The New York Times reports here today on the success of boys who compete on high school girls’ swim teams in Massachusetts, if their school lacks a boys’ swim team.  Here is an excerpt:

[R]oughly two dozen boys [are] competing on girls teams in Massachusetts because their schools do not have boys swimming programs. They are able to do so because of the open access amendment to the state constitution, which was voted into law in the 1970s and mandates that boys and girls must be afforded equal access to athletics.

Boys have been members of girls swim teams since the 1980s, but until recently they were mostly a sideshow. It has only been in the last year or two that boys have swum well enough to draw attention — and people’s ire. The epicenter of the debate is the 50-yard freestyle, an event in which strength can trump talent or technique.

At the Division I state championships on Saturday at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, there are eight boys in the 28-swimmer field in the 50 freestyle. Although Norwood’s Higgins was ruled academically ineligible Friday and will not compete at the state meet, two of the top four seeds in the 50 freestyle are boys, giving rise to the possibility that a boy could be the girls state champion.

The full story is available here.  Apparently the body that governs Massachusetts high school athletics will meet after the season ends, and one of the agenda items is how to treat a boy’s record-setting time in a girls’ event.

The NYT article also mentions that “[s]ome schools in the winter offer coed swimming, where boys and girls compete side-by-side in the dual meets and then separately in the post-season.”

-Bridget Crawford

Feminist Law Professors

From the FLP mailbox, this notice of an upcoming conference at the University of Michigan, May 9-11, 2012:

The new University of Michigan Sport, Health, and Activity Research and Policy (SHARP) Center for Women and Girls!  is hosting a national conference to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark legislation that has changed the lives of women and girls. The SHARP center is a collaboration between the Women’s Sports Foundation and the University of Michigan.

Please save May 9-11, 2012 and plan to join us at the University of Michigan campus, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Laila Ali will present a keynote lecture at this two and a half day conference featuring nationally renowned researchers, athletes, media experts, and policy makers. The conference will highlight the broad impact of the Title IX legislation on U.S. society. Political, social, historical, economic, and health-related effects will be explored along with an agenda for future research intended to fulfill the promise of Title IX.  Undergraduate and graduate students from across the country will also have opportunities to participate, present, and discuss their research as it relates to the themes of this conference.

For more information on the conference or the new SHARP Center, visit here.

-Bridget Crawford

Feminist Law Professors

I had never heard of the Lingerie Football League until I read this article in an on-line Vancouver publication.

Watch out, B.C. Lions. Soon, you’re not going to be the only pro football game in town.

That’s right. The Lingerie Football League is coming to Vancouver.

Today (September 28), the league announced the awarding of franchises to five Canadian cities—Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Quebec City, and Montreal. Toronto apparently already has a team.

Read the full article here.  This video gives a quick sense of what the “LFL” is all about:

Sigh.

-Bridget Crawford

Feminist Law Professors

Hope Solo will appear on Dancing with the Stars and Billie Jean King will appear in a series of ads by the Arthritis Foundation endorsing exercise as a treatment for arthritis.

Earlier this week, reps from Solo’s pro team, the WPS Magic Jack, confirmed that the U.S. National Team keeper will appear on DWTS.  Solo tweeted to fans (here), “I’m excited for this challenge but most importantly to try and raise awareness 4 women’s soccer.”

Today’s NYT had this article on the Arthritis Foundation‘s ad campaign.  The ads will be unveiled at the U.S. Open tomorrow.  In one, apparently King says, “Tennis is a weapon for me with arthritis.”

With both news items catching my eye this week, I couldn’t help but think that without Billie Jean King, Hope Solo probably wouldn’t be on DWTS.  Ok, that sounds tenuous, but King was and is one of the most outspoken advocates for women’s sports.  Without King (and maybe without that famous match she played with Bobby Riggs), maybe there wouldn’t be millions of girls and women playing sports.  And if girls and women didn’t play sports, there wouldn’t be a Women’s World Cup, and if there weren’t a Women’s World Cup…well, you get it.

There’s lots still to achieve in terms of gender equality in athletics, to be sure.  In the meantime, DWTS may have increased its audience share with the recruitment of Hope Solo.

Let’s not forget, though, that Billie Jean King had her own DWTS moment (ok, not exactly) back in 1968.  King won Wimbledon that year (singles and women’s doubles).  The cameras rolled when King danced with tennis great (and 1968 Wimbledon men’s singles winner) Rod Laver at a post-Wimbledon ball.   A clip of that dance is available here.  Great vintage footage!

