Dec 9, 2013

The gayness of rollerderby


Rollerderby is so gay, well - it is a very happy sport, and it's completly OK to be whoever you happen to be, as long as you are respectful towards everyonelse. I have never felt as confident about myself as I am in teh derbyworld, and I never have to hide the fact that I prefer women over men. I don't mind men, I just don't like to date them...

It be wrong to say that I always been gay, I really have not, always known I was gay, I've had my fair share of men, and it really took me quite a while to come out to myself, to be confident enough in my feelings to be able to look myself in the mirror and say: "HEy Girl Hey, I'm gay!" Rollerderby have been a great environment to be out and proud, it feels safe and maybe sometimes my friends doubt my choices of dating, but it's not because of the gender of the person, but rahter the person I'm dating.

When I skated in US, I quickly ran into Vagine Regime, I saw Team Vagine skate my first year at RollerCon (that be 2008) and the next year I was asked to join the ranks and had the honor to be a part of Team Vagine and got to skate with some of the coolest and most fun queer derbygirls of US. Bringin back love and queerness to Scandinavia Vagine Regime Nordic got started back in 2010, not much action but it is slowly picking up and now we have a Vagine Regime Nordic bout against Kallio Rolling Rainbows this upcomming Saturday. It will be fun to be back in Helsinki and get to hang out with my friend Only.

There are many girls that thook their first queer steps during their time in rollerderby, and it is not that rollerderby turns anyone gay. You don't turn gay, you just realise that you are fine with being in love with someone of your own sex. In the rollerderby community you will not be judged for your choice of partner, and the supportsystem is huge. Rollerderby is not a datingservice, even if there are quite a few women that meet each other on the track, but that is not why we play rollerderby.

Rollerderby and the inclusioness is so different from what I felt like when I was competing in snowboarding, I loved the sport snowboarding, and I still love dragging the board to the mountain during the winter. I just could never get used to the world of dudes and utter sexism that existed. I always felt like I was wrong and that I was never good enough, rollerderby is of course not always amazing, I have days I feel like crying... but for most times it's a warm and welcoming feeling to meet another derbygirl, to step on a strange floor, to play a teamsport where I can just be myself... 


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