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Violence and roller skates
Jul. 13th, 2008 12:36 pmLast night, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mlyn and I went to see her friend Tiffany in a roller derby bout. It was really fun, though the community college gym where it was held was very hot and OMG the bleacher seats. Even with as much padding as my fat ass should provide, they fucking hurt. I totally spaced bringing a cushion or something to sit on. It's tough because they're so narrow and hard, but you can't move around much with people in front of and in back of you. At half time there was murderball, but M'lyn noted that it didn't look too murdery, and I think it was because there were a couple of able-bodied men in the game and so they were a little less murdery than usual. I said, watch the documentary and you'll see how it got the name. But it was fun anyway, especially when they had tire troubles, because they had a pit crew!
I used to love roller derby when I was a kid, the classic one with the chicks beating on each other like pro wrestling -- that faux grudge stuff, fake throws, etc. It's not at that level of hitting, but they still knock each other down, elbow, hip check, all that stuff. I'm amazed that they can continue skating after someone goes down right in front of them.
But what I really liked about it is that the women competing are all shapes and sizes and colors. There were tall skinny women, short fat women, petite and zaftig or petite and wiry, Amazonian strapping lasses, tall fat women, short skinny women... you get the picture. And they were all wearing little skirts and shorts and tank tops or athletic shirts and stockings and bare skin and just everything under the rainbow, and none of them were ashamed of their bodies or hiding their bulges if they had them. The next time I see someone whinging on LJ about how women can't let themselves show their real bodies or do active things if they're fat, I'm going to shout, "Go watch your local roller derby team!" at them.
And the murderball ref was this giant big-boned Amazonian blond woman in a belly shirt who ran back and forth with her boobs bouncing because she was big-breasted and clearly her sports bra couldn't hold everything down, and I just totally dug her. When the pit crew was changing the guys' wheels, she held the whole chair up for them, murderball player and all. Those chairs and those guys are heavy. So all in all, it was one of those kinds of empowering fun things, where there's no message but you come away feeling good about it. There were a lot of fans, too -- not necessarily even people who had a friend or family member competing, just fans of the teams. It was cool. (but next time, cushion. And back wall)
Also, who doesn't like to see chicks knocking each other around? I love it (I also used to like men's roller derby, too, but it's funner with grrls.) It's just fun. We don't get the chances to do this sort of thing much. We don't get athletic opportunities much anyway, let alone ones where there is physical contact, rough physical contact. I grew up with rough physical contact sports, always with boys, and I don't see it as a negative. It can be kind of fun, when it's controlled and not done with the idea of making it entertainment for men. I didn't see any kind of creepy pervy guys, either, and that was a huge plus. The women were having fun, the audience was having fun. Good stuff all around.
Then we went in search of a place to eat that didn't close down by 9. You would think on a Saturday night that wouldn't be such a tall order, but you would be wrong. Seattle is such a doofy city. The only places open late are expensive, and anything lower key closes the kitchen early. We'll never be a world class city if we roll up the kitchens at 9 on a Saturday. We finally went to a pub up by her place, which was nice and made good pizza, although -- hard wooden narrow benches! It was like some kind of conspiracy.
mlyn and I went to see her friend Tiffany in a roller derby bout. It was really fun, though the community college gym where it was held was very hot and OMG the bleacher seats. Even with as much padding as my fat ass should provide, they fucking hurt. I totally spaced bringing a cushion or something to sit on. It's tough because they're so narrow and hard, but you can't move around much with people in front of and in back of you. At half time there was murderball, but M'lyn noted that it didn't look too murdery, and I think it was because there were a couple of able-bodied men in the game and so they were a little less murdery than usual. I said, watch the documentary and you'll see how it got the name. But it was fun anyway, especially when they had tire troubles, because they had a pit crew!I used to love roller derby when I was a kid, the classic one with the chicks beating on each other like pro wrestling -- that faux grudge stuff, fake throws, etc. It's not at that level of hitting, but they still knock each other down, elbow, hip check, all that stuff. I'm amazed that they can continue skating after someone goes down right in front of them.
But what I really liked about it is that the women competing are all shapes and sizes and colors. There were tall skinny women, short fat women, petite and zaftig or petite and wiry, Amazonian strapping lasses, tall fat women, short skinny women... you get the picture. And they were all wearing little skirts and shorts and tank tops or athletic shirts and stockings and bare skin and just everything under the rainbow, and none of them were ashamed of their bodies or hiding their bulges if they had them. The next time I see someone whinging on LJ about how women can't let themselves show their real bodies or do active things if they're fat, I'm going to shout, "Go watch your local roller derby team!" at them.
And the murderball ref was this giant big-boned Amazonian blond woman in a belly shirt who ran back and forth with her boobs bouncing because she was big-breasted and clearly her sports bra couldn't hold everything down, and I just totally dug her. When the pit crew was changing the guys' wheels, she held the whole chair up for them, murderball player and all. Those chairs and those guys are heavy. So all in all, it was one of those kinds of empowering fun things, where there's no message but you come away feeling good about it. There were a lot of fans, too -- not necessarily even people who had a friend or family member competing, just fans of the teams. It was cool. (but next time, cushion. And back wall)
Also, who doesn't like to see chicks knocking each other around? I love it (I also used to like men's roller derby, too, but it's funner with grrls.) It's just fun. We don't get the chances to do this sort of thing much. We don't get athletic opportunities much anyway, let alone ones where there is physical contact, rough physical contact. I grew up with rough physical contact sports, always with boys, and I don't see it as a negative. It can be kind of fun, when it's controlled and not done with the idea of making it entertainment for men. I didn't see any kind of creepy pervy guys, either, and that was a huge plus. The women were having fun, the audience was having fun. Good stuff all around.
Then we went in search of a place to eat that didn't close down by 9. You would think on a Saturday night that wouldn't be such a tall order, but you would be wrong. Seattle is such a doofy city. The only places open late are expensive, and anything lower key closes the kitchen early. We'll never be a world class city if we roll up the kitchens at 9 on a Saturday. We finally went to a pub up by her place, which was nice and made good pizza, although -- hard wooden narrow benches! It was like some kind of conspiracy.
