From Ladies' Days to Women's Initiatives: American Pastimes and Distaff Consumption

Abstract

American entrepreneurs have, for more than a century, sought to cultivate female consumers of national pastimes, specifically horse racing, boxing, baseball, football and basketball. Because these sports have been principally and historically associated with manliness and masculinity, it is more appropriate to think in terms of women's involvement and consumption, as opposed to their athletic participation when it comes to ‘pastime' status. Marketing campaigns aimed at women by the promoters of national pastimes reveal complex processes of commercialisation, bourgeoisification and hypercommodification. The ways in which major sports leagues and administrators appealed to women have long been based on essentialised feminine roles, treating women as moralising agents, wives and mothers, and consumers. These strategies represent the primary force in shaping women's inclusion in national pastimes. In turn, they have defined what it means to be a ‘female fan' in ways that normalise male fandom and position women's support for national pastimes as something different.

Keywords::

• female fans
• national pastimes
• sport consumption

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Mark Dyreson, Marie Hardin and the anonymous reviewers for their invaluable assistance in writing and improving this article.

Notes

^1.Donnelly, ‘Prolympism’.

^2.Parratt, ‘From the History’, 9.

^3. ‘American Chronicle of Sports and Pastimes’, May 28, 1868, in Betts, America's Sporting Heritage, 218.

^4. ‘Women's Sports Facts’, Women's Sports Foundation, accessed August 20, 2012, http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/home/research/articles-and-reports/athletes/womens-sports-facts; Langdon Brockinton, ‘Numbers Up, but MLB, NFL Increase Efforts to Lure Women’, Sports Business Journal, December 24, 2001, accessed August 20, 2012, http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2001/12/20011224/Special-Report/Numbers-Up-But-MLB-NFL-Increase-Efforts-To-Lure-Women.aspx?hl = Women%E2%80%99s%20sports%20&sc = 0MichaelMcCarthy, ‘Marketers Alter Their Pitches With More Females Tuning In’, USA Today, September 17, 2008, accessed August 20, 2012, http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/2008-09-17-women-marketing_N.htm.

^5.Dietz-Uhler et al., ‘Sex Differences in Sport’.

^6. National pastimes developed rather unevenly in each of these three periods. Basketball, for example, did not become a major spectator sport until the 1930s. It took another 30 years for the professional game to earn a substantial audience and was not until the 1980s that executives targeted women in any type of identifiable effort. Boxing, on the other hand, was one of the first sports to actively recruit female spectators. Since the mid-1900s, though, its popularity has declined and there seem few endeavours to solicit women's interest. By focusing on women's spectatorship, instead of their participation, we omit any discussion of hunting. This is not to suggest that hunting is not a pastime or that women do not figure prominently in its history, but rather that it is beyond the scope of this essay.

^7.Taylor, ‘“Football Mad”’.

^8.Giulianotti, ‘Supporters, Followers, Fans’, 29.

^9.Times Picayune, 1847; as cited in Betts, America's Sporting Heritage, 17.

^10.Adelman, A Sporting Time, 28.

^11. ‘Horse-Racing Past and Present’, New York Times, April 27, 1873.

^12.Seymour, Baseball, 76–80.

^13.Voigt, ‘Sex in Baseball’, 392.

^14. See Edwin Hoag, ‘Baseball's Great Innovator’, Sports Illustrated, March 19, 1973, accessed September 6, 2012, http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1087165/index.htm.

^15.Nasaw, Going Out, 101.

^16. Al Weisman, ‘Feminine Fans – They Know Their Baseball’, Chicago Daily Tribune, August 6, 1950.

^17.Gorn and Goldstein, A Brief History of American Sports, 206–7. See also Adelman, A Sporting Time, 158.

^18.Nasaw, Going Out, 96.

^19.Riess, Touching Base, 28.

^20. See, for example, ‘Football at Washington’, New York Times, November 1, 1890; ‘Victories at Football’, New York Times, October 17, 1886. Rader, American Sports, 95.

^21.Oriard, Reading Football, 57–8.

^22.Rader, American Sports, 95–6.

^23. ‘Championship Bouts Drawing More Women to the Ringside’, New York Times, August 31, 1927.

