Thank you, Billie Jean King

Last night at practice I fenced one of the many seventeen year-old boys at the fencing club and managed to beat him pretty solidly. He was not happy and it definitely showed. Our coach had to pull him aside and speak to him about the match and general sportsmanship. During their conversation he told her, since he beat me once, he should be able to beat me from then on. Interesting.

I've thought a lot about the situation because I couldn't understand why he would be so upset? Afterall, I have twenty years of practice, fifteen years of competitive experience, world championship titles, olympian, etc. And this boy, although he's tall, athletic, and young, still doesn't have enough skill to beat me on a consistent basis. I just couldn't understand his frustration and why he would be so upset that I was beating him.

Then I thought about my time in Russia and fencing in Moscow with some of the top guys at the army club. To be honest, I couldn't beat a lot of them if I really tried because they over powered me all over the strip, but some of the younger guys I did beat. BUT-most of them wouldn't fence me unless their coach told them too and got angry with them if they would refuse to fence me. I thought about that too. Am I a bad fencer, awkward, annoying, a bad sport? Not really.

Then I thought about my friend Nicole that plays professional women's basketball. I know men watch everything and anything that says ESPN on it so why was the viewership of the WNBA finals so low? Why do men make a face and shrug when I even ask them if they are going to watch the WNBA finals?

Is it the same reason as one man I met the other week who said that he only watches tennis when Maria Sharapova plays? He said that it was too much to watch Serena Williams and she shouldn't even be wearing those tennis outfits because she's too muscular. I wonder if he even knows who Billie Jean King
is?

So, what does this add up to?

Some of you may have already guessed at the point I'm driving at with my first example or with the title of this blog, but I wanted to make sure that I get my point across.

Whether or not you are beating men in sports or playing sports that were traditionally dominated by men because women weren't ALLOWED to play, there is an obvious double standard. Yeah women can play sports but they have to look cute while doing it..and oh yeah, they shouldn't be able to beat men. I mean isn't it just genetics?

Hold on, I'm just getting on this soapbox because this chip on my shoulder is a big one. I just need a little help from the founder of the women's sports foundation and pioneer for women in sport.


Billie Jean King then and now.



“It is very hard to be a female leader. While it is assumed that any man, no matter how tough, has a soft side . . . any female leader is assumed to be one-dimensional.”
--Billie Jean King


Preach on, sister!


I know some people will read this and think that I've just gone off the deep end but I want this issue to be discussed and more importantly, addressed.

So listen up!

1.Women can do everything that men can do. We just do it differently. There is more than one way to play a sport.

2.Respect us if we play a sport well and don't just say it's because we played it like a man did. Billie Jean King beat Bobbie Riggs on Sept. 20, 1973 playing like a woman.

3.We sweat, get over it!

4.Athletic women are allowed to be any sexuality. AND WHY DOES IT MATTER ANYWAYS? Last time I checked sports were about competition and not romantic relationships. Why aren't men questioned about the hugs they give each other when they are on the football field?

5.A woman is still a woman even if she has muscles. She is allowed to be strong and feminine at the same time. I can't tell you how many times someone told me I was too big because I was muscular. A lot of women athletes fear being too muscular because they don't want to be seen as masculine, butch, or ugly. Women come in all different shapes and sizes. P.S. Men don't look all too great while they are playing sports either, but because we as a society believe that sweaty men=manly=hot then we believe that sweaty men are good looking. No, they're just stinky.

6.Don't be afraid that she can outrun you, out fence you, out play you because it is going to happen. GET OVER IT!


We should not allow gender to be a standard for sports, jobs, or life. If someone made a derogatory statement about someone's race then people are upset but people accept comments that men's basketball is more interesting-this means that we have truly missed the point and settled for disrespect. A different way to play the game does not equal less interesting.

The boy at the club didn't want to admit that he lost to a woman. I know if he lost to a male of my national ranking he would be upset but not to the extent he was when he fenced me. Aretha Franklin said it best, R-E-S-P-E-C-T!

At this year's US Open, the US Tennis Assocation officially renamed the National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. after legendary tennis player Billie Jean King. Rather than honor her as the woman that beat a male pro tennis player, or as a decorated tennis player, or even as a visionary and pioneer for female athletes. I would like to honor her for being a woman who could hit the crap out of that tennis ball. Thanks, Billie Jean.