Athletic Women Blog

Here's something you'll want to check out. (That is, if you worship Serena Williams—but what Amazon lover doesn't?)

Enjoy!

Nike is currently promoting its Let Me Play Fund. According to Nike, the fund will be used to provide resources for female sports teams. Go to Nike's website to learn more about the Let Me Play Fund and some of the other things Nike is doing to support women athletes. (They say you'll soon be able to buy limited-edition gear there with $1 from each sale going to the fund.)

On another note, it's a great time of year for fans of women's sports. This weekend, I watched Sarah Pavan and her Huskers win the AVCA Showcase title, signaling the start of the college volleyball season. I also took in some of the WNBA playoffs. And to make things even better, the US Open starts today.

In a recent interview, actress Missy Peregrym admitted that she is interested in, even openly pursuing, the Wonder Woman role. I'm glad to know that; I happen to think Missy is one of the better choices out there. (Note: I'll be sure to post my top picks for Wonder Woman sometime in the near future.)

If you saw StickIt, you probably already know that Missy is very athletic and her build shows it, which means she's somewhat atypical for Hollywood. For those of us who think Wonder Woman should be played by an athletic, able-bodied actress (and I suspect many people do when you get down to it), that is a big plus.

Something Missy should consider though: It now looks like the new Wonder Woman will appear first in a Justice League of America movie.

Oh, and you can forget the rumor about Katie Holmes—that's been debunked.

The folks at nubar are excited because nubar is a sponsor of the Ms. Fitness World this year. (I learned this because someone at nubar was kind enough to write and tell me. ) I applaud nubar, just as I do any organization that sponsors women's athletics. So kudos, nubar!

But I should also take this opportunity and challenge organizations to step up and sponsor female bodybuilding contests. The prize money available to female bodybuilders is only a fraction of what is there for male bodybuilders (further skewed by the splintering of the sport on the women's side into bodybuilding, figure, and fitness). It would be nice to see female bodybuilders, who are highly dedicated athletes, getting financial rewards on a par with male bodybuilders—not to mention judging standards that aren't schizophrenic and sexist.

I've noticed that sexism in comics has been a frequent blog topic lately. And there are good reasons for why that is so.

For example, it's fairly easy to see that female superheroes don't get their due. They're rarely given the status and careful development that male superheroes receive, and depictions of them are often so absurd it would be impossible to think of them as formidable characters anyway.

Female superheroes should be depicted appropriately. We instinctively equate muscles and physical stature with strength, because that's how things generally work in the real world. That is why Superman and like-powered male superheroes are almost always shown having powerful-looking physiques, even though few superheroes actually get their superstrength in the weight room. It's unfair and self-defeating to treat superstrong female characters so differently. Thus, for me, Alex Ross's version of Power Girl is a vast improvement over Michael Turner's (which is awful no matter how you dissect it).

I'm looking at this from the perspective of Amazon feminism, so I'm most bothered by simplistic binary representations of gender and gender role stereotyping; but there are quite a few other concerns being expressed about the treatment of female characters in comics, and most are legitimate.

However, I don't like to see feminism confused with prudery and sexual puritanism, as so often happens when topics such as this come up. Which is why C. L. Hanson's superbly written "Questioning Objectification" (and her follow-up here) is such an important contribution to the overall discussion. I heartily recommend it, especially to feminists.