Aimee Vlachos presents research at national sport management conference

Aimee Vlachos, M.S., assistant lecturer in the Sport Management and Recreation program, recently presented her research at the National American Society for Sport Management Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Vlachos’ research explores whether women surfers in Southern California are still experiencing inequality. Despite the progress women have made in accessing sports, Vlachos says that the predominant belief in American society is that men are superior athletes to women. Vlachos found this belief continues to create challenges for women.  

Vlachos used postmodern feminism as a theoretical framework for her research poster “Girls Still Don’t Surf: The Gender Inequality of Women Surfers.” The work focused on her doctoral dissertation, which is a follow-up study to her master’s thesis, “Girls Don’t Surf.”

The study is significant because it is one of the first of its kind to examine women surfers’ experiences over a 10-year period.  Other studies have been written on surfers and the sport of surfing, particularly on the subculture of surfing, but no studies have analyzed surfers’ experiences at the same beach for a decade.