Jennie Finch is an awesome softball pitcher. No question about that. Her accomplishments on the field speak for themselves: NCAA championships, Olympic gold and silver medals, World Championship. She was arguably the face of women’s softball for the last 10 years.

Unfortunately in women’s sports though, it takes more than being an accomplished athlete to get the mainstream sports media’s attention. You have to combine your awesome talent with physical beauty and then highlight your “femininity” by wearing make-up when you play your sport, swinging a hot pink bat, festooning your long hair with glitter and brightly colored ribbons. You should also pose in sexy photo shoots for men’s magazines if you really want to show your stuff (and I’m not talking about your wicked curve ball).

In perhaps one of the more nauseating quotes I’ve read recently, Jessica Mendoza, one of Jennie’s teammates and President of the Women’s Sports Foundation says of Finch,

"She set the standard for softball in a new era of being able to be feminine and play this sport. Not that you have to be feminine to play this sport, but I see hundreds of thousands of little girls now with glitter headbands, hot pink bats, makeup. I'm not saying that every girl has to do that but when I was growing up, it wasn't like that. She has created a new era of softball player, and it's for those softball players -- those little girls out there -- that want to be cutesy with the bows and the glitter and still be that dirty jock. Covered head to toe in dirt but she's got her hair all perfect with a bow."

It saddens me that the “freedom” to be feminine is somehow interpreted as progress for women’s softball and women’s sports. This is not a new era. Appearing feminine has always been a requirement, hardly a “freedom.” Women athletes have always needed to prove their femininity and heterosexuality. They have always needed to compensate for their athleticism by highlighting their “normality,” that would be their girly-girlness and their interest in men. The acceptance of women athletes has always depended on their ability to project conventional femininity and heterosexuality: She can strike out big league baseball players, but, by gosh, the ribbons in her hair are so darn cute, her make-up is impeccable, and not a hair out of place.

Women athletes have always felt the pressure to compensate for being “dirty jocks” (read lesbians) by presenting a feminine image off the field. Is it really progress that now women have to do it on the field as well? Is it progress that game preparation now includes hair and make-up sessions and the application of glitter and the tying of pretty hair ribbons? Is it really progress that “hundreds of thousands” of little girls now believe that glitter, hair ribbons, and make-up are part of a softball uniform? Will little girls who aspire to be like Jennie Finch believe they need to pose in men's magazines to be accepted as athletes?

Don’t get me wrong, I would be happy if it were true that girl and women athletes had choices in how they present themselves. The ones who like long hair, ribbons, make-up, and glitter can wear it and the ones who don’t are equally celebrated as role models. The ones who are partnered with or married to men and the ones who are partnered with or married to women have their personal lives equally celebrated and respected. Now that would be a new era for softball and all of women’s sports.

View Original Post at ittakesateam.blogspot.com

• Filed Under:  
• Softball, Sports

This post is related to the following ongoing stories:

• Jennie FInch retirement

There are 3 comments on this post. Join the discussion!

summitace

I am soooooo tired of lesbian feminists ripping on Jennie Finch. She's an awesome athlete, so just give it up. You are all ticked that she is beautiful. Hello people, ever heard of the tennis player Martina? Not a pretty face, but the best in her sport. If she got ripped for being gay, the lesbian community came unhinged. But god forbid a woman who is both hot and talented get any airtime. My niece loves her pink bat...she hates softball, but loves her bat. Hmm, what does that make her?

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 7:05pm PDT

ken

A product of a culture in which hegemonic femininity mandates that you be a (certain type of) girl before you even think about being an athlete?

Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 12:43pm PDT

GinaLA

Ken / Pat and friends. I have been reading both of your blogs for some time now and in spite of your pervasive persecution complexes you sometimes bring up valid issues. That said, don't you ever get tired of playing the victim? The growth of women's athletics over the past several decades has benefited all women and at the top of the list of those that have benefited the most are lesbian athletes and their community. If you doubt me just take an objective look around at the women's coaching and athletic administration ranks in our universities. I challenge you to identify a sphere of American life in which lesbians have been more accepted than women's athletics. Let me help you%u2026there isn't one.

I guess that's why I'm really tired of your condescending attitudes and negative comments when anything that doesn't fully align with your lesbian centric socio-political-athletic agenda becomes an issue.

In spite of your world view the ninety percent plus segment of the female population that is not lesbian deserves to be just as comfortable with and excited about sports as you seem to be.

It seems that both of you have a real problem with little girls being encouraged to participate in organized athletics based upon the exceptionally positive example that has been set by someone like Finch. It isn't a zero sum game. Just because Finch's influence helped more little girls feel positive about sports doesn't in any way hurt the lesbian community and it does increase the total participant pool for all women's athletics. I thought that was our collective goal.

I'm thinking that if anyone is needing a lecture about hegemonic femininity they can sign up for a university course in that enlightened field of study. Short of that how about if we work together to support and promote women's sports for all women regardless of their sexual orientation?

Friday, July 30, 2010 at 7:04pm PDT