Roller Derby Is Everything… The Derby Husband Look
You may have seen “Whip It,” and if you’re really hip, you may have even caught some of the A&E reality show, “Rollergirls,” and you just might even be aware that roller derby is exploding in popularity right now, with 176 member leagues, another 100 apprentice leagues, and plenty more trying to join the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association. You may be aware of roller derby, but you may not understand it. Not really.
If you caught “Rollergirls,” or have otherwise been exposed to the “new movement,” and you’ve heard that derby is quickly growing, it may well cross your mind that… well, that’s a very distinct demographic. For all that “Whip It” is family-friendly(ish), and revolves mostly around a not-quite-eighteen-year-old, Juliette Lewis’ two-toned hair, and aging redneckiness might do most of the talking for some viewers.
I’ll be honest, I know how it probably looks. But, the time to wonder about roller derby is here, if it hasn’t already passed, and the thousands of women who play across the country only add to the more than 45 countries around that world that have leagues. (The 2011 Roller Derby World Cup had 13 entrant countries)
I want to ask, “What’s the sell?” Why the hell are they all doing it? I would ask that, but it would be disingenuous. Plenty of people have already thrown around “Derby Love” stories, detailing a certain “sisterhood” quality found in the inherent “team.” The work, the sport, the group of “amazing, empowered women,” working together to get things done. The fact that virtually all derby leagues build in a charity/volunteer aspect adds to this idea as well.
I’m not sure I’m convinced. Oh, in some general sense, there is nothing like creating an in-group bias to ride high on, and it’s hard to create that any easier than slapping “team” on your group of randomly assorted individuals, but I’m not sure any of that is really, really the big sell.
First off, if that were the ticket, any sport would do. There’s something to be said for the non-stop version of action that roller derby provides, but a team is a team. And, don’t fool yourself if you haven’t seen this sport in action, there’s no questioning its sport status.
Besides, would you really even need a sport if you’re after some strong sense of sisterhood? Those who have played team sports may answer in the positive, but I wonder.
Now comes the part where I hang myself by speaking for women.
I think that the real secret behind roller derby, and the reason it has taken off the way it has in the last five years, and the last decade, is basically two-fold - 1) Women are a lot “better” at being every age they have ever been, for their whole lives, and 2) There are a lot of different referents for all of the words in, “This is mine.”
It may be a new era, century, or whatever other “You’ve come a long way, baby,” suits the needs of the moment, but if you’re a teenage girl, you’re rather limited. Strange concept, I know. Who do you cheer for? Who do you watch everyone celebrate when they win one for their team? When they pull off that amazing - insert dramatic and somewhat rare scoring/score-preventing event here - what woman are you watching? Sure, today we have soccer as an option, and the WNBA, and a few others, but they aren’t outrageously popular even now, and they have a flaw.
You see, those women aren’t playing basketball, they’re playing women’s basketball. At least in some sense of looking at things. A sense that may not sound very politically correct, but a sense that is very real in the hearts of many women - such is what I will suggest, at any rate. But, when women play roller derby, it is without qualification. Indeed, men play the sport as well, but they are playing men’s roller derby.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean to take anything away from the athleticism, or identity of, for example, women soccer players, who are amazing. But, they are doing something slightly different, and in a way that gives Derby an instant, powerful, and perhaps often unrecognized appeal.
Don’t get me wrong about “Derby Love” either. As countless women will tell you, Derby Love is very real, and there’s no getting around the friendships and camaraderie (and even rivalry, which has its positive place) that exist, just as they do in any sport. It’s just that there is a big difference when it comes to what’s really going on when you can squeeze in a lot more meaning to, “This,” and to it, “being mine.”
My wife’s derby league, Central Maine Derby, had their first bout last night. The house was packed with some 1,200 people, and it was a great time. Bodies flew, the crowd roared, and they lost to the MRD R.I.P. Tides.
She’s done a lot of things that people would consider rather interesting, my wife, from becoming a partner at a law firm, to having three kids, and too many things to count in-between, (this is the standard line of Derby women, who truly come from all walks of life) but I’ve never seen her happier. When it was over, as I waited for her to sign a couple of autographs for some kids, I saw that she had clearly been everywhere during her bout. On the floor, giving it everything, and in the stands, watching as the thirteen year-old her, finally with someone to cheer for. She was conveniently surrounded by a lot of her peers… in both cases.
I suppose I lied at the introduction there. Maybe Derby isn’t Everything. Not even to my wife. But, something has to be everything, even if it turns out to be a conglomeration of things that is ultimately unique to you, which seems to make for a contradictory turn of phrase. Maybe it’s just a thing, open now to being added to the list. Maybe, as the march of womanhood continues on, it’s just the next rung that adds “sport” in some ceremonial/metaphoric way, making it seem more real that women play sports, because this one’s theirs.
Early on in “Whip It,” Ellen Page’s main character, Bliss, is exposed to roller derby for the first time, and, awe-stricken, approaches one of the skaters and tells her, “You’re my hero.” She is met quickly with the reply, “Put some skates on, and be your own hero.” There are a thousand movies you might make with that exact scenario built around Bliss’ character being male. Rattle off as many other versions with females as you think will really deliver a scene. And, there you have it really. One part of it anyway.
Lending credence to the theory that historical writing is often quite easy, because the best moments of reality are already well-written, all my wife said when it was over was, “I did this. I did this!”
*My wife is Miss Anthrope
