Let's Get Physical: The Fourth Wave of Feminism
as Sponsored by Gatorade and Nike
by Theodora Carson
The fourth wave of feminism is here and it is based solely on physical
achievement. Exercise and sport has become one of the few arenas in which
female competition is welcomed and savored. Commercials feature prominent
female athletes challenging males, chanting the slogan "anything you can
do, I can do better." Due to a variety of factors--improved knowledge
about women's health, decreased focus on child-bearing, a cultural ideal
of a fit and trim body--athletic success is now an acceptable and applauded
goal for women, but at what cost?
Part of this focus on the body must be due to the backlash against
feminism. I am not speaking of Susan Faludi's theory and examples, but
instead of a further backlash against her and everything for which she
stands. The focus on the physical is a reaction against the intellectual.
It is as if these women are saying "screw postmodern feminist theory.
I've got work to do." I have met high school students who say feminism
has nothing to do with them and that they are not feminists themselves,
but these same girls win basketball scholarships and fight the school
board to be placed on the football team. Where did the feminist label
get such a bad reputation? Susan Faludi has some ideas in Backlash,
but the student athletes will likely never read her book. They have little
patience for feminist theory, but appreciate feminist practice. Instead
of getting active in politics or academia, they get active on the courts
and fields. Feminism has become not a battle of the minds, but a battle
of the backhands.
When the United States' women's team won the World Cup, the nation rejoiced.
Soccer is not known as an American game, especially with its worldwide
popularity. For some reason though, women have often been encouraged to
play soccer in physical education classes the past twenty years; this
is likely because no special equipment such as helmets, padding, etc.
is required, thus keeping public school budgets well in check. While the
men's team lost, the women's team won. It gave the United States a source
of patriotism, a rariety in these global times. However, what I heard
most comments from spectators did not revolve around the game itself,
but the moments immediately following the dramatic conclusion. When Brandi
Chastain stripped off her jersey and ran in her sports bra, that was the
image that most people remember. It's the image that magazines and the
media snapped up. The message is clear: it's fine to be a sports hero,
but just remember you're a woman. This placates the males, reducing the
threat of aggressive women, and simultaneously reminds women that they
are sex objects still.
Within a few months of that victory, there was Soccer Barbie, WNBA Barbie,
and even Nascar Barbie to cash in on the athletic female craze. Commercials
glorified girls in sports. Soccer moms felt vindicated. It was a great
time to be a girl--as long as you played sports.
Tennis seems to be the new soccer for this latest phase. Due to a power
vacuum in tennis with no predominant male tennis players (many are nearing
their thirties and are thus "past their prime"), women's tennis has become
more popular. Part of this is owed to the Williams sisters' play: Venus
(winner of the the match and tournament) and younger sister Serena received
a lot of attention when they played each other in Wimbledon. Perhaps the
only other player to receive as much attention was Anna Kornikova, the
blond player who fills out her sports bra completely and proudly, landing
a generous advertising contract to prove her "talents." According to Lycos/Hotbot,
"Anna Kornikova" is one of the most searched for terms on the Web. She
has yet to win a Grand Slam tournament, but she garners a lot of attention
based on her appearance. Kornikova epitomizes the dangers of a feminism
that exists solely on athletic appearance and achievement. Yet feminism
has become so heated a topic that sports seems the only safe venue for
women seeking to make a difference: the power of one victory can reverberate
throughout American society. But this is a shallow feminism, a feminism
without substance, a feminism that merely takes advantage of past gains
without any real concern for the future. It is a selfish feminism. Feminism
through sports is also a proud feminism; we all have read enough Greek
tragedies to know that a fall cannot be far behind.
The focus on physical prowess and feminism is not limited to organized
sports: women as superheroes are becoming more common. Wonder Woman and
Supergirl are no longer the exception. A movie of Charlie's Angels
is expected soon and, given the line-up of Lucy Liu, Cameron Diaz, and
Drew Barrymore, promises to be less about jiggling breasts and feathered
hair. Even the voiceover during the opening credits, the part where Charlie
(the voice of John Forsythe) takes "three little girls" from the police
academy, has been changed. Xena: Warrior Princess, played stunningly
by Lucy Lawless, has been the topic of several discussions about feminism
and the body. Even programs for girls, Sailor Moon and the Powerpuff
Girls, focus on the powers of girls to fight evil-doers.
And it is in the Powerpuff Girls that we, surprisingly, get the
most positive messages. Where Sailor Moon worries about gaining a pound
and flirting with Tuxedo Mask, the Powerpuff Girls (Bubbles, Blossom,
and Buttercup) only worry about beating up the bad guys--and they are
almost all male. The only evil woman is Sedusa, the villian who seduces
men to get jewels, cash, and other loot. The Powerpuff Girls series,
which airs on Cartoon Network, first debuted as two short cartoons on
the What a Cartoon Show. In "Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins," we find the
only reference to vanity about physical appearance--Bubbles prides herself
on her twin ponytails. Yet Bubbles' preoccupation with her hair is not
an issue in the series. The only concern about physical appearance is
in the episode where Buttercup refused to bathe. The Powerpuff Girls battle
evil anytime, anywhere.
Part of this willingness to do battle without focusing on appearance
must come from their age: the Powerpuff Girls are in kindergarten. They're
not prepubscent teens like Sailor Moon and her fellow warriors. We can
all learn a lesson from the Powerpuff Girls: it's great to battle evil,
but you don't have to think about what you look like while you're doing
it. The Powerpuff Girls use their bodies to further their cause, not to
determine their cause. Why this both inspires me and scares me is that
the creator of the Powerpuff Girls is not a woman--it is a man.
While I celebrate Craig McCracken's work with the Powerpuff Girls, I
also encourage artists of all natures and genders to look past Anna Kornikova's
breasts and get to the heart of the matter. This focus on physical appearance
and performance cannot last; bodies get old, get injured, get damaged.
The body cannot last, but philosophical discourse can. It is harder to
co-opt feminist thought with corporate sponsorship than to let women's
bodies continue to serve merely as vehicles for advertising. Let us interest
our nation of female athletes not only in winning for the team, but in
winning for women by thinking, writing, discussing, and appreciating their
feminist roots and future. I do not want a single woman to forget how
she got to the sports arena in the first place; at sake of repeating a
symbol too often used and whose importance has been misplaced, I urge
female athletes to remember the bra-burning activists as they wear their
sports bras.
