January running, feminine atheletes and getting in the game

It is January 3rd, and I am running on the ocean front in a sport bra and joggers. People are staring at me from their double sweaters, mittens, and scarves. I pass other joggers in their thermal jogging outfits complete with gloves and woolen hats. “Warm enough yet?” they joke. I like to think I bring smiles wherever I run.

At some point today I looked outside, noticed it wasn’t raining/snowing and actually said, “Wouldn’t it be nice to go for a run.” I hadn’t exercised strenuously since the falling down episode on Friday and I was able to stand, walk and get in and out of chairs without pain; I missed that pain. So though the sun was not out and there is a fairly crisp wind coming off the water which has made every hair on my forearms stand straight up I am not worried because I am blotching. And within 30 minutes during my five mile run, my arms will be so red as to imitate severe sunburn. I love my circulatory system, it keeps me warm.

B.V. Brus, of the amazing disappearing Epee blog, has been challenging me today on my assumptions regarding women being athletic and feminine by pointing me to an article on the subject in a journal of sport medicine. The article holds a big plus, one that emerges from many studies. It is that female athletes, even in untraditional sports like boxing and wrestling see themselves as feminine. Female athletes are able to compartmentalize different aspects of identity, to bring out the aggression and competition during a sport but not see that as her identity socially (which may be playful or even shy) or overall. Females who were athletes ranked female athletes in general highest on a scale of perceived femininity. Also, male athletes had a slightly positive view of all female athletes as being able to be both an competent athlete and a feminine individual. The bad news comes in four parts: 1) Males who were not elite athletes were on average neutral about female athletes being feminine (meaning for each male surveyed who saw them as being feminine, there was one who didn’t), 2) When asked “are (physically) strong women feminine?”, the majority of men, athletes or not responded no, regardless of the woman’s behavior or build. 3) The majority of women asked the same question also said no, that strong female athletes were NOT feminine, depending on their physique or behavior; the greater the visual bulk, the greater the rejection. As one female athlete said; “"Body builders are not feminine. That is gross!" and 4) Female athletes, particularly in non-traditional sports tend to overcompensate, self reporting that they emphasizing their femininity in dress and behavior off the court. Many in sports like hockey, boxing and weight lifting emphatically deny being feminists.

With most women’s sports only being available decades or less, there is a chicken and egg question: Are the most popular women’s sports the ones considered feminine (like gymnastics, ice skating, tennis) because they don’t require power/high body mass and conflict/contact due to the exisiting views of women who enter sports or because of sports coverage and views of different sports in society? C. A. Tuggle, associate professor of journalism looked at NBC media coverage at the last Olympics. He found that while women comprised 41% of the coverage (only 3% less than the men) the majority of that was in non-contact and non-power sports. Female weight lifting was an inaugural event at the last Olympics, a sport in which two US women won a gold and silver, but it the event was never aired on TV, nor was there coverage of female shot put or females competing in “power or contact sports” like javelin, hammer, canoeing, kayaking, rowing, Taekwondo, and judo.

Okay, back to atop the sea cliff, the cold wind and me on track to set a personal record for this particular run. The women for the most part smile and are encouraging. “You’re still at it!” one remarks seeing me coming back, three miles after we first passed. The guys kind of stare. Not sure if this is because a) I am tall, b) I am somewhat unclothed while they are bundled up and they are having some sort of masculine anxiety attack or c) simply the effect of what a lot of cold air is managing to do to my nipples. Since the 1980’s running is very much moving to be a women’s sport (particularly with those three wheel sport child carriers for running), and has changed in 15 years from 1991 when male shoes sold were 62.5% overall to 2001, when 48.1% of all runners are women. Epee however is not quite known as a women’s sport yet. I found this out in 2005 when trying to get the attention of the staff at Leon Paul’s, the UK fencing store, but couldn’t get past two coaches were debating whether women should be allowed to do any fencing weapons other than foil. Decidedly not, was their conclusion, this was, after all based on a blood sport (hey buddy, women know all about blood sports, ever hear of pregnancy?). Whatever. Back from the run, and fresh out of the shower I decided to test my freakishly strong epee arm to find out if I could do a push-up with one arm. Conclusion: girl style – yes, boy style – no. Reason: pushups require not only shoulder, back and arm strength but also chest strength; Epee does not (which is probably why you can see most of my ribs). Is my doing one armed naked pushups feminine? I’m not sure but I think many guys WOULD want to watch that sport on TV.

My feeling is that to publicly see a woman striving with her full effort in developing herself; whether in amateur or professional athletics is a very feminine image. Yes, I am challenged internally by women who are visually muscular, or bulked, or visually or verbally competitive, but hey, that’s my mental problem, not theirs. My five mile run ends with a three block climb up a hill which puts me in serious oxygen deprevation. No, not my most graceful moments, but certainly impassioned, as I finished and lurch forward sucking air, causing one guy to ask if I was going “to make it.” Oh yeah, just waiting for that grey fog to lift from my vision and bring the world back to colour.

If you want to see some of the diversity of stories and women there is a great site called Game Face: What does a female athlete look like? There is a book and photo exhibit. The book is a collection of photos of female athletes along with first person stories relating to them, including Andrea Douglas, who tagged along to deer hunt with her father causing the all male hunt club to call a meeting with one desire: exclude her from hunting because she is a girl. There are stories about middle aged women overcoming sports coaches who tell them they are too old and there is no point; stories of new mom’s returning to sports against the taboo; stories of mom’s with sports driven girls and lots of stories of girls who made their own way. I know that to a lot of guys there is a “women’s sports….blah, blah, boring” attitude. But, no one says, “Men going to the moon….blah, blah, boring.” If you want to read and see people who are pushing the limits of human boundaries, then look at these women, going often where no women has ever gone before. The site also has posters available as well as a section which invites women to send in their “game face moment” – which if you do, you get a FREE POSTER!

My favorite section is the one made up of everyday women’s pictures and stories on their Game Face Moment. Like Wendy DeGiglio who informs “Don’t wear mascara when it’s really cold. Your eyelashes will freeze and stick together.

That was the first thing I learned five minutes after hopping on a dogsled at -30 C.”

Or Margaret Duncan, who at 40+ took up Tai Kwon Do along with her two daughters (I’m thinking of you for some reason Kath, Quaker Fencer). She noticed when being tested for belt ranks that women were given smaller boards to break than the men. She decided and demanded to be tested on the same board size as the men (against the coaches urgings): “I ran toward the target, pushed off, and sailed through the air with my leg cocked in a perfect sidekick position. The wood made a satisfying CCCRRRRACK as I snapped out, connected with the board, and split it dead center.

Afterward, I mentally replayed my triumphant breaking scene, and for the first time I felt truly indomitable.”

Do feminists and sports mix, well this one does (oops, wait, I forgot I got my card taken away because I wax my legs). Whether “shaking my booty” to celebrate the downfall of a male epee opponent is truly feminine is something my grandmother and I might have different opinions on. But let’s say this is one girl who might run at night to maintain her gothic pale skin but who doesn’t define femininity as my incapacity to do much more than lift cups of tea and lace handkerchiefs. I like being a strong individual, I like running atop cliffs and climbing to mountain tops and running up and down the strip blades flashing as I scream, “Darn it, darn it, darn it; Oh My God, why won’t my tip ever hit!?!” I’m not sure how high that rates me socially on the feminine scale, but it rates VERY high on the “things that make me...me” scale. Goodness...I can’t wait to see what sport I try next. What about you?