Savvy Women

It’s crazy how these years keep coming and going, coming and going, ad infinitum. It’s now 2010, and I’m looking ahead, making plans of all sorts. I’ve been thinking about this blog, wondering where I’d like to take it this coming year. I’ve decided that I’d like to do some writing about new women’s movements and activist groups of one type or another. I’d also like to blog about women on the cutting edge and those who think/act outside the box.

In finishing up, I’d like to tell you about an “ah-ha” moment I had while doing this blog. One day, a couple of years ago now, while walking on the campus of Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, I happened to come upon two tiny, knitted figures, each one about the size of a Christmas tree ornament, that someone had tied to a tree limb. I remember that it was a breezy day, and the two were spinning and spinning as they dangled. At the time I remember stopping and feeling puzzled and wondering who in the heck did that and why. Now, it seems, I think I might have the answer to those questions.

In the interest of full disclosure, I want to begin with a confession: I’m not a huge Sarah Palin fan. As a matter of fact, I’m not even a small admirer. I’d be more in agreement with something that Martha Stewart said during a recent interview on CNN. When asked to give her opinion on the ex-governor of Alaska, Stewart called her a “dangerous” person.

During that same interview Stewart also said something I don’t agree with, though. She called Palin “boring.” I would have to say that John McCain’s ex-running mate is certainly anything but boring.

Her incredibly quick rise to fame (and now fortune) makes her a phenomenon worthy of study. She’s kind of the Michael Jackson of politics. She’s somewhat creepy, but you can’t take your eyes off her. And, like the late pop star, her notoriety is no longer based on actual accomplishment. In recent years, Jackson had mostly retired from performing music, but his legend continued to grow. That’s because all of us who made up his audience began to think of his real life as a type of weird performance art. Similarly, Palin no longer needs to actually do anything to be admired. We just want to follow her around and see what she’s up to.

Speaking of following her around, her Going Rogue: An American Life book tour seems to be drawing in worshipful crowds at every stop and has created a cottage industry for those interested in showing up at such events and making films of one type or another. I’ve included two of my favorite book signing videos here.

The first one is a production of New Left Media, a company owned and operated by Chase Whiteside and Erick Stoll. Whiteside conducts the interviews, and his approach is to remain neutral throughout and then let the viewer come to her own conclusions about what’s been said.

It’s clear that policies and positions are of no importance to those Whiteside has interviewed. That’s because they support Palin for who she is (or who they think she is) rather than what she advocates. Such supporters don’t care what Palin thinks. They support her as a personality rather than as a policymaker. In fact, they make no distinction between the former and the latter. To use a word used earlier, it’s dangerous to confuse the two.

The second video is just plain funny. In it, “Marg Delahunty,” a Canadian comedian who is perhaps most well known for being a cast member of This Hour Has 22 Minutes, pretends to seek advice from Palin at one of her signings. The fact that Palin doesn’t realize she’s being spoofed speaks volumes about the Thrilla from Wasilla.

Those SWM readers who live in America know that it is football season. To know this, one would simply need to turn on the TV and do a little channel surfing at just about any time of the day or night on either Saturday or Sunday. Of course, I forgot ESPN’s Monday Night Football and the Thursday evening games. My point is this, football (to the chagrin of many a reader, I’m sure) is ubiquitous, in America, this time of year.

What you may not be aware of is that there’s a new league, something called the Lingerie Football League, or the LFL, for short.

As the official LFL website makes clear, this new league is composed solely of women players, with the rules being slightly different from the men’s game. The game is full contact, and many of the competitors, as official Lingerie Football League promotional materials make clear, have storied athletic backgrounds. There are currently ten professional LFL franchises that represent the following cities: Chicago (Bliss), New York (Majesty), Philadelphia (Passion), Tampa (Breeze), Miami (Caliente), Seattle (Mist), Dallas (Desire), Los Angeles (Temptation), San Diego (Seduction), and Denver (Dream).

To get a sense of what the game is like, there are several videos available on the league website. There’s also this one, shot by a fan, at one of the Bliss games.

After watching the video, it’s clear that the spectators are really into it, but that may not be surprising given the players’ uniforms (or lack thereof). All this raises an interesting question: Should this sport be taken seriously, or is it an example of sex-ploitation?

The LFL would certainly like to give the impression that the sport is for real, and the players themselves talk about how they don’t want to be thought of as “powder puffs,” but then again, LFL officials have used the term “lingerie” to describe this new league. That would be like changing the name of the NFL to the “Boxer Shorts Football League.”

I’d like to hear from my readers. What do you think about this new sport and the LFL?