Never Meant to Play Sports

Life before Title IX for women in sports was terrible. Why would it be anything else? Sports were never created with the intention of women playing them. Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, said in the early 1900s, that “the Olympic Games must be reserved for men.” It must be, in his words, “the solemn and periodic exaltation of male athleticism” (McDonagh and Pappano, 39):

The final line of this assertion speaks directly to what sports meant for women: watching, following, and cheering on men whenever they played. “Female applause” was their “reward”.

This belief, that women should not play, or rather should not play on a major stage, stems from the idea that women and men are on opposite ends of the physical spectrum. It stems from the idea that women would never be able to play at the same level of physicality, intensity, and athletics as men (Mangan and Park, 289). The understanding that males and females are physically different triggered stereotypes of male and female physical attributes, in addition to developing the notion that males and females were on the opposite end of the physical spectrum.

Men further attempted to displace women from excelling in sports out of fear: as Lorber argues, “Men feared that they might be challenged or even displaced in governance of the basic social order…. Overall, they feared that they would lose control of public, political, social, and economic affairs” (Mangan and Park, 282). Men sought to assert their societal dominance over women through sports. They boasted about their involvement in sport as a proof of masculinity, especially if their gender identity seemed threatened. For instance, as explained in From Fair Sex to Feminism by J.A. Mangan and Roberta Park, composer Charles Ives feared that his musical interests made him seem effeminate. When he was asked what he played in his youth (an open-ended question), he simply replied “shortstop” with no mention of his musical interests (Mangan and Park, 283). This fear of losing identity and purpose drove men to continually promote their athletic dominance, making it harder for women to enter this space.

Prior to 1972, Mangan and Park argue, not only were women discouraged from playing sports by men, but they were also criticized (in regard to their athletic ability). In fact, male performance was often the standard against which female performance was measured (Mangan and Park, 285). If women performed well in male-heavy sports, their femininity was questioned. Women should not perform well in football or basketball was the thought. And so, men made sure women did not expand outside of a small subset of sports like tennis or gymnastics (Mangan and Park, 286).

Men always dreamed of dominating the sports space, dating all the way back to 1892 when the Chicago Graphic declared: “Football is typical of all that is heroic in American Sport… the capacity to take hard knocks which belongs to a successful football player is usually associated with the qualities that would enable a man to lead a charge up San Juan Hill” (Mangan and Park, 290). Being dominant in sports, for men, was associated with being a leader, having perseverance, courage, and determination. These ideals for men in sports have continued into modern day conversations, as sports are believed to teach young men valuable lessons like leadership and hard work. The quotations to left are from women from 1900-1956, expressing their thoughts on their inability to participate in sports. Evidently, females wanted to play sports, they just weren’t able to (Mangan and Park, 290).

Essentially, men believed they were physically better and naturally born to play sports, while women were naturally born to applaud them and clean the dishes (McDonagh and Pappano, 30).

Although men are physically bigger, have more upper-body strength and muscle mass than women, this does not mean they are athletically superior to women. Some physical attributes associated with women as a group – such as lower center of gravity, lower weight, and a greater percentage of body fat – are athletically advantageous. For example, in swimming, a woman’s higher body fat provides more buoyancy and protection from frigid waters. Also, lower weight allows for women to have an edge in super endurance running.

Prior to Title IX, Senator George McGovern exclaimed “prejudice against women [was] the last socially accepted bigotry” in 1971, representing the discrimination women constantly felt during these years (McDonagh and Pappano, 77). As the Second Wave Feminist Movement began to develop in the late 1960s, women soon began to fight for equal rights in sports as well. They were tired of being an afterthought, and Title IX (passed in 1972) was the first step in changing the way women were seen in sports.

Sources:

Mangan, J. A., and Roberta J. Park. From ‘Fair Sex’ to Feminism: Sport and the Socialization of Women in the Industrial and Post-Industrial Eras. Cass, 1987.

McDonagh, Eileen, and Laura Pappano. Playing with the Boys: Why Separate Is Not Equal in Sports. Oxford University Press, 2009.

“You Have a Right to Nonsexist Education”: How Title IX Changed the World

Title IX states that, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance” (Sadker, Myra, and Elsa, 5).

