Today In History: Battle of the Sexes
September 20th: Today in 1973 Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in a tennis match called the Battle of the Sexes. I remember this match, it was huge in the news and had an impact that went far past tennis. Although she was clearly enjoying the win, Billie Jean King was calm and composed while Bobby Riggs was acting the part of an over the top male chauvinist, this was a change from the way feminists were portrayed in the media at the time. Feminists are supposed to be over the top man haters but Billie Jean put a much more sensible face on the issues for many people, I suspect the impact of this match was far greater than many people suppose.
September 20th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
I remember the match! And I very much appreciate your take on it. The hype was pretty annoying, and afterwards of course people claimed that she should have played a male who was her age.
The really sad thing was the match race with Ruffian (July 6, 1975) wich got similar battle-of-the-sexes hype. And on top of that, being a teenage-girl-into-horses, it was really crushing. For those who don’t recall, Ruffian’s leg broke during a match race with the colt who won the Kentucky Derby that year.