WI/CH: Feminism Impacted by Boxing?

[Killer300]

Okay, this came after reading an old thread of mine, involving the challenge of making boxing more popular. Now, Pellangro pointed out as one of the things that used to make boxing popular was it was a hugely controversial sport where things like the, "Great White Hope," and similar occurred from how social issues could get dragged into it.

Now, I thought, what if this somehow impacted gender politics? Granted, I don't think female boxing has ever really been that popular, but what if...

Essentially, could one have the female equivalent of a boxer such as Jack Johnson? As Jack Johnson apparently represented black pride and defiance, could a female boxer represent something similar?

Sorry if this all ludicrously implausible for reasons I cannot see, but hey, it was an idea, and I'm just here to see if it'll work, or just turn out to be a big implausible mess.

 

[juanml82]

Well, no female boxer would ever defeat a male boxer of the same category so, well, no in such a way.

You can get it in some (few) different sports, like archery or shooting (or chess, for those who consider it a sport). I think there was some issue with a woman and the archery world record of something. They aren't popular sports, though.

You could more easily get a female activist who's also a professional sportswoman, or a professional sportswoman who becomes a feminist symbol without intending to become one. I'd be surprised if this didn't happen to a degree.

And then there is the issue of when this is happening? Is it in the time of the suffragettes? In the '60s? Modern day?

 

[Pellegrino]

The big problem is that woman's boxing was a relatively recent invention, it didn't really kick off until the early 90s and didn't take off until Christy Martin stole the show on the undercard of the Mike Tyson-Frank Bruno PPV back in March of 1996. You would first need to get female boxing introduced a lot earlier, and the blowback on that would be huge from state commissions.
In OTL a young girl named Dallas Malloy sued USA Boxing in 1993 to be allowed to compete as a female in amateur boxing. The lawsuit was successful and led to the emergence of female boxing.

One way to alter this to meet your TL is to have a woman sue USA Boxing sooner, perhaps in the 1970s. Then have this story catch some attention in the national media. I think the best time for this would be in 1973 during the furor over the “Battle of the Sexes” between Bobby Riggs and Billy Jean King. I think one way this could work is for a male to challenge this female fighter to an “exhibition” bout to “prove women don’t belong in the boxing ring” or something like that. Maybe a celebrity who isn’t a fighter decides to take up the cause. This backfires on the celebrity as it comes off as very misogynistic and tasteless. The female replies “all I want is the right to fight other women in boxing, if he wants to box to prove a point, let him fight a man and I’ll fight a woman.” Then have a boxer take up the woman’s cause: the best would be Muhammad Ali. Ali agrees the challenge on behalf of the female fighter and supports opening up boxing to women. The celebrity tries to back out but Ali is, well, Ali. He taunts him and calls him out for being eager to fight a woman but not eager to fight a man. This shifts gears enough to allow the discussion to be where it should be: should women have the same rights as men to engage in a regulated sport like boxing?

Not sure if that would work, but I could see it as catching some traction.

 

[Killer300]

The big problem is that woman's boxing was a relatively recent invention, it didn't really kick off until the early 90s and didn't take off until Christy Martin stole the show on the undercard of the Mike Tyson-Frank Bruno PPV back in March of 1996. You would first need to get female boxing introduced a lot earlier, and the blowback on that would be huge from state commissions.
In OTL a young girl named Dallas Malloy sued USA Boxing in 1993 to be allowed to compete as a female in amateur boxing. The lawsuit was successful and led to the emergence of female boxing.

One way to alter this to meet your TL is to have a woman sue USA Boxing sooner, perhaps in the 1970s. Then have this story catch some attention in the national media. I think the best time for this would be in 1973 during the furor over the “Battle of the Sexes” between Bobby Riggs and Billy Jean King. I think one way this could work is for a male to challenge this female fighter to an “exhibition” bout to “prove women don’t belong in the boxing ring” or something like that. Maybe a celebrity who isn’t a fighter decides to take up the cause. This backfires on the celebrity as it comes off as very misogynistic and tasteless. The female replies “all I want is the right to fight other women in boxing, if he wants to box to prove a point, let him fight a man and I’ll fight a woman.” Then have a boxer take up the woman’s cause: the best would be Muhammad Ali. Ali agrees the challenge on behalf of the female fighter and supports opening up boxing to women. The celebrity tries to back out but Ali is, well, Ali. He taunts him and calls him out for being eager to fight a woman but not eager to fight a man. This shifts gears enough to allow the discussion to be where it should be: should women have the same rights as men to engage in a regulated sport like boxing?

Not sure if that would work, but I could see it as catching some traction.

Ah, interesting. And yeah, sounds like a great POD.

Only brought up it because you had so many rebellious figures in boxing that I figured, surely it'd be possible to bring gender politics into it somehow.