Feminine, Sports and Feminism

Amanda Roth and Susan A. Basow

R. James

Point

Explanation

• The main titles into which the work is divided into are:
o MYTHS AND REALITIES OF WOMEN’S BODIES
o SPORTS AND FEMININITY
o WHAT WOMEN (AND MEN) GET OUT OF FEMALE STRENGTH
o FEMINISTS WORRY ABOUT ADVOCATING PHYSICALITY
o A FEMINIST THEORY OF PHYSICAL LIBERATION
• The whole work sets the stage of how women are represented in today’s
society, with how we should be doing things that will cause a doing and
undoing of femininity while looking it through the lens of sports.
• We are introduced to an instance where, while on a tour the boys were made
to carry the luggage of the girls as well. Here the girls even though wanting too
help the boys who were 6 compared to the 20 women , were not allowed;
questioning how if it were a question of intellectual ability such bias would
have caused an outrage.
• Mary Wollstonecraft and Elizabeth Cady Stanton fought for right of freedom
and equality regardless of sex
• In 1972 they were able to pass the TITLE IX legislation which gave equal
opportunity in athletics; here Title IX is an Educational amendment passed in
1972 which prohibits the discrimination based on gender in schools and
educational programs that get funding from the government.
• While the radical side fought for equality, the liberal side wanted a separate
side for women’s sports and this essay is focusing on the radical side. The
radical side said that sports have importance to strength than agility which
woman have. (It is also ironic to note that they say that they are as strong as
men but want to be judged on the basis of agility.)
• According to Judith Butler, sex is constructed aspect of bodies, similar to
gender. Here Judith Butler says that similar to how bodies are constructed
through activites, sex is also constructed. The liberal side consider the strength
to be natural while the radical side considers it to be due to patriarchy.
• They want to bridge the mind-body chasm and empower women physically,
not just mentally They are advocating for an Amazonian transformation by
empowering women not just physically not also mentally.
• This equality is shown by giving the Tennis match between Billy Jean King and
Bobby Riggs in 1970, which was represented as “The Battle Of The Sexes”. This
was seen as a clash between the traditionally male dominated society and the
feminist movement.
• Even though sports are nearing 50/50, male/female participation, it is still
dominated by men.
• Although women and girls have been participating in sports in great numbers
since the passage of TITLE IX, that participation has not thus far been in large
part liberating.

1. MYTHS AND REALITIES OF WOMEN’S BODIES

• Trying to break the misconception that women are weaker and smaller than
men. Avg. Man is 10-15% larger than the avg. Woman. The point made is
using mothers, who carry their children for a long period of time; where the
Avg. 1 year old is 8-10Kg.
• 24% women that fit the criteria for joining the military but don’t have the
training could lift 45kg, while with training 78% could. Without the training
one out of the four women could lift 45kg, while after training 5 days a
week for 14 weeks, 78% of them could.
• In a research done by Goldstein, it was shown that the avg. Military Woman
could lift 30Kg, while the Avg Man could lift 54Kg. This data shows that
there is a 10% overlap in the bell curve, where 10% of women were
stronger than 10% of men.
• Freedson said that muscle mass was the reason for the difference between
men and women, which is due to testosterone. Natalie Angier did an
experiment where she took a group of steroid users and another body
builders, who trained diligently, and when comparing their strengths they
were the same, trying to prove that testosterone isn’t what that causes
difference in strength.
• In an experiment by blocking the path of the babies to their parents with a
pillow wall, the boys were made to work hard to get over the wall while the
girls were lifted up by their parents.
• Sojourner Truth says that similar to how slavery had made her strong the
social circumstances in our society determine the abilities of women’s
 bodies. In a study with 2nd graders, it was observed that the boys threw 72%
faster than the girls with their dominant hand while it was similar with their
non-dominant hand.
• Truth is of the opinion that the ideal female body was thin and small, which
was propagated for white women. According to Truth, getting thin wasn’t
the main objective for these women but the qualities and behaviours that
people get when wanting to control their cravings and desires. She also say
that people of colour weren’t given the privilege to choose what to eat and
to be feminine.
• A study showed that men on a low calorie diet were passive and anxious
which were traits that were associated with femininity. In the 1970s, while
the ideal woman grew thinner, the ideal man grew muscular.
• While talking about Latina women, she talks about their feminine nature
and how they only care about looking after their husband and family. For
Latina women being skinny was considered as a disease and an insult to the
host. They ate because, they needed a solid body to be a good wife,
mother and for childbearing. Was giving more importance to behaviour
and less to apperance.

2. SPORTS AND FEMININITY

• One way to deemphasise their physical power is by sexualising them.

