IF there's a renewed focus on women's professional surfing right now - and there is - only part of it is because of the general re-examination of gender roles that is sweeping the world by storm, and throwing some old attitudes in history's waste bin.
That part of the debate has been fired, as far as surfing is concerned, by the controversial new film, Girl's Can't Surf.
This ironically titled documentary goes deep behind the scenes of the pro tour, and the surf industry more generally, in a series of interviews with a clutch of leading women surfers over the years, spliced with often embarrassing historic footage from back in the day.
There's no doubt that professional surfing has as much sexist baggage to contend with as any other sport.
The ructions over the differences between men's and women's prize money, the locations of events on the women's tour among other points of contention, have been bruising.
Debate will continue, too, over "bikinis versus board shorts", and the way that body image and the exploitation of the female form is never too far from the surface when women's sports are being photographed and filmed.
So these elements, then, make women's surfing a topical subject.
But an equally compelling - and far happier - reason why the women are climbing to higher rungs on the competitive ladder is that the touring pros are literally ripping the bag out of every wave.
Some women surfers will always approach the sport with a balletic aesthetic, just as there are some men - the Gold Coast's 2012 world champ Joel Parkinson being one - with reputations for effortless grace.
But right now, the women are literally matching it with the men.
The best women surfers have always been better than the Average Joes who in many cases resented the female intrusion at their local breaks.
But the competitive and free-surfing performances of the seeded women on the Championship Tour, the top performers in the Qualifying Series - including Newcastle Cup wildcard Philippa Anderson - and perhaps most notably of all, the women chasing monster swells in the Women's Big Wave tour, are not just turning heads.
They're spinning them!
At Peahi - otherwise known as Jaws - on the northern shore of the Hawaiian island of Maui in January, Frenchwoman Justine Dupont was towed into a wave that was easily 50 foot (15 metres) on the face.
To the awe and momentary horror of onlookers she disappeared deep inside the cyclonic barrel and emerged to global acclaim.
Whichever way you look at it, the women have arrived, and their surfing will speak for itself when the contest kicks off.
Women to watch out for?
A look back through WSL contest results shows that each is capable of beating the other, but Hawaiian four-time world champ Carissa Moore is hungry for a fifth title and Aussie Tyler Wright, the 2016 and 2017, is also on the hunt.
Hometown hopes, of course, rest with "our Philippa", ranked #4 in the Australia/Oceania women's QS rankings, to go all the way.
THE HERALD'S TOP HUNTER SURFERS SERIES SO FAR:
- Ten point rides: Newcastle's best surfers across the decades
- 'Girls can't surf?' Yes they can. And how
- Boardriding brilliance on the bus from Wallsend: Kelly Bashford
- Longer hair, shorter boards: Peter Cornish
- 'Radical Roger' Clements, with rare 1968 video footage
- Opposite ends: Smooth Belinda Baggs and the frantic Sabre Norris
- The impossibly stylish Craig Anderson
- Paige Haggerston: Aussie champ at 17
- The tropical life of Peter McCabe
- Merewether pioneers Pam Lane, Nancy Newburn and Judy Clements
- Young guns Amelie Bourke and Ellie Lambkin
- Revered at Redhead: 'the other' Col Smith
- Bells Beach winner at 16: Nicky Wood
- Elle Clayton-Brown riding the WQS table
- Hell-raiser, Bells winner, Matt Hoy
- Sarah Baum finds a new home in Newcastle
-
Ryan Callinan, Championship Tour charger on a mission
- Remembering Blacksmiths battler Michelle Donoghoe
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