"In the seventies we had to make it acceptable for people to accept girls and women as athletes. We had to make it okay for them to be active. Those were much scarier times for females in sports"
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Billie Jean King compresses a movement into a few sentences: before women could win medals or contracts, they had to win permission. “Make it acceptable” names a cultural battle, not a technical one. Skill alone was insufficient if the public, institutions, and gatekeepers didn’t see girls and women as legitimate athletes. The hurdle wasn’t only access to courts or fields; it was the authority to inhabit an athletic body without apology.
“Make it okay for them to be active” points to the deep policing of female movement. Myths about fragility, fertility, and femininity were used to tether girls to the sidelines. The price for stepping out of bounds was social: ridicule, loss of reputation, being labeled unfeminine or deviant. The price was also material: no teams, no scholarships, no locker rooms, no media time, no sponsors. To be “active” threatened existing hierarchies; that’s why it had to be made okay.
Calling those years “scarier” acknowledges real risk. Athletes and advocates faced hostile crowds, dismissive press, and decision-makers who could end careers with a phone call. Pioneers had to be organizers as much as competitors, forming tours and associations, creating their own prize money, challenging televised spectacle to shift public imagination, and pushing for laws like Title IX. Visibility wasn’t a byproduct; it was a tactic. Excellence on the field mattered, but so did building pathways for girls who would come after: youth programs, coaching pipelines, institutional standards.
The observation also reframes progress. Today’s fights over pay equity, media coverage, governance, and safety unfold on a terrain that earlier generations carved out. Debates persist, and double standards linger, but most girls no longer need permission to run, sweat, or compete. King’s words remind us that athletic achievement rests on cultural legitimacy, and that legitimacy is made, through courage, coalition, and stubborn repetition, until activity becomes normal, then celebrated, then expected.
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