Abstract
A Locker Room of Her Own is the third installment in a collection that focuses on the relationship between reputation, celebrity and sport. The contributors to this volume depart from the previous books – Reconstructing Fame and Fame to Infamy – by turning their attention to the unique circumstances that shape these experiences of female athletes. More specifically, the contributors focus on the ways in which gender and sexuality, in their intersection with race and class, influence branding and construction of public personas among female athletes. The book spotlights several trailblazing and iconic athletes each of whom —though to varying degrees of success—carved out their own spaces within the historically male-dominated domain of sport.
Though the overarching theme of this collection is the intersection of gender and sexuality in sport, within this overarching theme, three sub-themes emerged as well: (1) gender, sexuality and class; (2) race and sexuality; and (3) race and class. Within the context of gender, sexuality and class are five chapters “Folklore and Fairy Tales,” “Take me out to the Bellegame,” “The Woman who should be King,” “Paired Heroines,” and “Racing into the storm.” Each of these chapters, in fitting with the main concept of this volume, makes the argument that women are the “quintessential interlopers in [the] historically male dominated milieu” of sport (p. xvii). What sets these particular chapters apart, however, is the central emphasis on the importance of class in shaping the representations and celebrity status of female athletes. For example, Martha Reid, in “Folklore and Fairy Tales,” identifies the class positing of Babe Didrikson Zaharias as central to the narrative of her role as a sporting celebrity. Often discussed in the media as the underdog, raised poor in Texas, or as “a plucky working-class heroine…who perseveres and eventually prevails” (p. 10), Zaharias utilized storytelling, particularly myth, folklore and fairy tales, to shape her reputation and celebrity. In doing so, Zaharias stands as a trailblazer in women’s sports and also insofar as she “shook up the status quo consistently and helped to transform professional athletics for women” (p. 11). The narrative of Zaharias and the fellow female athletes discussed within the book’s thematic focus on the intersections of gender, sexuality and class highlights the complexities of such intersections, particularly with respect to reputation and celebrity.
Another theme that emerged within this vibrant collection of chapters is that of the intersection of race and sexuality. In particular, Lisa Dorris Alexander’s “Rain drops on a Window,” and Yvonne Simms’ “Florence Griffith Joyner” focus on the intersection of blackness and sexuality with respect to female athletes, while Lisa Neilson’s “Go Mama! Branded by Beauty” takes a critical look at whiteness and sexuality in the context of Danica Patrick. While distinct in their treatment of each athlete, the chapters come together through their shared exploration of sporting beauty standards. While gender and sexuality can be particularly problematic to the reputations and celebrity status of iconic female athletes, the additional layer of blackness comes with further complications; this is the story of Joyner, the Williams sisters, Marion Jones and Sheryl Swoops.
Historically, sport was created as a homosocial space for the performance of a particular kind of white masculinity. However, the entrance of racial minorities and women served to trouble the waters, particularly concerning representations of black female athletes. In 1908 when Jack Johnson was victorious over Tommy Burns in a boxing ring in Sydney, Australia, a “powerful fantasmatic figure—‘the black athlete’” was born (Carrington, 2010: 1). The birth of this image, and the athletic (read: male) superiority that became superimposed onto black bodies, served also to cloak black female athletes in a shroud of masculinity (Carrington, 2010). Thus, black women became—though not by virtue of their pursuit of athletic outlets—questionably feminine by virtue of their race. In the chapters that focus on Sheryl Swoopes and Florence Griffith Joyner readers are given an in-depth look into the politics of gender, sexuality and race.
In the final subtheme of this collection, there are two remaining chapters that take a critical look at the intersection of race and class: “Marion Jones,” and “Venus and Serena Williams.” These chapters are very good at contextualizing how class aspirations are shaped by race, particularly with respect to blackness. In the chapter on Venus and Serena Williams, Earl Smith and Angela Hattery discuss the ways in which the sisters have become dominant “in one of the last bastions of whiteness in sport”—tennis ( p. 72). Tennis, as a “country club sport,” is not only marked by class (upper-class) status, but also by that of race (whiteness). So for the Williams’, not coming from a privileged background coupled with their African American identities, their movement into the elite world of tennis is both pioneering and iconic, a fact that is well laid out in this chapter. Similarly, the chapter on Marion Jones highlights the ways in which race and class shaped her experience, particularly with respect to her doping scandal and questions of who is allowed to apologize in sport.
The authors’ of this brilliant collection utilize a myriad of approaches to discourse analysis as they engage with folklore and fairy tales, as well as media (written as well as photographic). A Locker Room of Her Own contributes to the larger conversations about gender and sexuality in general and within the context of sport in particular. In doing so, this volume offers new avenues for academic as well as popular discussions and debates.
Overall, this book offers a great contribution to intersectional analyses of sport through a myriad of domains, and in doing so is a great contribution to the sociology and histories of sport with respect to female athletes. Though the chapters focus primarily on the experiences of American female athletes, the frame of the volume makes the space for a more global approach to gender, sexuality and sport. For instance, the chapters that frame the experiences of black American athletes would translate well to global sporting figures such as South African runner Caster Semenya who could be discussed with respect to gender, sexuality, celebrity (perhaps infamy?), race and sport. This volume is brilliantly crafted, bringing to life the lives of a multitude of iconic female athletes, all while offering insight into their sociological significance and historical symbolism that transcends their success in the sporting arena.