{"id":3170,"date":"2022-03-15T09:46:23","date_gmt":"2022-03-15T13:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firstandpen.com\/staging\/5861\/?p=3170"},"modified":"2022-03-16T08:38:10","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T12:38:10","slug":"black-sportswomen-compete-against-much-more-than-just-sexism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firstandpen.com\/staging\/5861\/black-sportswomen-compete-against-much-more-than-just-sexism\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Sportswomen Compete Against Much More Than Just Sexism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At the 2022 Critics Choice Awards on Sunday, Dame Elizabeth Jane Campion, a director, screenwriter, and producer, decided the best way to highlight her accomplishment was by taking a dig at two Black sportswomen<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her award speech for Best Director for the film, The Power of the Dog<\/em>, Campion said unprovoked, \u201cSerena and Venus you\u2019re such marvels. However, you don\u2019t have to compete against the men like I do<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Venus and Serena, who are on the awards campaign trail in support of their film King Richard<\/em><\/a>, had their reactions captured immediately following the remark. Though only the sisters know what went through their heads and hearts at that moment, watching Campion\u2019s speech leaves me cringing every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to compete against the men like I do,\u201d was not only unnecessary, but it also negates the sisters lived experiences as Black sportswomen in what has historically been the very white space of tennis, and thus their encounters with racism and sexism in the form of misogynoir. When I say tennis has historically been a \u201cwhite space,\u201d I say so in the way that Dr. Elijah Anderson described them\u2014 spaces that are seemingly off-limits to Black folx.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White spaces, like tennis, are spaces in which Black folx are either absent, not expected, not welcomed or marginalized when present (2015).<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is fair to say that tennis constituted a white space for decades, and the changes that we have seen to that effect, are due in large part to the sacrifices made by Black sportswomen such as Venus and Serena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With her words, Campions belittle all that the sisters have lived through, fought against, and endured with grace. Now, I am by no means surprised that this white woman carelessly and senselessly put her whole foot in her mouth. Rather I find it quite telling of the moment that we are in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women\u2019s History Month follows Black History Month, and yet (certain) people remain inattentive to the various ways that race, gender, and sex intersect to shape our lived experiences.<\/p>

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