Watch: The Mighty Atlantic (Magazine) Takes On Feminism And Big Wave Surfing

As part of The Atlantic‘s rich and varied digital film offerings—on such subjects as “Keeping A Diary In The Age Of Over-Sharing,” “How DaVinci Augmented Reality 500 Years Ago,” “The Drone King,” and others—yesterday the 161-year-old magazine released a short animated film on the subject of female big wave surfers. 

“Professional big wave surfer Bianca Valenti first took to the ocean when she was five,” writes The Atlantic‘s Nicolas Pollock, who helped produce the film above for the magazine’s “Frontiers of Sports series. “Because there were no girls’ divisions, she competed with the boys. Throughout her career in professional big wave surfing, which she calls ‘a whole different ball game,’ Valenti has dedicated herself to empowering female surfers.

‘Women in surfing are portrayed [with] a sexualized lens,’ Valenti recounted in a recent interview with The Atlantic. ‘I didn’t have the model look that men wanted to use to market their concept of what a woman in surfing would look like.’

But rather than allow herself to burn out due to frustration with sexism in the surfing industry, Valenti took action. She formed the Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing, which she said aims to ‘pave a better future for women in surfing.'”

Watch the film above on Bianca, who is currently nominated for a WSL Performer of the Year award.