In 1972, Title IX was established to provide everyone with equal access to any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance, including sports. This means that public schools and universities, which are federally funded institutions, are legally required to provide equitable sport opportunities to girls and boys. This is why these institutions now have the same number of women’s sports as there are men’s sports.

To highlight the importance of this law for women in sports, let’s look at some numbers. Before Title IX, one in 27 girls played sports. As of 2016, two in five play. Today, woman after woman is breaking barriers and shattering records across a multitude of sports in a multitude of arenas (“Title IX and the Rise of Female Athletes in America”). The US National Women’s Soccer Team (USNWST), in particular, has won back-to-back World Cups. The progression to this point began with Title IX.

Since the passage of Title IX, there has been a steady increase in the participation of American women at the Olympics; in the 2016 Olympics, hundreds of girls were present and made history, benefiting from this law. Since the 1972 Winter Olympics to the 2016 Winter Olympics, 26 competitions have been added for women to participate in (“Title IX and the Rise of Female Athletes in America”).

Former Women’s Sport Foundation CEO Donna Lopiano attests to the change Title IX generated for the United States: “We give more opportunity to women in this country, and it’s not even close. You are seeing the effects of that in these Olympics” (“Title IX and the Rise of Female Athletes in America”).

It is important to note that in terms of the quality of participation of these women, it is not enough for there to be equal opportunity to participate in a sports program if “participate” means just going through the motions. Women should have equal opportunity to receive the benefits of the program through interested participation. Title IX opened the door for women who want these benefits to receive them (McDonagh and Papano, 24). The passage to the left from Sports Illustrated notes the serious discrimination women faced in 1973 if they wanted to participate in competitive sports (Postow, 287).

Organized sports are extremely valuable to society. Sports are intimately linked to our national cultural identity and embraced as the physical manifestation of American prowess and power. They allow for an individual to have a sense of individualism, of feeling like they belong to a group in a unique way. Sports hold a special place in American culture and are seen as an important tool for bettering individuals and society (McDonagh and Papano, 26). The central role that sports have played in America tell us something about why Title IX was so important: it exponentially increased the opportunity for women to enter this secular space of society and feel like they belong with the men. In American culture, sports matter.

Overall, Title IX’s impact on women’s sports is profound. The law allowed for increased funding and institutional opportunities for females in sports. Since 1972 to now, there has been a 545% increase in the percentage of women playing college sports, and a 990% increase in the percentage of women playing high school sports (“Title IX and the Rise of Female Athletes in America”).

During the 1970s, The Guide to Title IX handbook (the cover is seen to the left) served as a “public service announcement” to readers to remind them that everyone, particularly women, “have a right to nonsexist education” (Sadker, Myra, and Elsa, 4). Created in 1974, the guide goes through all the aspects of Title IX and informs women on their rights under the new law. Hoping to reduce discrimination against women and to enforce the law in a more direct manner, the handbook goes through what it means to have a nonsexist education, what it means to not have discrimination in sports, and encourages young women to stick up for their new rights. A revolutionary law that changed the educational and sporting lives of young women, this guide helped to increase awareness of the law and promote young women to join sports.

All in all, the impact of Title IX was immeasurable for women. It opened doors for them that most thought closed prior to 1972, and more and more women are taking advantage of this opportunity to play sports every day. Sports have helped women in almost every facet of life, from creating leaders on the field and translating these gains to other aspects of life. This is seen in the photo to the right, where a girl from 1978 exclaims how sports have impacted the rest of her life. And the relationships these women are able to develop through sports are ones they will carry with them for the rest of their life. As 1976 Olympic gold medalist Ann Henning has said, “I owe a lot to sports. If I didn’t get into athletics, I have this feeling, I don’t know why… that I wouldn’t be too neat a person…. I know there things I can have and be, which I never would have realized if I hadn’t gone into athletics” (Postow, 149).

Sources:

McDonagh, Eileen, and Laura Pappano. Playing with the Boys: Why Separate Is Not Equal in Sports. Oxford University Press, 2009.

Postow, Betsy C. Women, Philosophy, and Sport: a Collection of New Essays. Scarecrow, 1983. 

“Title IX and the Rise of Female Athletes in America.” Women’s Sports Foundation, 11 Oct. 2019.

