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But why was rollerblading ever associated with homosexuals to begin with? As one who did not know anyone in the 90s who was both a rollerblader and an out gay p

But why was rollerblading ever associated with homosexuals to begin with? As one who did not know anyone in the 90s who was both a rollerblader and an out gay person, is it a "yeah, but looks gay" thing? I dunno, seemed like one of those things one says when they can't afford rollerblades, or can afford them but sucks at it and gave up.

bobbytit 5y ago
My recollection is that the flamboyant gay rollerbladers zipping around places like Venice Beach became a meme of sorts.
- laurent92 5y ago
  Also in Malcolm in the middle, the father teaches Malcolm rollerblading, and uses this kind of flamboyant clothing and the camera emphasizes the tight clothes.
ehnto 5y ago
My intuition from my scene was simply that skateboarding was the cool kid thing to do, and if it wasn't skateboarding it must be lame. That stigma had it's application on BMX, scooters, even different types of skateboards weren't free from the mockery of skateboarders. It's not skateboardings fault, it was just the culture. I like to think it's changed and thanks to the internet you can always find people doing what you like. Back then all I had was rateaskater.com to share the sport with.
- atkailash 5y ago
  It’s also not a far leap from this to gay as in homosexual since for the longest time “that’s gay” was used as “that’s lame”.
pengaru 5y ago
figureskating
dehrmann 5y ago
There was also a window where "gay" meant "uncool." > 2. (slang, derogatory) Used to express dislike: lame, uncool, stupid. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gay#Adjective https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gay#Adjective
- noduerme 5y ago
  To teenage boys where I grew up the '90s, "don't be gay" was just a standard egg-on challenge, interchangeable with "don't be a pussy." We weren't exactly in touch with our feminine sides. Your supposed masculinity was proven by doing things more idiotically dangerous than your friends. Only danger could lead to teenage glory. (See: Jackass). We had a saying for it: "Balls and stupidity." Teenage boys are like 2-year-old dogs before they get snipped. Rollerblading just wasn't dangerous enough. Especially with a bunch of pads on. Also, older people started doing it. You'd see lawyers rollerblading to work holding a latte. That more than anything probably killed it for teenagers. After living in Spain and watching teenage boys do mindlessly dangerous moto dirtbike tricks for audiences of girls on the street, I had an insight that this was probably how Bullfighting started... some kid daring another kid to go stab a bull, and him doing it for attention from girls. And that sport is still heavily associated with machismo. One other thing on the macho side - like, my mom roller skated when she was young, and even she got a pair of roller blades. You can't really be dangerously cool doing something your mom does.
mthoms 5y ago
> or can afford them but sucks at it and gave up. It’s actually the opposite. The term originated with skateboarders. Rollerblading was seen as (a) too easy and (b) lacking any sort of “culture”.
odessacubbage 5y ago
rollerblading had a lot of associations to sub-activities from prior cultural zeitgeists like rollerdisco that are frankly, very silly. it was also more respectable and sport-like in the eyes of the general public, and following the teenager's universal laws of cool: if your parents and grandparents do it, it's not cool.

bobbytit 5y ago

My recollection is that the flamboyant gay rollerbladers zipping around places like Venice Beach became a meme of sorts.

laurent92 5y ago
Also in Malcolm in the middle, the father teaches Malcolm rollerblading, and uses this kind of flamboyant clothing and the camera emphasizes the tight clothes.

ehnto 5y ago

My intuition from my scene was simply that skateboarding was the cool kid thing to do, and if it wasn't skateboarding it must be lame. That stigma had it's application on BMX, scooters, even different types of skateboards weren't free from the mockery of skateboarders. It's not skateboardings fault, it was just the culture. I like to think it's changed and thanks to the internet you can always find people doing what you like. Back then all I had was rateaskater.com to share the sport with.

atkailash 5y ago
It’s also not a far leap from this to gay as in homosexual since for the longest time “that’s gay” was used as “that’s lame”.

pengaru 5y ago

figureskating

dehrmann 5y ago

There was also a window where "gay" meant "uncool." > 2. (slang, derogatory) Used to express dislike: lame, uncool, stupid. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gay#Adjective https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gay#Adjective

noduerme 5y ago
To teenage boys where I grew up the '90s, "don't be gay" was just a standard egg-on challenge, interchangeable with "don't be a pussy." We weren't exactly in touch with our feminine sides. Your supposed masculinity was proven by doing things more idiotically dangerous than your friends. Only danger could lead to teenage glory. (See: Jackass). We had a saying for it: "Balls and stupidity." Teenage boys are like 2-year-old dogs before they get snipped. Rollerblading just wasn't dangerous enough. Especially with a bunch of pads on. Also, older people started doing it. You'd see lawyers rollerblading to work holding a latte. That more than anything probably killed it for teenagers. After living in Spain and watching teenage boys do mindlessly dangerous moto dirtbike tricks for audiences of girls on the street, I had an insight that this was probably how Bullfighting started... some kid daring another kid to go stab a bull, and him doing it for attention from girls. And that sport is still heavily associated with machismo. One other thing on the macho side - like, my mom roller skated when she was young, and even she got a pair of roller blades. You can't really be dangerously cool doing something your mom does.

mthoms 5y ago

> or can afford them but sucks at it and gave up. It’s actually the opposite. The term originated with skateboarders. Rollerblading was seen as (a) too easy and (b) lacking any sort of “culture”.

odessacubbage 5y ago

rollerblading had a lot of associations to sub-activities from prior cultural zeitgeists like rollerdisco that are frankly, very silly. it was also more respectable and sport-like in the eyes of the general public, and following the teenager's universal laws of cool: if your parents and grandparents do it, it's not cool.