The image of the skater as a rebellious, non-conforming youth has faded in recent years. Certain cities still oppose the building skateparks in their neighbourhoods, for fear of increased crime and drugs in the area. The rift between the old image of skateboarding and a newer one is quite visible: magazines such as Thrasher portray skateboarding as dirty, rebellious, and still firmly tied to punk, while other publications, Transworld Skateboarding as an example, paint a more diverse, and controlled picture of skateboarding. Furthermore, as more professional skaters use hip hop, reggae, or hard rock music accompaniment in their videos, many urban youths, hip-hopers, reggae fans, and rockers are also drawn to skateboarding, further diluting the sport's punk image.

Films such as Grind and Lords Of Dogtown, have helped improve the reputation of skateboarding youth, depicting individuals of this subculture as having a positive outlook on life, prone to poking harmless fun at each other, and engaging in healthy sportsman's competition. According to the film, lack of respect, egotism and hostility towards fellow skateboarders is generally frowned upon, albeit each of the characters (and as such, proxies of the "stereotypical" skateboarder) have a firm disrespect for authority and for rules in general. Group spirit is supposed to heavily influence the members of this community. In presentations of this sort, showcasing of criminal tendencies is absent, and no attempt is made to tie extreme sports to any kind of illegal activity.

Gleaming the Cube, a 1989 movie starring Christian Slater as a skateboarding teen investigating the death of his adopted Vietnamese brother was somewhat of an iconic landmark to the skateboarding genre of the era. Many well-known skaters had cameos in the film, including Tony Hawk.

Skateboarding video games have also become very popular in skateboarding culture. Some of the most popular are the Tony Hawk series, and Skate series for various consoles (Including hand-held) and personal computer.

Common clothing items include: open plaid button-down shirts, wristbands, webbed belts, T-shirts, baggy shorts or jeans, and hooded sweatshirts with patches or spraypainted graphics. Some skate punks have been influenced by the Cholo/gang style. Skateboard clothing and footwear brands are commonly worn, such as: Baker, Emerica, Fallen, Spitfire Wheels, Toy Machine, Black Label, Vans, Globe International and Zero.

They may listen to whatever music they want, although there is 'skate punk' music.

Please note- Skaters do not and never will put too much emphasis on fashion or music, those who do are either 'skater-chic' (think Avril Lavigne) or Skate punk. Real skaters care more about doing cool tricks than being stylish.

Image from deviantart, information from wikipedia.