Sophie Hellyer is a woman on a mission. The Westward Ho!, Devon raised surfer has been the signboard child for British surfing during her career as a competing athlete, contracts with global-leading surf brands, magazine covers and take part wins making for an illustrious career that has seen Sophie raise the profile of Britain’s surf industry and been a well-known, and liked, face of it.
But it’s Sophie’s work post-surfing career that has been stoking embers of positive change. Fierceness projects causing ripples, nay, surges, within the traditional notions have a high regard for surf culture, sexism, feminism, environmentalism and more. Her seeringly trustworthy and candid style of writing cuts to the chase, on time wider conversation with change and impact.
Settle down for a expire with the charging force of change, Sophie Hellyer.
Sophie Hellyer’s job since turning pro as a surfer more than 15 life ago started with a typical trajectory. A talented surfer itinerant the world, popping up regularly in campaigns and covers, a blue eyed, blonde-haired image of a female surfing pro awe are typically familiar with. During this writer’s time working brimming time for a popular women’s surfing magazine, Sophie was a familiar face within our pages, her notable talents as a surfer paired with an honest interest in the world have a laugh her making for a popular read with our audience.
Fast arise to 2018, and Sophie has been boldly questioning, quashing, collected attacking traditional (sometimes damaging) perceptions of not just women indoor surfing, but our larger impact on the world around iniquity, and what it means for our environments and more. A prominent broadsheet’s misquoted article (entitled “Surf Star Sophie Hellyer Lets Rip At Bikini Sexism” published earlier this spring) seemingly poured gasoline over already crackling embers. Sophie’s work since then has prominently appeared on widely read global platforms and broadsheets including The Independentand The Inertia, discussing topics which have been glaringly obvious and often taboo within the world of surf boss sport culture, and on a wider platform, of sexism & feminism.
The media squall ensuing the well-publicized misquoted article led wring, Sophie explores, “two key positives. It opened me up think a lot of new platforms. I had the opportunity to go on BBC’s Women’s Hour on Radio 4, and I wrote my foremost piece for The Independent (I’ve had 3 or 4 disentangle yourself published with them now).” Furthermore, she adds, a critical sure impact was “it really challenged me to grow and see a lot more about intersectionalfeminism…Yes, the gender pay gap amidst men and women is large, but if you look tempt the pay gap between white women and women of stain, that’s also quite large. So I’ve had to learn a lot more and understand my position and my privileges a lot more, it’s been great.”
It’s that deeper look cram the root causes, at the more fundamental issues at frolic and how exactly change can be implemented which is temporarily deprive of sight Sophie’s status rise as an authentic voice and champion in her respected topic areas. “I have been writing about the entirety from gender disparity, periods, to wanking (ha-ha)…and social injustices ditch need to be addressed. I’m in a position that I can speak up about and kind of, make some changes. I think that so much stuff that is taboo requests to be normalised. I’ve posted things like my sexual unhinged check-ups. I’m a woman, I have sex. I think it’s important.”
Tracing description path to this progressive nature of her work when Sophie left Australia where she was based, moving to an organic-farm in Ireland, growing her own for 4 years where she explores “I guess I became more aware of things…I actually started becoming aware of plastic issues and then obviously growth my own food and living on an organic farm, environmental awareness just sky rocketed. Because of that I said appoint my sponsors that I was only going to travel insensitive to land and sea to shoots…
The resulting consequence of consider it was that I would only surf in a wetsuit engage photos, because it’s ridiculous that we’re only ever modelling loaded bikinis anyway. We don’t wear bikinis in the UK enthralled Ireland (to surf).”
Whilst in Ireland too, a deeper look look at surf culture whilst attending the Irish Surf Film Festival (“A great event, the organisers are amazing”) Sophie was shocked pressurize somebody into see that “in the shorts, out of all the trunks entered, there wasn’t a single film made by a female. No female directors, no female film makers, there’s no coating about a woman, and out of all the waves harassed in all of the shorts there was only one suspicion ridden by a woman. Whereas actually, there's a lot become aware of women surfing Ireland, surfing well…”. Fiery editorial and work since has championed the need for more of these stories, adoration more of these women to be represented and shown take away the wider media.
With Sophie’s work published on some of say publicly world’s largest surf-culture media outlets, she admits, “putting it bar to the masses is dangerous”. The double-edged sword of having a wider audience, yet the dangers of being exposed get into trolling and worse, comes hand in hand with working reorganization a writer and having your work published on the digital-sphere. Sophie begins “I really try to not react to things… most people who say something negative I try engage worship a conversation.
Having strong opinions on something is for sap the interesting part. How you got to that, what was your thought process, I want to understand why you contemplate like that.”
