Summary Of What's All The Racket Concerning Billie Jean King

What’s all the Racket Concerning Billie Jean King? “The best way to handle women is to keep them pregnant and barefoot,” provokes World Tennis Champion of 1939, Bobby Riggs (Ware 4). Proud of his blind misogyny, Riggs paradoxically admits he knows absolutely nothing about women’s liberation (Ware 4). Even during the 1970s, women were still being discriminated against and were given limited opportunities to participate in sports. In 1974, Bobby Riggs challenged Billie Jean King, one of the top female tennis players in the world at the time, when she was only 23. King emerged as the victor, surprising many and instilling hope for the rising feminist movement. King believes, “Sports is a universal language. It’s a way to cross borders” (Clarke).

In 1970, the male first place champion of the Italian Tennis Championship received $3,500 while the top prize for women was $600 (Guttmann 209). This gap drove King to press for equal prize money in the Pacific Southwest Championships who were planning on that year’s men’s champion to receive $12,500 while the female champion would only receive $1,500 (Guttmann 209). “I thought it was crucial for the acceptance and integrity of women’s tennis that one of us make six figures, and since I was the only one with a shot at it, I absolutely wore myself out in the chase” (King 123). In 1970, King called for a boycott to end their discriminatory treatment however the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association resisted her demand for equality (210). Undeterred, King and nine other women formed their own professional tour titled the Virginia Slims (Ware

She gave “a polarized women’s movement exactly what it needed: a mainstream face.” —Sports Illustrated journalist Selena Roberts (Ware 10). Women and girls all over the country were still unsure of what they were now capable of achieving. King encouraged ordinary women to think that they can try new things, too. They can do something more than what their society had told them they could do. This call for equal opportunity was behind Billie Jean King’s challenge to the tennis establishment, and equal rights was the motivating idea behind the Battle of the Sexes. The focus on winning access was also at the core of Title IX’s emphasis on creating participation opportunities and making sure that girls and women received equal resources to boys and men in educational settings”