She's a Knockout!

As an avid reader, librarian, and practitioner of martial arts (taekwondo and Muay Thai), I’m undeniably the target audience for L.A. Jennings’s new book She’s a Knockout!: A History of Women in Fighting Sports. That said, I think the topic is a unique one that would appeal to others outside of the lady fighter club.

Jennings, a scholar and fighter disheartened by the lack of focus on women in pugilistic pursuits, presents a thorough look at the participation of women in boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts from the 1700s to the present—all activities that were frowned upon until only very recently. Though the introduction is a bit long, the rest of the book moves along at a good clip and presents a lot of fascinating information. Even though I am a fighter myself, there was a lot that I didn’t know about my sport of choice. Did you know, for instance, that women could be arrested for sparring? Or that doctors used to believe that women could develop cancer if they were struck too hard?

We have come a long way from the arrests of the 1700s, but I didn’t realize just how far we have to go to earn equality in the ring. Did you know that women’s boxing was only just added to the Olympic Games a few years ago in 2012? And that originally the boxing commission wanted to make the female Olympians wear miniskirts as part of their uniform?

I never realized how privileged I am to be allowed to practice fighting sports (and to wear pants while doing so), and I now know a lot more about my hobby. To trailblazers like Bruisin’ Peg, Elizabeth Stokes, Debi Purcell, Cora Livingstone, Ronda Rousey, and to the author who brought them to my attention, I thank you for the right to fight.