{"id":1501,"date":"2017-06-14T08:00:37","date_gmt":"2017-06-14T13:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=1501"},"modified":"2017-06-13T09:38:19","modified_gmt":"2017-06-13T14:38:19","slug":"pugilism-and-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2017\/06\/14\/pugilism-and-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Pugilism and Power: The Stigma of Women in Boxing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by keith ellwood, Flickr CC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A stage play inspired by early boxing great <\/span>Barbara Buttrick<\/span><\/a>\u00a0recently premiered\u00a0in the United Kingdom. The play, title\u00a0<\/span>Mighty Atoms<\/span><\/i><\/a> (after one of Buttrick\u2019s nicknames, \u201cThe Mighty Atom of the Ring\u201d), marks a departure in the history of women in boxing, away from condemnation towards acceptance, and has important implications for how we think about gender and women in sport.<\/span><\/p>\n

Women participating in fights goes back to at least the 1700\u2019s, in the form of <\/span>Elizabeth Wilkinson<\/span><\/a>, the \u201cEuropean Championess,\u201d who competed in bare-knuckle boxing matches in the streets of London. Her combination of showmanship and fighting prowess made her popular in fighting circles. Still, for many, Wilkinson represented an awful kind of brutalism that lessened the value of the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, in the United States, women boxers were seen as a side-show, forced to compete alongside snake charmers and trapeze artists in American carnivals. <\/span><\/h5>\n