In the 1970s, as Switzer reflects, there were very few officially organized running competitions, outside of the Olympics. Thus, to many, the Boston Marathon could be characterized as a national competition for runners. When initially entering the marathon, she reflected how "she wasn't trying to prove anything" and only wished for "a great experience". Regardless, her actions that day helped to redefine and reshape the sphere of women's athletics.
During the race itself, she registered herself as K.V. Switzer, a name that went undetected by the race officials checking runners in. Even so, the rulebook of the race never barred women from running, but social expectations and norms always stopped the various female runners that wanted to try. Once the race started, the director noticed Switzer and attempted to forcibly remove her from the race. During this moment, a photographer captured the iconic photo of the event, showing the official attempting to push Switzer off the road. Even so, Switzer refused to stop running and finished the race.
Though now haled as a major achievement for women, the initial public reaction of this event was extremely negative. Many men help ideas of physical superiority against women, and some even thought it was physically impossible for them to complete a marathon. Switzer noted how her doctor even claimed that if she were to complete the run, her feminine features would disappear and her uterus would "fall out". Others labeled her as "just a jogger" that had come to the race in order to "invade the male space", showing the inherent discrimination against women during the time.
Still, numerous improvements and changes were made as a result of Switzer's actions during the Boston Marathon. Four years after the run, races officially had to allow women to run, and couldn't restrict specific genders. Switzer also founded the Avon International Running Circuit, which helped develop professional running for women to the point that it got accepted as its own Olympic sport in 1984. The primary organization that she has created, however, is 261 Fearless, which comes from her own number with which she used to race the Boston Marathon. This organization today stands as a global non-profit and aims to encourage the participation of women in athletic events such as running.
I enjoyed reading your blog, Bill. One thing I found interesting was Kathrine's use of an ambiguous name to hide her gender. I did some quick research on some other cases of that and it turns up a lot in literature as women have historically used ambiguous names or male pen names to be able to publish their books without persecution. For example, in this time period, Joan Cooper (a black, female author) published under the name J. California Cooper as to make her books more appealing to the public. Even modern authors like J. K. Rowling hide their gender by using things such as initials.
ReplyDeletehttps://mashable.com/2015/03/01/female-authors-pen-names/
It's hard to believe how views of women have changed so much across the decades. Reading this post reminded me of the King vs Riggs "Battle of the Sexes" match. King's victory proved as a landmark achievement which paved the way for the future of female athletes. Today, female athletes are widely accepted in sports including of course, Serena Williams and the incredibly strong rock climber Ashima Shirashi. It's hard to believe that these incredible athletes would have been frowned upon 5 decades ago.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.biography.com/news/battle-of-the-sexes-true-story-facts