An ESPN spokesman said that there were not enough professional women's skateboarders to field a separate division for skateboarding. But according to one female pro skateboarder, there are around 25 active female professionals. Patty Segovia, a photographer and founder of the All Girls Skate Jam , the first female-only skateboarding competition, said that when she approached ESPN about having a women's division, organizers told her there was not enough of a public demand for a female contest. The X Games are not even giving us a chance. A number of male X Games athletes offered their own perspective on the gender discrepancy at the X Games and in extreme sports in general.
Bike riding is pretty tough.
It's kind of up to them. They got all the chances as we do to ride. There's no exclusion or anything like that. But Segovia said that discouragement from males has led to a lack of female interest in extreme sports. One X Games skateboarder seemed to confirm this attitude.