^24. ‘Society Basks in the Sunlight of Football Glory’, Pittsburgh Courier, November 26, 1932; Eva Jay, ‘Swank Social Leaders to Gather at the World's Playground for Big Turkey Day “Football Classic”’, Pittsburgh Courier, December 2, 1933; ‘Swanky Social Events Anent the Football Classics Make “Touchdowns” in Three States’, Pittsburgh Courier, October 17, 1936.

^25. Edith Sampson, ‘Chicagoans Plan Gay Time at Football Classic’, Pittsburgh Courier, October 25, 1930; Lovelyn Evans, ‘Football Classic to Attract Swank Society’, Chicago Defender, October 15, 1938.

^26.Rader, American Sports, 48.

^27. ‘Women to See Boxing’, New York Times, February 16, 1909.

^28. ‘Welsh to Show Boxing Ability Before Women’, Chicago Daily Tribune, August 27, 1916; ‘Two Women See “Ladies' Day” Boxing’, New York Times, January 26, 1915.

^29. ‘Young Corbett Says Women Ought to Encourage Boxing’, National Police Gazette, October 4, 1902.

^30. Alva Johnston, ‘The New Aristocracy of the Ringside’, New York Times, September 18, 1927.

^31.Guttmann, Sports Spectators, 118.

^32. ‘Championship Bouts Drawing More Women to the Ringside’, New York Times, August 31, 1927.

^33. John Field and Earl Brown, ‘The Boxing Racket’, Life, June 17, 1946.

^34. ‘Fashion Rules at Saratoga’, Chicago Daily Tribune, August 5, 1902.

^35. Marshall Smith, ‘The 100-Year Spree at Saratoga’, Life, July 26, 1963.

^36. Rea Seeger, ‘Festive Race Track Styles Being Shown’, Chicago Daily Tribune, July 22, 1945.

^37. ‘Society Makes Gay Picture at Kentucky Derby’, Chicago Daily Tribune, May 18, 1930; Ruth DeYoung Kohler, ‘Women World Wide’, Chicago Daily Tribune, August 9, 1940.

^38.Watterson, College Football, 99–100.

^39. Ibid.

^40. ‘10,000 Chicago Women Play the Races’, Chicago Daily Tribune, July 3, 1904.

^41.DeFerrari, Lost Washington, D.C., 113.

^42. ‘Women Fighters Cause Riot at Baseball Game’, Chicago Defender, August 13, 1927.

^43. Edward Burns, ‘Ladies' Days Are Swell—We Like a Good Riot, Too’, Chicago Daily Tribune, June 26, 1932.

^44. ‘The Football Craze’, Chicago Defender, January 22, 1910.

^45. ‘Women and Foot-ball’, Godey's Magazine, May 1897.

^46. ‘Fair Maudie at Ringside’, Los Angeles Times, April 17, 1910.

^47. ‘Women Aren't Fans’, Atlantic Monthly, 141 (January–June, 1928), 713.

^48. ‘Women at the Ringside’, Chicago Daily Tribune, June 30, 1921.

^49. Donald Ogden Stewart, ‘Boxing for Ladies’, New McClures, February 1929.

^50. Helen Dare, ‘Fair Fans at Ladies' Day See More Than Just a Ball Game’, Chicago Daily Tribune, August 26, 1928.

^51. ‘Boston Got the Odd Run’, New York Times, May 12, 1893.

^52. Al Demaree, ‘Grandstand Girls’, Colliers, June 2, 1928.

^53. ‘Baseball Park Nuisances’, Chicago Defender, July 20, 1912.

^54. Frank Stanley, ‘Cheesecake at the Ball Park’, Colliers 118 (July 27, 1946), 62–63.

^55. ‘Ladies' Days’, Chicago Daily Tribune, August 13, 1930.

^56.Briley, Class at Bat, 305.

^57. Al Stump, ‘Baseball's Biggest Headache – Dames’, True 49 (1959), 78.

^58. Ross Morrow, ‘Ballplayers vs. the Bobbysoxers’, Sport, September 1950. The shooting inspired Bernard Malamud's 1952 novel The Natural.

