Post #158 – Women’s Memoirs, Writing Prompt – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
Memoir Tip About Remembering Your Life Story
During the Olympics, as I saw the awards women were receiving, my mind recalled 40 years earlier. I turned to my partner and said, “You know. Maybe I am exaggerating but I think one reason we are seeing so many American women win medals is the effect of Title IX.”
When I grew up, a popular refrain from our mothers was, “Horses sweat, men perspire, and women glow.” If all we could do was glow, then we certainly weren’t going to be very active in sports. Maybe a refined game of tennis, croquet, or even archery. There were school sports but they were intended to let us participate in a little physical activity. No one I knew thought we’d make our mark in the world through sports, which we assumed required sweating and aggressive attitudes toward our opponents. Just wasn’t lady-like.
I’ve exaggerating. But only a little bit. After all, Billie Jean King was born in the same year I was and she dramatically changed the face of tennis for women. And there were others. But for most of us, the road ahead wasn’t paved with participation in sporting events.
Then, in 1972, Congress passed Title IX of the Education Act, which states:
“No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
Since that time, women’s participation in high school athletic programs has increased by more than 900% and in college more than 500%. Attitudes from the 1950s and 60s that we didn’t even recognize were just “attitudes” created an atmosphere that restricted not only our choices but also our ambitions.
Yes, Title IX has had a rocky road over the years. There were many who wanted to overturn it and return sports to the way they were. If you want to follow the efforts to restrict it, you’ll find a number of websites with information including this one from the Women’s Sports Foundation. The battles will still be waged in the coming years.
But thanks to Title IX, attitudes as well as scholarships and opportunities have changed. Women now see themselves as fully able to participate in sports and to Go for the Gold.
Which brings me back to my opening. Soon after my mind played with the idea that at least some of the medals women were winning at the Olympics could be attributed to Title IX, I read an article in USA Today by Christine Brennan. Under the headline of “Games showing Title IX at work,” Brennan wrote:
“The USA has led the way in this push for equality, and it’s all because of Title IX, the 40-year-old law that opened the athletic floodgates for girls and women to play sports in America and in the process become the envy of the rest of the Western world.”
She continued:
“Consider this: If there were no Title IX, there would be no women’s national soccer team, nor college scholarships for the female stars of the US Olympic swimming and track and field team, among many others. … if this American squad develops a nickname, odds are it will be something along the lines of “Team Title IX,” which sounds just about right to some of the nation’s best female Olympians.”
Memoir Writing Prompt
1. Public events, such as Title IX, change individual lives. I’d like you to think of a public event that has influenced your life. There are so many to choose from. And on a day-to-day basis you probably don’t think of it. So give this consideration. Then write for five or 10 minutes about how a public event altered your life. For example, the children of Holocaust survivors often grew up internalizing a sense of fear, The Pill changed the lives of a generation of women by giving them the ability to consider when and how many children they would have, 9/11 shook the faith of many, and the list goes on and on.
2. Here’s a related writing prompt. Consider what your life would have been like if you have been born 10 years earlier or 10 years later. That might help you decide on a public event to write about.