Female gymnasts give importance to grace and fluidity, while men it’s
upper body strength. This sexualising women in sports are done by
making them wear tight and revealing clothes, where modesty and
Grace are given more importance than showing off their strength.
The men are given tracksuits, while women wear tights
• There was an HBO documentary Dare to Compete: The Struggle of
Women’s Sports, which was sponsored by Nike, with the women
athletes performing in their respective events while, of course,
wearing Nike clothing. Nike, one presumes, is not so concerned with
overcoming women’s oppression as they are concerned with fully
utilizing the new market of female athletes that Title IX helped create.
• In a study in 1989, the women team logos of 38-56% of colleges was
a derivative of the men’s, with suffix like “-gals” OR “-ettes”.
• In other sports where strength were needed to compete, the women
participating were considered “not women”, with sex test becoming
prominent in those times. The women were considered to
 homosexuals, and these women because of the fear of being
classified began backing out, or even stayed closeted.
• The change in the rule of ”Body-checking”. With Body-checking
being considered illegal in women’s hockey, which made other
illegal and more dangerous ways to hurt them come up.
• In the essay, they compare two legends in the field of track, Florence
Griffith Joyner and Carl Lewis. Where Carl did the 100M Dash in 9.86
sec while Florence did it in 10.49 sec; with it still being the world
record. The essay opines that if the 7.5 inch height difference of Carl
Lewis and Florence Griffith were removed she would have been 0.28
heights per seconds faster than Carl Lewis.
• Katherine Stoitzer ran the boston marathon in 1967, using her initials
and finished it in respectable time even though the coordinator tried
to stop her.

3. WHAT WOMEN (AND MEN) GET OUT OF FEMALE STRENGTH

• Even after the passage of Title IX, only 50 women got in using
sports scholarship while 50K men did.
• Women were asked not to resist rape in 1970-80, with only 20%
escaping while 60-80% escape fighting. A study showed that
90% were afraid and changed their lifestyle. Women in the 70s
and 80s were asked to vomit or pee on herself to create an
objection towards the woman. Here women were asked to lower
herself in order to feel safe and to save herself from being raped.
• In the pornographic industry, there is always masculinity and
femininity, whether it be homo or heterosexual and how hurting
the feminine was pleasurable to both parties. And this connects
to the idea of rape. The people who watch porn consider what
they watch to be all true and expect and crave for those things.
They have the misconception that there partner is actually
feeling pleasure similar to those actors.
• The essay says how by accepting that women are strong, men
won’t be made to do the physical labour and that men who are
not that aggressive won’t be made fun of.
4. FEMINISTS WORRY ABOUT ADVOCATING PHYSICALITY

• Cultural feminists don’t want women to be in violent sports and consider

violence to be rooted in male biology. They say that men are more
violent because they don’t have the ability to give life, or have any
nurturing qualities. According to this argument they say that women
don’t need to be associated with violence and that they are better than
men to stoop to the use of violence. McCaughey insists that women are
not as violent as men because women were not entitled to be violent.
• Sojourner Truth says that femininity or womanhood was created to show
that black women were not real women, and thus was able to participate
in sports in the 1940-50 before white women. White women were not
violent because they had cushiony life in comparison to the
• The essay contrasts the movies “Girlfight” and “Love And Basketball”
with “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”, with how the first two movies having a
minority lead are more aggressive, while the white woman is the
stereotypical girly girl, even though she is stronger than demons and
everything in the world. The two minority movie stars are physically
aggressive and non-feminine, while also being beautiful and desirable
to men. This is different from the character of Buffy who is played by a
white actress who even though having the strength to defeat demons is
a Girly Girl with no muscle definition.
• The essay says that women should be equally represented in the army.
They must first argue that women are capable of violence and practice
needs to be violent. Only then can they efficiently argue that violence is
bad.
• The essay wants to define violence as oppressive, while women’s self-
defence and participation in contact sports are not. The essay classifies
violence as oppressive and as self-degree.
• While we are advocating for change, we forgot about the people who
have disabilities and how they might feel excluded. The ideal body
changed from thinness to slender muscularity, comparing body builders
to anorexics.
• The advocating of increased physical strength for women is a means to
an end, not an end in itself.
 • The point of female physical strength is not to extend male strength-
related privilege to women but to end the existence of the privilege
altogether.

5. A FEMINIST THEORY OF PHYSICAL LIBERATION

• Elizabeth Grosz compares the Mind/Body relationship to that of a
Mobius Strip, with the two surfaces representing body and mind where
they are continually in relation with other.
• Guthrie and Castelnuovo created an educational course with personal
body experiences as the reality while rejecting scientific objectivity.
• As our minds change with our body so the theories and the values we
hold dear will also change.