^59.Ardell, ‘Baseball Annies’.

^60. Ruth DeYoung Kohler, ‘Women World Wide’, Chicago Daily Tribune, August 9, 1940.

^61. Across the board, attendance dipped for both men and women. Jean Hastings Ardell argues that the post-war baby boom may have contributed to the smaller number of women attending sporting events. See Ardell, Breaking into Baseball, 39.

^62.Taylor, ‘“Football Mad”’, 364–5.

^63. See Giulianotti, ‘Supporters, Followers, Fans’.

^64. Robert Lipsyte, ‘Racing Is Trying to Improve Image of Its Bettors’, New York Times, January 22, 1967.

^65.Lisle, ‘“We Make a Big Effort”’, 1205.

^66. Judy Klemesrud, ‘Ladies Day at Stadium’, New York Times, April 30, 1967.

^67. Ruth DeYoung Kohler, ‘Women World Wide’, Chicago Daily Tribune, August 9, 1940.

^68. Evelyn Cunningham, ‘The Women and the Prize Fights’, Pittsburgh Courier, July 5, 1952. See also Bessie Holloway, ‘Marva Gets All “Dolled Up” But Is Absent at Ringside’, Pittsburgh Courier, September 4, 1937.

^69. See, as examples, ‘The National Game’, Washington Bee, May 16, 1885; ‘Hoosier Female Fans Demand “Ladies' Day”’, Pittsburgh Courier, February 28, 1925; ‘Here's Your Chance, Ladies’, Pittsburgh Courier, August 24, 1929; ‘Baseball Loop to Favor Ladies in Quest for Added Patrons’, Philadelphia Tribune, February 22, 1934; Evelyn Cunningham, ‘The Women: Baseball is Bugging ‘Em!!’ Pittsburgh Courier, June 7, 1952.

^70. ‘In the Swirl of Society’, Indianapolis Freeman, March 25, 1911.

^71. Cunningham, ‘The Women: Baseball is Bugging ‘Em!!’.

^72. Evelyn Cunningham, ‘Take ‘Em Out to the Baseball Game … But …!’ Pittsburgh Courier, June 4, 1949 (blanks in original).

^73.Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 196.

^74.Oriard, King Football, 366.

^75.Rader, American Sports, 268.

^76.Noverr and Ziewacz, The Games They Played, 260.

^77. See Hopsicker and Dyreson, ‘Super Bowl Sunday’.

^78. Jean Hewitt, ‘No Knife or Fork – Just Snacks and Football, Football, Football’, New York Times, December 30, 1967.

^79. Eddie Jefferies, ‘Football Widows Cure Discovered’, Pittsburgh Courier, December 11, 1982.

^80. ‘It's Football Time Again, Girls’, Changing Times, September, 1969.

^81. Walter Carlson, ‘Lure of Football Draws Banks’, New York Times, August 23, 1965.

^82. ‘Jets Will Tell Women About Football Tonight’, New York Times, April 13, 1967.

^83. ‘Female Football Clinic Stars Steelers’, New Pittsburgh Courier, November 10, 1973.

^84. ‘Women Offered Football Tips to Match Mates’, Chicago Tribune, October 29, 1972; ‘Kennedy to Offer Ladies Class on Football Facts’, Chicago Defender, August 31, 1974.

^85. Eddie Jefferies, ‘Football Widows Cure Discovered’, Pittsburgh Courier, December 11, 1982.

^86. Barbara Brotman, ‘Clinic for Women Makes It Bearable’, Chicago Tribune, October 25, 1984. These types of classes continue in the twenty-first century, such as ‘Ladies Locker Room', taught by Dallas Cowboys' special teams' coach, Joe Avezzano.

^87. Rick Talley, ‘Monday Night Football Blitzes Television Opposition’, Chicago Tribune, October 22, 1974.

^88. Grace Lichtenstein, ‘Football Is Still a Man's Game, But…’ New York Times, December 20, 1970.

^89. Gary Deeb, ‘Get Used to It …Women Sportscasters to Stay’, Chicago Tribune, August 12, 1975.