Sadker, Myra, and Elsa Bailey. A Student Guide to Title IX. U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office of Education, 1976.

Societal Pressures of Athletic Women

When Eileen McDonagh and Laura Pappano set out to write Playing with the Boys: Why Separate is Not Equal in Sports (see below) in 2008, their goal was to challenge a male-dominated sports culture after years of very few women doing so. Even with Title IX in 1972 and Billie Jean King’s monumental win over Bobby Riggs in 1973, women still feared playing sports and performing well because of what society would think of them: “Actual performances of female athletes has been handicapped by cultural messages dissuading women from competing. Bold women have historically challenged barriers. They are the few, however” (McDonagh and Pappano, 36). Amidst a hailstorm of negative messages surrounding women in sports, women during the 1970s set out to change the image of what it meant for females to be athletes.

Women who excelled at sports were perceived as freakish.

Women who excelled at sports were perceived as anomalous.

Women who excelled at sports were perceived as eccentric.

The 1987 edited volume From Fair Sex to Feminism: Sport and the Socialization of Women in the Industrial and Post-Industrial Eras, edited by J.A. Mangan and Roberta Park features a number of articles on the history of women in sports, illustrating that athletic excellence was in fact possible for women only at the risk of being considered a freak. The ability for women to be accepted as athletic stars was dependent on “the emergence of a strong ideology which could counter the prevalent one,” according to Kathleen McCrone (85). Championship talent for women was considered a social challenge because women would have to violate the widely held notions of female “anatomy and destiny” (Mrozek, 289). Women were supposed to have smaller, weaker bodies.

Male athletes were often treated as freakish, anomalous, and eccentric as well (Mrozek, 287). However, their acceptance of these stigmas accelerated at a much faster rate than that of women (as exemplified in the quote to the right). These male athletes were glorified for their success, while a woman was considered a “tomboy” or a “lesbian.” As Janice Kaplan writes in Women and Sports, it seemed clear that girls had babies to show they were women while men had footballs to prove they were men.

How did women go about changing this stigma? They put their nose down and steered straight into the stereotypical onslaught of what it meant to be a female athlete. 

To get involved in sport, women began to accept their female identity while remaining a top athlete. To blur these lines, Renee Richards (a professional tennis player during the 70s) unintentionally intimated that women in sports are not only girls, but also full of masculine impulses. She says, “We’re proud to be women and don’t want anyone questioning our sex” (Kaplan, 95). Women learned that the best way to survive and excel in sports culture was to flaunt their sexuality, realizing that their male counterparts could never take this away from them.

Women began to realize how playing sports would change their lives, following the message that sports can bring joy to their lives. Getting involved in sports, for women, soon became more than a symbolic assertion of female vigor and possibility. Sports became motivation for women to achieve anything in life. Once a woman did the impossible in sports, why not do it in everything else in life? Women started to love themselves and get in touch with their feminine energy.

With this newfound respect and realization of the powerful impact of sports, women began to get involved and get to the top of sports. By 1978, three of the top five women listed as “Most Admired” in Seventeen magazine were athletes – a major change from the late sixties when actresses dominated the female scene (Kaplan, 49). Mothers during this time, who grew up in a different era where sports were not meant for women, began to realize the massive impact of sports as well. One mother quoted this about her daughter playing tennis: “She’s not the best one out there and she’ll never win a fortune, but tennis is going to make her a real person. She’s learning to take the hard knocks as well as the breaks. What more can I want from sports for my girl?” (Kaplan, 173). The photo above from Kaplan’s book illustrates this idea as well (Kaplan, 200).

During the 1970s, a new society for women began to form for women in sports, one where playing sports with the men could change one’s life.

Sources:

Kaplan, Janice. Women and Sports. Viking Press, 1979.

McCrone, Kathleen. “Play up! Play up! And Play the Game! Sport at the Late Victorian Girls’ Public Schools.” From ‘Fair Sex’ to Feminism: Sport and the Socialization of Women in the Industrial and Post-Industrial Eras, edited by J. A. Mangan and Roberta J. Park, Routledge, 1987, pp. 97-129.

McDonagh, Eileen, and Laura Pappano. Playing with the Boys: Why Separate Is Not Equal in Sports. Oxford University Press, 2009.