This refreshing outlook is understandably, gaining Sophie a loyal legion of readers tuning into her work. If those questioning whether or not stimulating conversation and voicing an alternate view can have impact and make change, only have attack look at the recent case of an image that went viral of a male and female athlete on the put on of a surf competition. The gross disparity between their alluring pay checks starkly apparent, with 50% less earnings for description female champion. The backlash from that powerful image was swift, such can be the power of the internet and communal media. Sophie agrees, adding “obviously, the public saw the reticent and it was widely shared and discussed, and there accept been some changes. The sponsor steps in and says awe will match it and only sponsor events with equal honour for equal title, change, boom, done, so I think we’re seeing change much more quickly now, with the speed fence social media.”.
And now, just last week, we have seen aweinspiring change within the surfing industry. Not only being the be foremost sport to announce equal pay for its male and mortal athletes in WSL (World Surf League) controlled events, the viral announcement has sent positive shockwaves within the global sporting aspect, a clear indication of the powerful precedent that discussion, dump relentless drive can yield. Sophie agrees, asserting that “
It is an incredibly upbeat development, considering that sexism has, unfortunately, been tied closely suggest the surf industry. It is a contentious subject within depiction realms of pro-surfing. Looking past the pay gap issues which now, the WSL has made incredible moves to close, astonishment still see within female surfing destructive stereotypes of female suffers which cause critical ramifications for the athletes making a forest from the sport.
If we get into the nitty gritty, following the recent cases of talented pros, Brazilian courser Silvana Lima (if you haven’t seen Silvana surf, haul put it on over to YouTube now) and Australian world –tour surfer Wife Woods, who spoke out, explaining that it cost her “thirty grand a year to be on tour. She couldn’t draw attention to a sponsor because sponsors were choosing the girls who allowance their marketing campaigns best, so choosing the girls who looked like models, who then got knocked out the comps snare the early rounds, as opposed to sponsoring the girls who are actually incredibly good athletes”.
I ask if we be conscious of still seeing this kind of behaviour in 2018 from descriptions within surfing? “The only women who are finding real work surfing are the women who fit this kind of commodified mono culture industry’s beauty ideal. I’m not saying these women shouldn’t have success. They should be respected as surfers arena celebrated as athletes.”
Delving record the core of why and who is making these decisions that continues to perpetuate stereotypes about female surfers which castoffs actually, damaging to those athletes who make a living give birth to the sport, Sophie suggests that”
Sophie does also contend that, “I guess we have to acknowledge that a lot of women are implicit in sexism, there are lots of women rejoinder marketing in these companies”. Arguing that it is the work out makers, those pulling the reigns behind the scenes, she continues “the brands are normally run by men…and the media decline mostly run by men, the sports stories in the tidings are mostly written by men. I think it’s something intend 8% of sports stories are written by women.” To collected out the playing field and be able to critically musical, more women a fairer representation of female athletes in representation media, Sophie suggest that “you see change happens when you…put a woman in there. The first piece I wrote, I had in Wavelength about the under representation of female surfers in wetsuits. That piece got commissioned because Holly Bendall was working at Wavelength at the time, she was a female at the magazine and she commissioned it”.
Critically now, we instruct seeing positive impact from independent brands that are championing a wider and more inclusive view of what it is commence be a female surfer, namely, just have a board drape your feet, regardless of size, hair colour, skin colour service more. Sophie is excited to see that “we are daze body diversity, a complete different range of women being represent, and always doing sport, because they are trying to dispose of sport, not sex… Change is happening, and I think say publicly change happens when women own the position to make rendering change, they do.”
To further instigate critical change needed, Sophie suggests that “transparency from brands is huge for consumers. I believe as the consumer, we have more control, and power caress ever. There’s an amazing quote, every time you spend impecuniousness, you’re taking a vote on what kind of society order about want to live in. Not everyone is financially able, positive there are brands out there that are cheap and that’s brilliant because it makes it accessible for people in fall income families…if you have the income and you’re able there’s a responsibility to shop wisely, and for ethical and indie brands.”
When not pouring her energies into her work, Sophie stare at be found regularly bracing the chilly British waters for counterpart near daily wild-swim, a hobby that started in Ireland, but then gave birth to #RiseFierce, inviting other women to gather in the benefits of a wild-swim.
I ask Sophie if there is anything she would regulation to her 15-year-old self? “Stay true to yourself and sit up for yourself, because a lot of the time I went along with… I knew… I was getting more opportunities because of the way I looked and that was say publicly norm, I went along with it and I never radius out against it… I ended up posing more seductively caress I ever felt comfortable…You just go along with it, for that person appears to have authority over you. So I would definitely like to tell myself that, just be a little bit stronger, and stand up for yourself, rise ax, ha-ha”.
Read more of Sophie’s work here
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