^90. Sue Anne Pressley, ‘Kissing Bandit Steals Back to Her Baltimore Roots’, Washington Post, June 20, 1988.

^91.Bouton, Ball Four.

^92.Michelson, Sportin' Ladies.

^93.Walsh and Giulianotti, ‘This Sporting Mammon’, 55. See also Giulianotti, ‘Supporters, Followers, Fans’; Falcous and Rose, ‘Cultural Identities in Transition’.

^94. Horse racing has also tried ‘to reinvent itself in an effort to attract new, younger and female fans'. The sport's major races ‘are being recast as lifestyle events rather than just competitions' and occasions to dress up, host parties and turn up at the track. While horse racing remains big business, it has, arguably, lost its pastime status. See David Zurawik, ‘Horse Racing's Media Makeover Is Paying Off’, The Baltimore Sun, May 8, 2010, accessed September 20, 2012, http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-05-08/entertainment/bs-ae-preakness-media-20100507_1_churchill-downs-racing-tv-ratings.

^95.Branch, ‘Tapping New Markets’, 9; Brockinton, ‘Numbers Up, but MLB, NFL Increase Efforts to Lure Women’, Sports Business Journal, December 24, 2001.

^96.Schwartz, ‘Causes and Effects’, 36.

^97.Farrell, Fink and Fields, ‘Women's Sport Spectatorship’, 191.

^98.Gantz and Wenner, ‘Men, Women, and Sports’; Dietz-Uhler et al., ‘Sex Differences in Sport’, 226. See also James and Ridinger, ‘Female and Male Sport Fans’.

^99.Branch, ‘Tapping New Markets’; Michael K. Ozanian, ‘The $11 Billion Pastime’, Financial World 163 (May 1994), 50; ‘Stats Say Sports Are in Trouble’, Portland Business Journal, December 26, 1999, accessed September 20, 2012, http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/1999/12/27/editorial2.html?page = all.

^100.Sutton and Watlington, ‘Communicating with Women’, 11.

^101. Margaret Littman, ‘Women Fans Have Gridiron Pros Grinning’, Marketing News 32 (1998), 1.

^102. ‘MLB Announces Commissioner's Initiative on Women and Baseball’, MLB.com, July 26, 2000, accessed September 20, 2012, http://www.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd = 20000726&content_id = 388145&vkey = pr_mlb&fext = .jsp&c_id = mlb.

^103.Sutton and Watlington, ‘Communicating with Women’, 12.

^104. Richard Sandomir, ‘N.B.A. Wants Women to Talk Basketball’, New York Times, June 9, 2006, accessed September 20, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/09/business/media/09adco.html?pagewanted = print&_r = 0; Branch, ‘Tapping New Markets’.

^105. Sam Walker, ‘Super Bowl XXXVI: The NFL Tackles Mom’, The Wall Street Journal, February 1, 2002.

^106. Walter Carlson, ‘Lure of Football Draws Banks’, New York Times, August 23, 1965.

^107. Michael Applebaum, ‘If You Build It, Will She Come?’ Brandweek 44 (September 29, 2003), 32, 29.

^108. Cory Bronson, ‘NFL Launches “Inspiring” Commercials’, Sporting Goods Business 33 (September 15, 2000), 16.

^109. ‘The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty’, accessed October 2, 2012, http://www.dove.us/Social-Mission/campaign-for-real-beauty.aspx.

^110. Caroline Fossi, ‘Super Bowl Ads Will Target Growing Audience of Women’, Knight Riddler Tribune Business News, February 5, 2006.

^111. Walker, ‘Super Bowl XXXVI: The NFL Tackles Mom’, The Wall Street Journal, February 1, 2002.

^112. Ibid.

^113. Quoted in ‘With Sales Sagging, Campbell Hands Off to a Powerful Spokeswoman’, New York Times, September 5, 2012, accessed September 30, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/business/media/campbell-revives-nfl-mom-ad-with-giants-victor-cruz.html.

^114. ‘Campbell's Chunky Soup and Professional Football Hall of Fame Announce “Most Valuable Moms”’, Campbell's Soup Company, September 23, 2003, accessed October 1, 2012, http://investor.campbellsoupcompany.com/phoenix.zhtml?c = 88650&p = irol-newsArticle_pf&ID = 451457&highlight = .

