“SURFING? THAT’S A WHITE BOY SPORT”: AN INTERSECTIONAL ANALYSIS OF MEXICAN AMERICANS’ EXPERIENCES WITH SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SURF CULTURE by CASSIE ANN COMLEY A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of Sociology and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2018 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Cassie Ann Comley Title: “Surfing? That’s a White Boy Sport”: An Intersectional Analysis of Mexican Americans’ Experiences With Southern California Surf Culture This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of Sociology by: Dr. Jessica Vasquez-Tokos Chairperson Dr. Michael Aguilera Core Member Dr. Ken Liberman Core Member Dr. Ocean Howell Institutional Representative Janet Woodruff-Borden Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded December 2018 ii © 2018 Cassie Ann Comley This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (United States) License. iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Cassie Ann Comley Doctor of Philosophy Department of Sociology December 2018 “Surfing? That’s a White Boy Sport”: An Intersectional Analysis of Mexican Americans’ Experience With Southern California Surf Culture The primary purpose of this ethnographic study is to contextualize Mexican American surfers experiences with sport as a lens into race, gender and class relations. Specifically, it seeks to understand how a history of gender, race, and class oppression has played out in this understudied terrain of sports. This study offers empirical insight into the ways in which Mexican Americans navigate and (un)successfully infiltrate predominantly white, male, middle-class sporting arenas. In this study I also examine the relationship between access and barriers, specifically how access to public recreational spaces are constricted by participants’ real and imagined barriers. By exploring Mexican American surfers’ everyday experiences, I unearthed the varying ways Mexican American surfers experienced discrimination and marginalization across intersecting and interlocking identities. iv CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Cassie Ann Comley GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene California State University, Long Beach DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, Sociology, 2018, University of Oregon Masters of Arts, Sociology, 2013, University of Oregon Bachelors of Science, Psychology, 2010, California State University, Long Beach AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Sociology of Sport Sociology of Gender Intersectionality PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Adjunct Instructor, Concordia University, Irvine, 2015-2016 Graduate Teaching Fellow, University of Oregon, 2010-present GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: McNair Scholars Program, 2009, California State University, Long Beach PUBLICATIONS: Merritt, Michele, Audrey Yap, Cassie Comely, Caren Diehl. (In Press). “Stereotype Threat and the Female: Swimming, Surfing, and Sport Martial Arts.” Handbook of Embodied Cognition and Sport Psychology. Eds Massimiliano Lorenzo Cappuccio. MIT Press v Comley, Cassie. 2018. “‘Mexicans Don’t Surf’An Intersectional Analysis of Mexican Americans Experiences in Sport.” Surfing, Sex, Genders and Sexualities. Eds by lisa hunter. Routledge. Comley, Cassie. 2016. “ ‘We have to establish our territory’ ”: how women surfers ‘carve out’ gendered spaces within surfing.” Sport in Society 19 (8-9): 1289-1298. Comley, Cassie. 2011. “ Fall in line: How surfers’ perceptions of localism, territoriality and waves as limited resources influence surf-related aggression.” McNair Scholars Research Journal (15). vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I must acknowledge and thank all of the participants for trusting me to tell your stories and shed light on the lives of Southern California Mexican American surfers. I enjoyed the time spent in and outside of the water with each and every one of you. Sharing waves and listening to your stories will be with me always. I wish we did more surfing than interviewing, but I am thankful for the time we had. I hope I have done justice to your stories. I would like to thank my committee, without their support and guidance this project would not be what it is today. From the very beginning, everyone supported me and believed in this project. Your words of encouragement and advice were instrumental in this project’s success. I would like to give Professor Vasquez-Tokos a special thanks for being a kind, supportive and reliable Chair. I appreciate all of the time and feedback you provided to this project. Thank you for working with my work schedule and never forcing me to choose between my goals. Even from far away, I knew I could always count on your support. You really showed me what it was like to have and be a supportive mentor/advisor. I hope someday I can provide the same service to my future students. I’d also like to give Emeritus Professor Ken Liberman a mention, your support and guidance were there from day one even before we met in person. Thank you for being so enthusiastic about this project and providing me with the confidence to carry on. This dissertation would not be possible without the support from my family, friends, and loved ones. The Gonzales’ and Comley’s are fighters. As someone of Irish and Mexican descent, I didn’t really have the option of quitting. My family always encouraged me to move forward even when I was tired or overwhelmed. Their love and vii patience carried me through in the final stages of this project. I’d like to give my mom and dad a special thank you. From early on in my life my mother modeled hard-work and dedication. She never went to college but worked hard to build a different kind of life for her two daughters. Thank you for working two to three jobs just to support us and put a roof over our heads. I can’t wait to pay you back for everything you’ve done for me and Crystal. My dad also helped raise two independent, hard-working and loving daughters. Thank you for the long talks, support and financial stability to make this project possible. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me and your support has not gone unnoticed! Lastly, I’d like to thank my partner B, you stood by me through the hard times when I was stressed from working 14-hour days at the prison, the after-school program and teaching college. Thank you for all of the meals, talks and cups of coffee. You’re an amazing woman and coach, but an even better partner. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................1 The Case of Sporting Latina/os......................................................................................8 Sociological Studies of Race and Sport .......................................................................10 Sport/Leisure/Race .......................................................................................................12 Critical Race Theory ....................................................................................................14 Sex, Gender, and Sexuality (SGS) ...............................................................................17 Intersectionality............................................................................................................21 Lifestyle Sports: The Case of Surfing ..........................................................................23 Marginalization and Exclusion ....................................................................................24 Whiteness and Surfing .................................................................................................26 History of Race, Sex, Gender and Sexuality Within Surfing ......................................29 Methods........................................................................................................................35 Research Design...........................................................................................................36 Recruitment ..................................................................................................................37 Participant Observations and In-depth Interview ........................................................43 II. RACIAL BARRIERS: LATINOS’ LIMITED ACCESS TO RECREATINAL SPACES .............................................................................................................................51 Systematic Racism, Restricted Access to Recreational Spaces and Understanding the Racialization of Space..................................................................................................55 Structural and Economic Limitations to Public Beaches .............................................63 Economic And Income Barriers ...................................................................................65 ix Chapter Page Barrios by the Sea ........................................................................................................75 Sociocultural Barriers: Generational Status and The Immigrant Bargain ...................84 Assimilation, Age and Time Period .............................................................................91 Imaginary Spaces of Whiteness ...................................................................................94 Conclusion