On the evening of Aug. 6, over 40 queer and femme skaters unabashedly rip throughout the parking lot of Rockridge Bart Station in Oakland, CA. Diverse people toting skates and boards greet one another with warm smiles and open arms, showing up for the birth of a zine featuring the Bay Area meet up group “TittFlip.” A dozen skaters await their turn to hit a 4-foot wooden quarter pipe as Tittflip co-founders Tiara and Gash hype up the DIY parking lot party.
I'm aware there's a lot of violence and hatred, some blatant and some very under the surface. The fact that an event like this can go on with these kinds of people is a step in the right direction.
This map was created to make it easier for non-trad skaters to connect and find places to roll. EACH MONTH WE ASK a few questions to one of the crews featured.
Crew name: TittFlip
City or region? Bay area.
What do you do? Roller skate and skateboard.
How did you start? I (Gash) went to the skate park for the first time ever and I was approached by Ti. She told me that a couple other women were going to skate the next morning together and that I should come. Before I knew it that one morning sesh turned into a daily and nightly routine and then more like-minded women started joining the seshes. We started hosting skate trips to different parks and then realized that more femme and queer people longed for a safe space to skate. We began to see the impact we had and we came to a consensus that as a group we all had the same goal which was to be that safe space. From there we became more motivated to create events to include anyone that wanted to be involved.
Where do you meet? At the skatepark (mainly Brentwood).
Can you share a story or favorite moment from a meetup? I would say my favorite moment would be our first ever TittFlip BBQ. It was so surreal! We had no idea so many people were gonna show up and in that moment we realized just how much support we had from our community. I remember a girl coming up to me to tell me our skate edits are what encouraged her to keep trying to skate. It felt so good to see the support we have from our community but to also hear that we’ve become something bigger than our individual selves, we became a safe space for queer and femme skaters and we became a group that motivates and encourages others to keep it pushin’.
How can people get involved/support you? People can reach out through Tittflip’s Instagram DMs (@tittflip). We also will be putting up a website soon so people can check out our upcoming events and get more information on how to support.
What else do you want people to know? Never forget the impact you can have just by taking up space. At the end of the day that’s really how TittFlip started; by being unapologetic as f*** and taking up space.
