jazeera on a young woman from Burma who moved to Bangladesh as a kid and learned to surf at Bangladesh's first and only surf school. At the time there were more girls than boys in the school. Now she's the last girl left still surfing. This is because of institutionalised sexism within the regional culture. The girl was recently married, which usually means "ok now turn your life entirely over to your husband" but in her case, she's kept surfing.

She knows a good thing when she's on to it despite what the local men -- who look like a pretty feeble bunch by comparison -- say about her, ie "whore" and "should be at home cooking" etc. Like listening to a bunch of fat drunk Australian men at a pub 30 years ago.

She's a goofyfoot by the way, pretty cool lil longboard style. Reminds me of my own daughter's style.

I was pretty moved by it, the way surfing seems to represent freedom for this girl in an otherwise repressive and poverty riddled society run by men who've got fcuk all going for them. It really encourages me to see someone experiencing moments of this freedom which is the best side of surfing. I worry that something might go bad for her.

[Trev]

I clicked on it yesterday without any issues and again just now.
'puter's still working ATM.

[chrisb]

Good on her. I just hope that some nutter doesn't shoot her as happened in Pakistan to that 14 year old schoolgirl who had the courage to speak out.

[alakaboo]

all readsy lost a lap top corrupted by bad infcted links from realsurf

Just don't click Dougal's links or look at his posts.

[chrisb]

She had cred with me until I noticed that she was carrying her board with the waxed top-side against her body. >><<

BTW, how old is she?