The Frumpies were a punk band that formed in 1992 out of Olympia, WA who also happened to have skateboarding and Riot Grrrl connections. According to Wikipedia, the original members were Tobi Vail, Kathi Wilcox, and Billy Karren (who all played in Bikini Kill) and Molly Neuman of Bratmobile, with the addition in 1993 of bassist Michelle Mae from the bands Weird War and Make-Up. When The Frumpies were featured in the July 1994 issue of Thrasher, they took the opportunity to express their views on gender barriers in skating and punk music.
Olympia had banned skateboarding, “but the Frumpies skated to the interview anyway. They skate for fun and transportation and say they aren’t going to stop…” wrote Tammy Watson. Their album at the time of the interview, Safety First was described as a “definite skate punk must,” with its jarring noise, rage, and hint of a melody.
Take a listen here:
In classic Riot Grrrl form, members of The Frumpies contributed their manifesto to a zine called Nu Skate Movement, which was referenced in the Thrasher article and later on, re-printed in the Beastie Boys’ second issue of Grand Royal magazine in 1996 (p. 124). Tobi stated that, “We are sick of being insulted by the usual boy criticisms/suspicions/dissers” and while Michelle pondered the question of skateboarding as a male-dominated pursuit, she was hopeful that a girl on a board would someday cease to be an oddity. Tobi encouraged everyone to “Skate creatively, skate to entertain, skate to challenge accepted skating norms, etc.”
As an aside, the Frumpies provided a solid list of things they endorsed in their Grand Royal feature including Ramdasha Bikceem’s band / all-girl skate gang / zine called Gunk, skating in skirts with knee pads, playing guitar while skating, handstand gymnast skate move, Kim Deal’s tube sox style, skateboard dating (on board making out), with a nod to Katherine Hepburn on a skateboard, among other critical details. What I have to find out is who The Skatebunnies were! The Frumpies stated that they were a girl skate gang formed in 1983, but that’s all the information provided.
The full transcript of the Nu Skate Movement from Grand Royal is below although I would love to see an original zine.
“Manifesto for a Nu Skate Movement” by Michelle Mae Orr of the Frumpies
Maybe you think skateboarding is only a sport. Maybe you think that to be a “skater”, you have to know tricks. Maybe you think that being a girl restricts a person’s ability to be construed as a skater, or that it restricts the drive to utilize the versatility of skateboarding for one’s own purposes (due to possible ridicule). Maybe you’ve just given up on it after the rash of adult backlash claiming that skating is a menace to society and that we need judicial statutes – enforced by the cloven-footed, blue-uniformed, robotic and senseless entity named “Police” – that prohibit skating from being done at some of the best places to do it. Maybe you need to wake up and smell the pavement.
Sometimes I think skateboarding has become another product of the institution-mindedness of our culture. It needs to be recognized that s.b.ing is not only a competitive sport but a really fun pastime (that’s how it started out, anyway). It is also a great form of transportation and an especially fresh substitute for bike riding. You can become a good skater without knowing how to do tricks. I used to feel sort of incompetent for not having the ability or desire to do tricks, stunts or even halfpipe skating (mostly from having a fear of injury). Consequently, I felt less inclined to skate around in my feeble amateurism. Then I realized what a bogus institution I was holding myself to, so I just started skating all the time, and I became pretty good and relaxed with less fear and more control of my board. Also, those little bean wheels you see on almost every board now are mostly good for tricks. Bigger wheels, which are hard to find now, are better for speed and travel.
It’s true that the majority of skaters have been boys, but girls are skating more and more. Why has skateboarding been so male-dominated? That’s too convoluted a question to answer at this point. I just hope that its versatilities – which I’m trying to expose here – will help girls and boys who are insecure about skating develop a renewed vigor. I also hope a gender barrier doesn’t get built, but rather that the scene meshes so a girl on a board ceases to seem like such an oddity. I’ve already noticed that the scene is being slightly mediated that way. Ever since more girls have started skating, the marketing antics have started exploiting it in a semi-separatist way – like when skateboards are designed to be especially feminine – which is cool as long as it doesn’t get condescending.
Another fucked-up dementia that sparked my awareness to this subject was the following example of a scenario that I find particularly sickening. I stopped off at the corner market, where I saw a girl I knew as an acquaintance, and in her shallow-minded stupidity she remarked, “That is so weird that you skateboard – it looks so funny!” I asked why, and she said “I’m so sure! You’re 22, a girl and totally not dressed for it.” Whatever.
Oh yeah, wearing skirts is cool but when you are in an especially skate-for-transportation mode, wearing pants is so convenient. You never know when you are gonna have to grab your board and hit it.
And as for Fascism Against Youth, and all other miniscule abstractions that prohibit skating – skate where you fucking want. From all of this, let it be known to those it might irritate: I’m not dissing, nor do I think I am an authority on the total skate scene. This is just insight into a multifaceted pastime where some of its Kicks Affirmative Potential has been forgotten and turned into a competitive, jockish and elitist sporting ritual that smells too much like The Man.
“Addendum to the Nu Skate Movement” by Tobi Vail of the Frumpies
I have skated on and off since 1979, and by accepted traditional skating norms, I “suck”. I can’t even ollie. This doesn’t mean I’m not a skater. Fuck the rule that says you can only be considered a skater if you are at a certain level of achievement. Don’t get me wrong, I would personally love to be able to do tricks, ride skate ramps, go faster down hills etc, but the fact that I can’t and probably will never learn if I haven’t already at this point doesn’t mean that I will ever stop skating. I skate for fun (to refer to the greatest skate band of all time) or not at all, dears (Frumpies say dear instead of dude). So there.
It would be nice to hear from other Skate Punx with either similar or conflicting ideals. We would especially like to hear from girls who skate. If you are a girl or a lady who skates exceptionally well, please don’t take personal (or gendered) insult at our admitted incompetence. We admire your capability while we simultaneously cherish our own inability; we are just sick of being insulted by usually boy criticisms/suspicions/disses. Make up your own rules! Skate creatively, skate to entertain, skate to challenge accepted skating norms, etc.
write us at: Vail/Wilcox P.O. Box 2572 Olympia, WA 98507 USA
Womxn Skateboard History 