Mrozek, Donald. “The Amazon and the American ‘Lady’: Sexual Fears of Women as Athletes.” From ‘Fair Sex’ to Feminism: Sport and the Socialization of Women in the Industrial and Post-Industrial Eras, edited by J. A. Mangan and Roberta J. Park, Routledge, 1987, pp. 282-298.

The New Image of Female Athlete Bodies

During the early 1930s and 1940s, a woman being athletic and excelling in sports was deemed unseemly behavior for women, as reinforced by multiple claims and books. In 1934, Inez Haynes Irwin published Angels and Amazons. This book was his interpretation of the rise of women to public prominence, focusing on traditionally important fields like English and math. However, there was a noticeable and key absence of discussion on women in sports. In 1943, Amram Scheinfeld argued that “women were clearly inferior to men in all physical regards, such as strength and endurance… her muscular system has a more limited range for development” (Mrozek 283). Scheinfeld’s views were supported by comparing males and females to roosters and hens, claiming that “hens would be no match for roosters in some blood contests” (Mrozek 292). He also notes how female horses often scored fewer victories than male horses at the track.

As noted in previous posts, J.A. Mangan’s and Roberta Park’s From Fair Sex to Feminism (seen to the left) highlights how the great female athletes of America always risked being considered a freak, or eccentric and a tomboy. 

Janice Kaplan in Women and Sports notes how prior to the 1970s, women were holding themselves back just as much as societal pressures were. Kaplan notes how “what held women back… was their own image of themselves and the well-learned precept that they should always consider how their bodies looked rather than how they felt” (Kaplan, 17). Girls were used to thinking of their bodies as “someone else’s property” (Kaplan, 49).

The quote to the right, from Kaplan’s book, highlights these differences.

How were women going to change their psyche around participating in sports and block out the stereotypes of society? It starts with women changing the way they saw their body. Jean Williams in A Contemporary History of Women’s Sport notes how during the 1970s and 1980s, an aerobics boom meant a growing body-consciousness where women cared about how they felt for themselves, not for men. The body was something to be worked on, and an increasing number of private gyms during this time helped accommodate women fitness to follow the famous female athletes (Williams, 254).

This charge was led by women athletes who wanted to break down male-only barriers in sports despite the anguish and humiliation they would face. Following Billie Jean King’s monumental win over Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes” in 1973, the typical women stopped relating to “do-nothing beauties” and rather “[identified] with an energetic champion” (Kaplan, 18). In 1973, when virtually any male was deemed superior to any female at virtually anything, this event was symbolic. As McDonagh and Pappano note in Playing with the Boys, “The world saw a talented, muscular, and competent young woman close out distractions to win in tennis” (McDonagh and Pappano, 16). After Riggs had insisted that women belonged in the kitchen and the bedroom, and not the tennis court, the world took notice that female players were just as compelling as male players.

The new image of athletics had a great impact on the average women, and a boom of women finding ways to engage into physical activity began. And these women were proud of themselves. Kaplan recounts in an interview, with a woman who completed a marathon, how she was ecstatic how her “little body” ran 26.2 miles (Kaplan, 54. Women soon realized to love themselves and their athletic bodies, and this new image of a female athlete changed the way women sports forever.

Sources:

Kaplan, Janice. Women and Sports. Viking Press, 1979.

Mangan, J. A., and Roberta J. Park, editors. From ‘Fair Sex’ to Feminism: Sport and the Socialization of Women in the Industrial and Post-Industrial Eras. Routledge, 1987.

McDonagh, Eileen, and Laura Pappano. Playing with the Boys: Why Separate Is Not Equal in Sports. Oxford University Press, 2009.

Williams, Jean. A Contemporary History of Women’s Sport, Part One: Sporting Women, 1850-1960. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2016.

“Billie Jean Evens the Score”

When Seventeen magazine polled readers in 1975, by no surprise to anyone, Billie Jean King was found to be the most admired woman in the world. Following her iconic win over Bobby Riggs in 1973, King’s winning ways offered strength to other women worldwide (McDonagh and Pappano, 36).

