Feminism as Sponsored by Gatorade and Nike :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Feminism as Sponsored by Gatorade and NikeThe fourth wave of womens liberation movement is here and it is based exclusively on physical achievement. Exercise and sport has become one of the a couple of(prenominal) 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. overdue to a variety of factors--improved knowledge about womens health, decreased focus on child-bearing, a cultural ideal of a fit and trim body--athletic triumph is now an acceptable and applauded goal for women, but at what cost? composition of this focus on the body must be due to the recoil against feminism. I am non speaking of Susan Faludis 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 net profit basketball scholarships and fight the school board to be placed on the football team. Where did the feminist label get such a sturdy reputation? Susan Faludi has some ideas in Backlash, but the student athletes will probably never read her book. They have little patience for feminist theory, but appreciate feminist practice. Instead of getting active in political sympathies 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 womens 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 frequently been encouraged to play soccer in physical education classes the past times twenty years this is likely be cause no special equipment such as helmets, padding, etc. is required, thus keeping public school budgets well in check. While the mens team lost, the womens team won. It gave the United States a radical 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 raft remember.