-Bridget Crawford

Feminist Law Professors

If you’re following the Women’s World Cup, you may know that three members (L-R Elodie Thomas, Gaetane Thiney, and Corine Franco) of the French  team posed for some for the German tabloid Bild under the heading, “Is this how we should show up before you come to our games?”

I wish that women’s athletic performances, not images of nude bodies, drew viewers.  At the same time, I appreciate the headline.  It has a tongue-in-cheek quality that makes me think that the copy editor or creative director understood the complexity (ok, maybe just the irony?) of the photo.  Note, though, how the photo airbrushes all three players.  Elodie Thomis’s skin has been lightened.  Is her natural color not “sexy” enough?

The same three players are shown in soccer action  below.  These are the images that I hope inspire my soccer-loving daughter.

-Bridget Crawford

Feminist Law Professors

A disturbing piece on gender conformity and anti-LGBT attitudes in sports appeared in the forum section of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette yesterday. The title of the piece is “Ugly Pittsburghers, 1974: What would happen today if a top male athlete came out of the closet?” It’s definitely worth the read. Click here for the full piece by Joseph Adler.

-Tony Infanti

Feminist Law Professors

“Badminton’s New Dress Code Is Being Criticized as Sexist” is the headline for this NYT article. I guess a headline like “Badminton’s New Dress Code Is Sexist” would be too much to ask. In any event, it covers the usual territory: claims by the men running the sport that making the female players more sexually appealing to men is the best way to increase interest in the game, and that some women players are in favor of the new dress rule. Male players of course get to continue wearing whatever they choose.

And school children still think the sport is called “badmitten.”

–Ann Bartow

Feminist Law Professors

NPR’s All Things Considered covers the induction of Lupita Lopez into the society of matadoras (female professional bullfighters) here.

Feminist Law Professors

The New York Times reported yesterday (here) on 36 year-old Justine Siegal’s debut throwing batting practice for the Cleveland Indians during spring training in Arizona.

Justine Siegal felt a chill of excitement when she saw her dark blue Cleveland Indians jersey. She changed in the umpires’ locker room and emerged with a confident gait, her blond pigtails shining in the Arizona morning sun. Siegal, 36, smiled as she prepared for her debut Monday, her 13-year-old daughter, Jasmine, following close by her side.

A longtime advocate for girls playing baseball, Siegal explained her fantasy campaign. “I had a dream and felt like giving it a go,” she said. “I see this as more of a mental exercise than a physical one.” * * *

“It was wonderful to have her pitch for us because she’s from Cleveland,” Acta said. “I believe her dad and grandfather still have season tickets. It’s multigenerational. For her to do this with our ball club was very special.”

Raised in Cleveland, where she began playing baseball at 5, a young Siegal would lie in bed at night dreaming of a career in professional baseball, and of one day taking the field as a member of the Indians.

“It wasn’t until I was 15 when I knew it wasn’t going to happen,” she said.

Her quest to throw batting practice began last November when she sent written requests to general managers of major league clubs. Only one bothered to answer. “It was a lovely letter supporting me, but also saying no,” Siegal said.

She didn’t stop there. In December, Siegal traveled to the winter meetings in Florida and tracked down general managers to make her pitch in person. * * *

On Monday, watching her mother throw four-seam fastballs to the hitters, Jasmine Siegal said: “This is so cool. She’s showing that no matter what, you can achieve your goals.”

On the sleeve of Justine Siegal’s Indians jersey was a memorial patch in tribute to 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, the youngest person killed in the Jan. 8 mass shooting in Tucson. Green, a granddaughter of the longtime baseball executive Dallas Green, had been the only girl on her Little League team.

“This is a small way to honor her memory,” Siegal said. “She represents why I’m doing this. Christina is a symbol of all those girls who want to play baseball.”

About 13 years ago, Siegal started what is now called Baseball for All, an organization that promotes baseball globally, with the focus on female participation. The organization started as a four-team all-women’s baseball league in Cleveland.

Read the full story here.

To all the girls playing in Little Leagues across the country, keep pitching!

-Bridget Crawford

photo credit: http://weol.northcoastnow.com

Feminist Law Professors

We start our Steelers fans out young! My daughter Rose is only a bit more than 14 months old. She watched every Steelers game with me this season, though she did miss parts of games for naps or because bed time arrived before the game was over. Whenever a great play happens she gets all excited and puts her index finger up in the air (to say that the Steelers are #1!). Here are some pictures of Rose all dressed up for the Superbowl tonight carrying the terrible towel that used to hang from her bassinet!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36y5HbFG-kE[/youtube]

-Tony Infanti

Feminist Law Professors