Million Degraded Babes
The Washington Monthly has published a hard hitting (heh heh heh) essay against female boxing. It turns out that Million Dollar Baby isn't just a warped film about the glory of euthanasia. It's also a joke that paints a dream world of female boxing. Excerpt:
"Boxing has long existed in a cultural ghetto, revelling in its corruption and violence. Women's boxing operates in a further ghetto still. No one other than the fighters really takes it seriously—not the audience, not the referees, not the trainers. I've been to more than a dozen women's fights since that first one, and nearly all were just like it, 45-second bloodfests. It's hard to figure what appeals to the girls who fight: You get thrown in the ring with some cretin who is trying to rip your head off, you have no idea how to defend yourself, and all the while a thousand sweaty men are shouting at you, trying to be clever about your rear end. No matter how long you fight or how good you become, you'll never be the headliner, some man will. Nobody cares enough to teach you the craft. The fights are brutal, sexualized, and uncontrollable. What's more, there is not much money in the sport—probably the only female boxers you've ever heard of are the daughters of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier—because no significant television audience would ever pay to see this crap. And yet the girls keep signing up, keep coming."
