ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the versions of masculinity embodied and performed by men working in commercial surfboard factories. It focuses on a self-defined manufacturing industry. However, in popular surfing places customisation via craft-based production is an enduring ritual of the surfboard industry. Lurking next to craft production is the equally stubborn legacy of commercial surfboard-making: a profoundly gendered division of labour. Cultural economy is used to explore the masculinities of surfboard-makers, prioritising analysis of the way values, practices and skills shape economic relations. With the rise of interactive service industries, features aligned to social constructions of femininity aesthetic performance, team work, holistic thinking, empathy and persuasiveness have become more important for accessing jobs and completing economic transactions. Co-worker interactions on factory floors valorise the exploits of heterosexual men. The reproduction of surfing's subcultural discourses resonates strongly in commercial workshops and offers an explanation for persistent divisions of labour along gender lines.
