Battle of the Sexes

“That must have crushed you.”
“No. I just thought, that does it. I’m going to be the best. That way I can really change things. That way I have a voice”
•
An entire system dictated what women can and cannot be for the longest time, one woman stood up and said “no”, and 90 million people witnessed how she changed the world.
•
She sees injustice, she experiences inequality so she changes it for the better.
•
There’s a lot to fall on Billie Jean King’s shoulders in the eponymous Battle of the Sexes. By taking on the self-avowed chauvinist Riggs, not only is King putting her professional credibility on the line, she’s also bringing her personal baggage to the court as she’s coming to terms with her homosexuality.
•
As the top female tennis player in the world, King realizes she has one of the rare, powerful voices to persuade people that women deserve the same respect as men. She takes it upon herself to secure better opportunities for herself and her female peers by taking on an entire system of persistent oppression imposed on women, a system designed to deprive women of what they deserve and desire. She sees it as her inescapable responsibility to take on Riggs, despite risking the death her own career, in order to keep the greater cause alive.
•
Flash forward to 2017, women in many places are still living at the mercy of patriarchy. Women around the world are united by a sense of frustration that we still have to justify our desires by constantly proving our worth to men and even have to live in fear that our rights will be revoked, proving that King’s battle is still depressingly timely years later. Maybe films like Battle of the Sexes, films that buoyantly celebrate the great triumphs of women, is exactly what we need right now. King’s battle did not put a definite end to the imbalance deeply lodged in our culture but it’s still important to remember and celebrate these victories along the way that lead us to where we are today. It is on the shoulders of individuals like Billie Jean King that we stand on to lift each other up until we are all on the same level playing field.
•
“Times change. You should know. You just changed them.”

(Originally posted on 8 Nov 2017 @projectunwrapped)