Eileen McDonagh and Laura Pappano describe the circumstances of the match well in their book Playing with the Boys. King was about to face Riggs in a $100,000 winner-take-all tennis match. Riggs at this point was “an over-the-hill 1939 Wimbledon champion who appeared goofy and cocky” as he baited King into accepting the match (McDonagh and Pappano, 31). Claiming men wrote him fan letters about the match and constantly surrounding himself with sexy young women, Riggs had the intention of putting King “in her place” (McDonagh and Pappano, 32). Riggs was a 55-year-old former champ, while King was a 29-year-old at the top of her game and number one in the world for women’s tennis. Nonetheless, in 1973, this was a time when virtually all males were deemed superior to any female in sports. It was a symbolic event. The photo above depicts King during this match (Collins, 45).

King, focused and ready to play, went on to dismantle Riggs in three straight sets. The female sports world and the way society saw female athletics was never the same. For female athletes at this time, having athleticism and beating a male was bigger than sports. King’s win was a win for female equality in all aspects of life. As McDonagh and Pappano state, “When a woman wins big, she pushes the boundaries… offering with each performance a revised vision of female social status… challenging the presumption… of men’s physical – if not mental, emotion, general – superiority over women” (McDonagh and Pappano, 37). With her aggressive style of play, somewhat dubbed “masculine” and a “man’s game” at times, became a model for other talented women. She spread a new definition of what a woman could be in the world of sports. She made it acceptable for women to push themselves (McDonagh and Pappano, 38).

King’s rising popularity following this match was evident in social media as well, specifically in Ms. Magazine – a popular feminist periodical at the time. King received so much national attention for her match that Ms. made her the cover of their 1973 July edition, entitled “Billie Jean Evens the Score”. The cover is posted to the right, showing a beautiful photo of King smiling. The title article associated with King allowed for the female society to really get to know their newfound hero (Collins, 39). She comments on how she wasn’t focused on a family at this time, and she never smoked. More importantly, King used this article as an opportunity to promote female power. As she says, “I keep telling the girls… we’re still getting hassled by male officials, and we still have to fight twice as hard as the men to get fair treatment. We haven’t made it yet,” following her win (Collins, 101). King remained focused on grabbing the young girls and making sure they felt liberated from men’s grasp on the tennis and sporting world. She wanted to make a change for all females, and never felt satisfied with her efforts. She was constantly traveling around the country, making appearances on different news outlets, and promoting female athletes (Collins, 103). This quote from this article, to the right, highlights her constant fight amidst the discrimination (Collins, 103).

King did much more for female equality and female athletes beyond defeating Riggs. During her career, King was a closeted lesbian married to Larry King. In 1981, however, her secretary Marilyn Barnett filed a public palimony suit against her for hiding their love affair. Although King felt ashamed about this, she did not let this lawsuit impact her social efforts of helping women worldwide achieve equality.

Her ability to avoid total disaster upon this disclosure of her lesbian relationship while maintaining her marriage with Larry King even suggest that by the 1980s, sexual fears surrounding women athletes have been muted (Postow, 56). King effectively forced re-examination of what it meant to be female, and to be an athlete.

The combination of King’s athletic excellence and her growing activism in social, economic, and political affairs expanded the opportunities for females to truly be outstanding female athletes.

Sources:

Collins, Bud. “Billie Jean King Evens the Score.” Ms., July 1973, pp. 39-43, 101-103.

Postow, Betsy C. Women, Philosophy, and Sport: a Collection of New Essays. Scarecrow, 1983.

McDonagh, Eileen, and Laura Pappano. Playing with the Boys: Why Separate Is Not Equal in Sports. Oxford University Press, 2009.

“It was [NOT] a Mistake” 

Nikki Giovanni, to the right, is one of America’s foremost poets who writes about those who fought for social justice, such as Martin Luther King Jr., and, of course, Billie Jean King. Giovanni felt outrage over the palimony suit against the tennis superstar made by her secretary Marilyn Barnett in 1981, revealing their hidden love affair during the 1970s. In her 1993 poem “Mirrors (for Billie Jean King),” Giovanni expresses outrage over this lawsuit and her anger over King’s admitting her affair was a mistake. King was an American idol and female hero at this point, and Giovanni felt King’s sexuality strengthened her position in society and aided her cause to fight for women’s equality.

