Australian surfwear company Rip Curl was hit with a wave of backlash last week after promoting a biological male surfer as the brand’s newest “female ambassador.” The ensuing boycott, which has since spread internationally and spawned a social media campaign against the company, comes just months after Rip Curl parted ways with former brand rep Bethany Hamilton over her criticism of men competing in women’s sports.
In a now-deleted post shared to its female-focused “Rip Curl Women” Instagram page on January 24th, Rip Curl profiled Sasha Jane Lowerson, a 44-year-old male who identifies as female. Lowerson, born Ryan Egan, was described as “a West Australian waterwoman who loves the freedom found in surfing, disconnecting from the mainstream, and the feeling of dancing on constantly changing waves.”
Lowerson was photographed wearing one of Rip Curl’s female wetsuits alongside the profile.
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In May 2022, less than one year after transitioning, Lowerson took first place in both the Open Women’s Longboard and Open Women’s Logger events at Australia’s West Coast Suspensions state championships. Just three years prior, he had taken a top spot in the men’s competition, making him the only person to ever win titles in both competitions.
Updates to the World Surf League’s guidelines in October 2022 officially permitted males to compete in women’s events provided they reduce their testosterone levels sufficiently—though the permitted levels are still far higher than what a woman will naturally produce.
In early 2023, then-Rip Curl ambassador Bethany Hamilton posted a series of videos objecting to the updated rules. Hamilton, who lost her left arm in a shark attack as a teenager and then went on to become a respected surfer, argued against transgender inclusion in female competitions based on their biological advantages.
“Is a hormone level an honest and accurate depiction that someone indeed is a male or female? Is it as simple as this?” she asked in a video posted to her Instagram.
View this post on Instagram
Additional posts repeated this question, and Hamilton frequently attacked the “glimpses of male-bodied dominance in women’s sports like running, swimming, and others” that dominated public discourse at the time.
Related: Maxim Names Transgender Athlete to ‘Hottest 100 Women’ List
In response to her statements and her threats to boycott the World Surf League, Rip Curl cut ties with Hamilton in November of last year.
But after the surfwear brand’s elevation of Lowerson as a “female ambassador,” Hamilton has seen a surge of support from other female athletes around the world, leading to a #BoycottRipCurl campaign on social media.
Riley Gaines, a collegiate swimmer who became a women’s sports advocate after losing a state title to a transgender competitor, called Rip Curl’s decision “crazy.”
In a follow-up post, Gaines stated: “Encouraging to see so many people reply that they’re throwing out their Rip Curl apparel and pledging not to buy from them again. I didn’t know people still wore Ripcurl anyways. RIP Rip Curl.”
Encouraging to see so many people reply that they're throwing out their Ripcurl apparel and pledging not to buy from them again. I didn't know people still wore Ripcurl anyways 😂
RIP Ripcurl https://t.co/DwuBzkW3Y7
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) January 26, 2024
Skateboarder Taylor Silverman, who was similarly displaced in her sport by a transgender male, stated that Lowerson is “just a mentally ill man making a complete mockery of actual women.”
According to @ripcurl this man is a “waterwoman”…reality is he’s just a mentally ill man making a complete mockery of actual women. pic.twitter.com/XeCSeLKyPF
— Taylor Silverman (@tmsilverman) January 26, 2024
Rip Curl has not yet commented on the controversy—but after clearly sensing the shifting tide, the company deleted the original post featuring Lowerson and disabled the comments section on its Instagram account.
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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