^115.Whiteside and Hardin, ‘Women (Not) Watching Women’.

^116. ‘MLB Announces Commissioner's Initiative on Women and Baseball’, MLB.com, July 26, 2000.

^117. Kristi Dosh, ‘NFL May Be Hitting Stride With Female Fans’, espnW.com, February 3, 2012, accessed September 20, 2012, http://espn.go.com/espnw/more-sports/7536295/nfl-finding-success-targeting-women-fans-merchandise-fashion.

^118. ‘NLF Gameday Party’, NFL.com, accessed September 21, 2012, http://www.nfl.com/gamedayparty.

^119. Ann Baskin, ‘Is Homegating the New Tailgating?’ Advertising Age, September 21, 2011, accessed September 29, 2012, http://adage.com/article/news/homegating-tailgating/229926/.

^120.Clark, Apostolopoulou, and Gladden, ‘Real Women Watch Football’.

^121. Richard Sandomir, ‘N.B.A. Wants Women to Talk Basketball’, New York Times, June 9, 2006.

^122. Niki Kapsambelis, ‘Women Learn Football at Homes of Steelers, Eagles’, Philadelphia Tribune, November 14, 1997.

^123. John Davidson, ‘Football 101’, Working Woman 22 (October 1997), 13; Diane Ketcham, ‘This Is a Football’, New York Times, September 3, 1995.

^124. Brockinton, ‘Numbers Up, but MLB, NFL Increase Efforts to Lure Women’, Sports Business Journal, December 24, 2001.

^125. ‘Teach Women the Viewing Basics of Formerly Male-Bastion Sports’, About Women and Marketing 11 (January 31, 1998), 6; Margaret Littman, ‘Women Fans Have Gridiron Pros Grinning’, Marketing News 32 (1998), 1; Langdon Brockinton, ‘Numbers Up, but MLB, NFL Increase Efforts to Lure Women’, Sports Business Journal, December 24, 2001, accessed August 20, 2012.

^126. ‘2011 Women's NBA 101’, nba.com, accessed September 20, 2012, http://www.nba.com/mavericks/2011_womens_nba_101.html; ‘MLB Announces Commissioner's Initiative on Women and Baseball’, MLB.com, July 26, 2000; ‘Phillies Baseball 101’, Phillies.com, accessed September 20, 2012, http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/phi/ticketing/clinic.jsp.

^127. ‘Ohio State Women's Football Clinic Draws a Crowd’, The Buckeye Battle Cry, June 11, 2012, accessed September 20, 2012, http://www.thebuckeyebattlecry.com/2012/06/ohio-state-womens-football-clinic-draws-a-crowd/; ‘Ladies get a taste of WVU Football 101’, Washington Tribune Business News, August 20, 2012; Sara Lipka, ‘Penn State Puts Women in the Huddle’, Chronicle of Higher Education, June 27, 2010, accessed September 28, 2012, http://chronicle.com/article/Penn-State-Puts-Women-in-the/66047/.

^128.Lachowetz and Gladden, ‘A Framework for Understanding’.

^129. ‘Baseball Is Up to the “Challenge”’, USA Today, July 2005. Horse racing, too, has staged charitable events to benefit research. See Zurawik, ‘Horse Racing's Media Makeover Is Paying Off’, The Baltimore Sun, May 8, 2010.

^130. Mel Poole, ‘NFL Becomes National Sponsor of 99-Event Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Race for the Cure Awareness and Fund-Raising Program’, Sports Business Journal, March 1, 1999, accessed October 2, 2012, http://m.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/1999/03/19990301/No-Topic-Name/NFL-Becomes-National-Sponsor-Of-99-Event-Susan-B-Komen-Breast-Cancer-Foundation-Race-For-The-Cure.aspx; Rick Malony, ‘Bills Lead NFL's High-Tech Offense’, Business First 17 (November 2000), 1; ‘NFL Supports Breast Cancer Awareness Month’. NFL.com, September 28, 2011, accessed September 28, 2012, http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d822a6217/article/nfl-supports-breast-cancer-awareness-month.