Before discussing the poem in depth, however, it is important to note why looking at Giovanni’s poem is important in explaining King’s effort to create a change. As noted in Motion American Sports Poems by Noah Blaustein, “if you want to know what was going on in a culture at any given time, read the poets. Poets write about the subjects available to them” (Blaustein, xviii). By understanding how Giovanni felt about King’s situation, as expressed through her poem, we can begin to understand how many other women felt about King.

In her poem, Giovanni writes: “The face in the window… is not the face in the mirror… Mirrors aren’t for windows… they would block the light…” (lines 2-3). Giovanni is metaphorically juxtaposing mirrors and windows to describe her feelings that a person’s private and public life are not the same.  A mirror allows someone to see into a person’s private life, while a window allows someone to see into someone’s public life: “Windows / show who we hope to be… Mirrors reflect who we are…” (lines 3-4).

Private lives should remain private (23). Giovanni does make an important distinction, however, between things that are private that are not right, about which one should NOT remain silent: “There are things… / like abused children… that is public pain… // like people in wheelchairs… who need sidewalk access” (22). But then there is King’s particular situation, which should be kept private. Giovanni writes, “… BUT THINGS… like love… and promises / made after midnight… … / have no place… in the courtyard… … // Childish adults want to break / mirrors… want to shatter lives….” (23). These lines speak to the private life of a person that should be kept a secret. King’s case did not involve battery or abused children, situations that should be open to the public and tried; her situation involved the love she held for someone else. Giovanni notes that King’s sexual desires are her own and nobody’s business. When Barnett revealed love letters from King to the media, the world was able to see into King’s mirror.

Giovanni then goes on to idolize King and her sexuality, hoping to express to King that she should love who she is and not regret her actions. She writes, “One of my heroes… is a tennis player… who has the courage of her game… and her life…” (23). King meant so much to women and created a change for all female athletes to accept being a gritty, tough female athlete. By looking at the way Giovanni writes about her after experiencing her impact during the 1970s, readers can appreciate King’s true impact on women.

Finally, the poem urges King to not regret who she is and the love she felt during this time for another women. She writes,  “… but It Cannot Be A / Mistake to have cared… It Cannot Be An Error to have tried /… It Cannot Be Incorrect to have loved” (23). Giovanni uniquely highlights her desire to tell King that she made no mistake in loving Barnett by capitalizing each letter . King needs to understand how much she changed women’s lives for the best, and how much she changed female sport culture. The final section of the poem, seen above, exemplifies how much King meant to society in a beautiful way.

Sources:

Blaustein, Noah, and John Edgar Wideman. Motion: American Sports Poems. University of Iowa Press, 2001.

Giovanni, Nikki. “Mirrors (for Billie Jean King).” Those Who Ride the Night Winds, Quill/Morrow, 1993, pp. 22–24.

Blaustein, Noah, and John Edgar Wideman. Motion: American Sports Poems. University of Iowa Press, 2001.

Collins, Bud. “Billie Jean King Evens the Score.” Ms., July 1973, pp. 39-43, 101-103.

Kaplan, Janice. Women and Sports. Viking Press, 1979.

Markula, Pirkko. Feminist Sport Studies: Sharing Experiences of Joy and Pain. State University of New York Press, 2005.

Mangan, J. A., and Roberta J. Park. From ‘Fair Sex’ to Feminism: Sport and the Socialization of Women in the Industrial and Post-Industrial Eras. Routledge, 1987.

Giovanni, Nikki. “Mirrors (for Billie Jean King).” Those Who Ride the Night Winds, Quill/Morrow, 1993, pp. 22–25.

McDonagh, Eileen, and Laura Pappano. Playing with the Boys: Why Separate Is Not Equal in Sports. Oxford University Press, 2009.

Postow, Betsy C. Women, Philosophy, and Sport: a Collection of New Essays. Scarecrow, 1983.

“Title IX and the Rise of Female Athletes in America.” Women’s Sports Foundation, 11 Oct. 2019.

Sadker, Myra, and Elsa Bailey. A Student Guide to Title IX. U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office of Education, 1976.

Williams, Jean. A Contemporary History of Women’s Sport, Part One: Sporting Women, 1850-1960. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2016.