cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/1476849
Archived version: https://archive.ph/0Su3f
Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20230815101452/https://www.euronews.com/culture/2023/08/15/amsterdam-opens-trailblazing-skatepark-a-safe-haven-for-lgbtq-and-women-skaters
Too bad that this is still needed, instead of being able to safely mingle with everyone, but I definitely get why and it seems like a good initiative. Even here in the relatively progressive Netherlands I still notice that quite some men and even some women still have quite sexist, queerphobic, and xenophobic views. It’s a certain subgroup of people who appear to make it their personality to make as many offensive jokes as possible. Hopefully we can one day grow beyond this behaviour.
Here in Brazil, the wave of conservatism is very strong, mainly because it’s linked to religion, “good customs” and the family. They suffer jokes, physical and psychological aggression and death. It may sound silly, but for these people it is a great victory to have a place where they can feel comfortable and not be afraid of dying.
Look at a very sad example in this link
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Despite its image as an alternative sport for baggy-pantsed rebels, in Amsterdam, a unique skatepark is one of the first in the world to offer a safe space for LGBTQ skateboarders.
This recently inaugurated skatepark in the Dutch capital carries a clear purpose: to serve as a safe for LGBTQ individuals and female skaters alike.
“There is no judgement,” says Tem, a 22-year-old wearing a black helmet and T-shirt and a pair of blue and white checked trousers while riding an 80s-style freestyle board.
The skater, who works as a food volunteer, added that it was a “comfortable environment where I feel like I can learn to skate without the icky vibe in a public skatepark”.
Despite its reputation as a counterculture sport associated with rebellious attire, skateboarding has grappled with long-standing challenges tied to sexism, homophobia, and at times, an overly masculine culture.
The park is a trailblazer, as NGOs (non-governmental organisations) have previously promoted skateboarding for women in countries such as Afghanistan and in the Palestinian territories, but not for LGBTQ skaters.
I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Would be great for more sports (and cities) to offer spaces like this.
Would be even better when people could raise their voices against sexist, queerphobic, and xenophobic views in public instead of cheering for projects creating safe zones out of sight…
Why not both?
I’m not sure why your response is so hostile against my support of the idea, or why you make so many unfounded assumptions.
How do you know I don’t raise my voice against those views in public? And I never said anything about such spaces being “zones out of sight”, that was your addition. I didn’t say that this article’s idea was the limit of what I support.
Sure it could be “even better”… literally any idea could be even better. But if you attack everything less than perfection, we will never get anywhere.
No, that’s not some “not quite perfect but definitely an improvement”-idea. It’s bullshit moving people out of sight. And no that is not “my addition” but a simply fact, one very prominently pointed out in the very first sentence of this report (“Nestled within a warehouse…”).
That’s a problem, a “but we did something to help”-diversion at best, but no solution.
Because out “of sight, out of mind” does never actually solve anything. It literally pushes LGBTQ out of sight so the homophobics hopefully find another topic to be enraged about… for some limited time only.
That’s not a solution. I thought we all had agreed at this point that solving the issue is about open and fair representation as a completely normal part of, as well as clear support in society…
(Just like being personally offended when someone doesn’t perfectly agree with you doesn’t solve anything. Or how did you interpret my criticism about cheering for a project that creates out-of-sight safe zones as anything other but critcism about the initiators of the project and the author of that report? Is there something on your mind that I should have read - between your … one line of statement? Yes, you can read that part as personal criticism or just dismiss it as a quip because I really have no clue where you found that hostility…)
I interpreted it as directed at me and my comment, because you wrote it as a reply to my comment, rather than a reply to the article.
The rest… i will leave you with that. I still disagree with your perspective.
