XX Factor: Snowboarding While Iranian

Outside Podcast

Sports, Wilderness

4.4 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 2 May 2017

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mona Seraji is the first snowboarder from the Middle East to compete professionally in the Freeride World Qualifier, a series of big-mountain events that attract the best riders in the world. She's also a talented surfer, rock climber, and mountain biker. All this is more impressive when you consider the fact that in her home country of Iran, Seraji faces strict rules about how women can participate in athletics. Women aren’t allowed in sports stadiums, for example. They’re discouraged from riding bicycles in public. They can be arrested for showing too much skin or hair. In the United States, that sort of stuff is pretty much all we hear about female athletes—and women generally—in the Middle East. But it’s only part of the picture. Outside contributing editor Florence Williams talks with Seraji to get the real deal and hear how the athlete's powerful ambition enabled her to break new ground.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of the Outside Podcast is brought to you by REI Co-op.
0:06.0	They want to make the outdoors the largest level playing field on Earth.
0:11.0	In this spring, they're kicking off more than a thousand new classes and
0:14.8	events designed just for women. They're also launching a series of all women's
0:19.5	adventure travel programs. The ladies want it and we're going to give them what they want.
0:24.3	Jen Scubicki has been guiding with REI for four years. She leads trips through Utah,
0:29.8	Yosemite, the Grand Canyon. I think of like when I looked into Grand Canyon
0:34.7	for the first time, I just remember being so absolutely odd.
0:41.0	And to see that in my guest's eyes when they get all sparkly eyed and they have no words.
0:49.4	It's just, I mean it brings me back to my first time. I have still never been to the Grand Canyon and I have like a deep American guilt about it.
0:58.0	Oh my God, I'd love to take you.
1:00.0	Okay, so if you also feel guilty about never having been to the Grand Canyon, or maybe you want to hike across New Zealand or bike through South Africa with a group of awesome women, here's your chance. Check out those all women's trips and more at REI.com
1:16.7	slash Force of Nature.
1:18.6	From Outside magazine and PRX, these are dispatches.
1:26.0	Stories from our writers in the field.
1:29.0	Hey guys, Peter here just to introduce this new mini series we're doing called Double X Factor.
1:39.8	It's all about women doing cool stuff in the outdoors and it's part of a bigger
1:43.6	campaign both on the podcast and the magazine to tell more stories by and
1:48.8	about women. Florence Williams is our host for these and they're produced by Phoebe Flanagan.
1:55.0	And in this week's episode we're talking to Mona Serraji.
1:58.0	Mona's a surfer, a rock climber, a mountain biker, and the very first snowboarder from the Middle East to compete professionally
2:06.6	in the Free Ride World Qualifier.
	...

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