Battle of The Sexes

     Before this lesson, I had never heard of "The Battle of the Sexes", and I would have never guessed it was a tennis match. The match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, two of the most competitive players, was an influential moment in the women's rights movement. Bobby Riggs had established himself as one of the biggest hustlers in sports when he called on Billie Jean King, who was over 20 years younger than he was, to play against him. Billie knew this situation was a lose-lose. Either she loses and confirms people's beliefs that women shouldn't play sports, or she wins and it's deemed a fluke match. 

    I think that the way Billie approached this match with this lose-lose ultimatum in mind was where her success came from. While Briggs was wearing taunting "Sugar Daddy" sponsored gear and making sexist remarks, Billie was creating the perfect plan. She told the media that the biggest part of the match to her was exposing new people to the game, undermining Riggs's portrayal of two genders competing. I thought Billie's Cleopatra-like entrance was very powerful in front of over 30,000 people in the Astrodome. 

    Today, this match was a propellant for Women's sports. The Women's March Madness tournament had more viewers than the Men's, a new professional women's hockey league has opened, as well as a new soccer league. In highschool sports, women's and men's sports are nearly 50/50. And federal funding for women's sports has increased.