MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Summer 2018

104 MLCM SUMMER 2018 Women are more than capable of hanging with the boys, and highlighting that to the world—we are just normal girls who enjoy doing this particular sport. That, in my opinion, is the best way to get more women involved. ML: You’ve managed to stay feminine-yet-badass in a still predominantly male-centric sport. How do you find that balance? MG: I have to credit it to my parents. Gender division and the, “that’s for boys you can’t do that” attitude was never a topic of discussion. And I’m grateful for that. Growing up with an older brother, I was constantly trying to keep up and do everything he was doing—that’s just how it was. We also lived on a boat during the summers and the only other kid around was my big bro, so I didn’t know any different. I still loved playing with Barbies, wearing princess dresses and doing other typical “girly” things, but running around in a speedo scraping my knees, climbing trees, carving wood with my dad, and being the only girl in Boy Scouts was equally as accepted. I’m so grateful I got to be both and do it all growing up, and I think that’s where the confidence to be myself and get after whatever I’m passionate about comes from. ML: That sounds like a healthy balance. What about as you got older, what gender-role restrictions or conflicts did you experience as you matured? MG: Everything in Ferda Girls was based off of my own experiences growing up in the MTB industry. Back then there was still a very strong presence of “sex sells,” and using showgirls and pin-ups to sell products was fairly mainstream. I remember one company in particular that used actual porn stars to sell their products. Then later they used some of their own female athletes dressed in miniskirts and push-up bras to sell their products. I looked up to these women and their abilities on the bike, so naturally I was confused and conflicted, because I felt like to be accepted by my sponsors and taken seriously as an athlete I had to also be overtly sexy and hot. , UHPHPEHU RQH FRPSDQ\ LQ SDUWLFXODU WKDW XVHG DFWXDO SRUQ VWDUV WR VHOO WKHLU SURGXFWV ABOVE This is not the kind of pink Gatto has a problem with. BRUNO LONG BELOW Artist, Musician,Athlete,Announcer. Micayla is officially a quadruple threat. ANDREW BRADLEY