^131. See, as examples, ‘Verizon Wireless and Packers Connect to Support Domestic Violence Prevention’, Packers.com, September 29, 2011, accessed September 28, 2012, http://www.packers.com/news-and-events/article-1/Verizon-Wireless-and-Packers-connect-to-support-domestic-violence-prevention/9a4fa4d0-fdac-4605-8bc3-64ea5ccaad85; ‘August 29: Domestic Violence Awareness’, Pittsburgh Pirates website, accessed October 1, 2012, http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/photos/gallery.jsp?content_id = 37546856&c_id = pit.

^132. Davidson, ‘Football 101’, 13; Sandy Shore, ‘NHL, NFL Design Products For Women Fans’, Marketing News 30 (1996), 8; Ann Baskin, ‘Is Homegating the New Tailgating?’ Advertising Age, September 21, 2011, accessed September 29, 2012, http://adage.com/article/news/homegating-tailgating/229926/.

^133. ‘MLB Announces Commissioner's Initiative on Women and Baseball’, MLB.com, July 26, 2000.

^134. Laura DeMarco, ‘Cleveland Indians Add Tribe Pride for Her Women's Clothing Store to 2008 Team-Shop Lineup’, Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 24, 2008, accessed September 20, 2012, http://www.cleveland.com/goingout/index.ssf/2008/03/_more_info_indians_team.html.

^135. Mark Newman, ‘New Apparel For Women Unveiled at Fan Cave’, MLB.com, June 20, 2012, accessed September 20, 2012, http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd = 20120620&content_id = 33677484&vkey = news_mlb&c_id = mlb. ‘Victoria's Secret PINK Announces the Expansion of Their NFL Collection’, Entertainment Newsweekly (August 26, 2011), 138.

^136. Scott M. Gleeson, ‘Victoria's Secret Store to Open at NLF Stadium’, USA Today, September 28, 2012, accessed September 30, 2012, http://www.usatoday.com/story/gameon/2012/09/28/victoria-secret-underwear-cowboys-stadium/1600877/.

^137. ‘NFL & Marchesa Unveil Exclusive Collaboration’, Press release, October 4, 2012, accessed October 5, 2012, www.alliance-agency.com.

^138. Adena Andrews, ‘High Heels Don't Say Basketball; They Say Injured List’, espnW, June 19, 2012, accessed September 20, 2012, http://espn.go.com/espnw/commentary/8068775/high-heels-say-basketball-say-injured-list.

^139.Walsh and Giulianotti, ‘This Sporting Mammon’, 59.

^140.Giulianotti, ‘Supporters, Followers, Fans’, 67–68.

^141.Borer, ‘Negotiating the Symbols’, 1.

^142.Markovits and Albertson, Sportista, 5. It is curious that female fans must be constantly ‘marked' by their sex with feminised terms and even more curious that Markovits and Albertson opted to coin their term based on ‘fashionista', or one devoted to fashion.

^143.Borer, ‘Negotiating the Symbols’, 1.

^144.Crawford and Gosling, ‘The Myth’, 479, 490.

^145.Dolance, “‘A Whole Stadium Full’”, 82.

^146. Richard Lapchick et al., ‘The 2012 Racial and Gender Report Card: Major League Baseball’; Richard Lapchick, Antoinette Lecky, and Aaron Trigg, ‘The 2012 Racial and Gender Report Card: National Football League’; Richard Lapchick et al., ‘The 2012 Racial and Gender Report Card: National Basketball Association’, The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, accessed September 30, 2012, www.tidesport.org.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jaime Schultz

Jaime Schultz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Penn State University. Her research on gender, race and cultural history appears in multiple edited collections as well as The Journal of Sport History, The International Journal of the History of Sport, The Journal of Social History, Sociology of Sport Journal, The Journal of Sport & Social Issues, among others. She is the author of the forthcoming Qualifying Times: Points of Change in US Women's Sport (University of Illinois Press).

Andrew D. Linden

Andrew D. Linden is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Kinesiology at Penn State University. He studies business, gender and labour with an emphasis on American football in the late twentieth century. His work has been published in The International Journal of the History of Sport.