VICE Sports Q&A: Brazilian Skateboard Champion Leticia Bufoni

Female skateboarders do not get the same attention as their male counterparts. It's a sad and basic reality of a scene that remains pretty macho. But Brazilian skateboard champ Leticia Bufoni wants to change this. She is a pro skater from Sao Paulo with four World Cup titles and three X-Games gold medals under her belt.

At 22 years old, she says this is only the beginning of what she hopes is a growing acceptance of women in the male-dominated sport. And with over 450,000 Instagram followers, it's fair to say that she is having an impact on the hearts and minds of young skaters.

Bufoni created a bit of a stir earlier this month when she posed with her skateboard and nothing else for ESPN magazine, a move which was met by criticism from those who perceived it as objectifying female athletes.

Last weekend, she attended the Montreal Jackalope Festival which took place at the city's Olympic Stadium—the only Canadian stop of the World Cup Skateboarding championship. This year, for the first time in four editions, females could compete as well.

Bufoni was injured, unfortunately, and didn't skate at the event. We sat on the sidelines with her to watch the competition and got her take on the manly world of pro skating as well as how she perceives her role in it.

VICE Sports: Too bad you couldn't skate, what's going on?

Leticia Bufoni: The day before I arrived in Montreal, I was filming one of the hardest tricks for my video part. I was skating a pretty big gap for three hours and I got a heel bruise. I can't even stand on my board.

Why was it important for you to show up?

It's a great event and it's part of the World Cup. It's good to get points… But obviously, I won't get any. But I wanted to come anyways to support the girls.

You're from Sao Paulo but you live in Los Angeles, two skateboarding capitals. What is the main difference between the skate cultures of the two cities?

Eight years ago I moved to LA just to skate. In California, there are lots of spots, lots of skateparks and all of my sponsors are from there. And now that I travel a lot, it's a good base. In Brazil, skateboarding is massive. It's the second sport after soccer. I feel that the female skating scene is going up really fast. But still, SP is not like LA. There are few skateparks and it's much harder to train.

Was is harder to be accepted as a female skater in Brazil?

It's much harder in Brazil. At the beginning, people was calling me "lesbian" and "tomboy." Now, it's much better. Everywhere I go, when I say that I'm a professional skateboarder, people are impressed. It's great!

In July 2013, Nyjah Huston said to Trasher Magazine that "skateboarding is not for girls at all". How did you react?

I don't give a shit what people say. I didn't care. When I read the interview I just started laughing. I know we can skate. If he thinks women can't skate, it's worse for him because he doesn't know what he is saying. But it's OK, we are friends! We skate all the time together in contests. He was out of his mind when he said that. He's a great skater and it's too bad that he said that.

Do you feel that female skateboarding gets the place it deserves on the scene?

We are getting there. There is improvement. I'm doing The Berrics Push project. Lizzie Armanto and I are on the last Tony Hawk video game. It's changing a lot. I just made the cover of ESPN The Magazine, I'm the first skateboarder to do that.

Yeah, speaking of that cover… you were naked. Is it important to be sexy to get attention?

My photoshoot wasn't sexy. It's a different thing. It's about the body and the muscles of athletes. They want to show what sport does to your body.

But you've done sexy shoots in the past…

Yeah, I did bikini shoots. It was for fitness magazines. It's important for me to do stuff like that because I want to show the world outside skateboarding that girls can skate. It's good for the exposure.

Do you get hate from the other girls in the skateboarding community when you do those pictures?

Yes. When I did the bikini shots for Men's Health everyone was making fun of me. But you know what? I'm doing my job and I love it. I don't care. The more famous you get, the more haters you are going to get.

You are about to launch your own skateboard company, Yeah Yeah Skateboards. Why was it important to have your brand?

Actually, I started it because I don't have a board sponsor -- no one wants to put a girl on a team and take them on tour or on video parts. I didn't want to represent anyone for free, so I started my own brand.

Do you ever get tired of talking about the difference between men and women skateboard in interviews?

Nah! I always talk about it. It's fine. I don't care. It's part of my job!