an ode to the roller girls
Oh Roller Deryby, where do you fall in that oh so complicated and dysfunctional landscape of American Entertainment?
Are you sex work? Probably not, for although Roller Derby is a ladies game1, there isn’t the quid pro quote exchange of filthy lucre for some non-satisfactory level of sexual gratification that accompanies most, if not all, sex work.
And yet, the sex appeal is there. Oh is it there. Perhaps an America weaned on a bleach blonde porn Barbi aesthetic isn’t ready for you, but you can’t pay homage to Miss Pinup herself without exuding the sex. Also, speaking frankly, there isn’t another sport in america where those fishnet knee pads are regulation gear.
Sports Entertainment™ perhaps? Maybe in the 70s, where each pass was scripted, each cat-fight choreographed, each tumble planned for the peering eyes of a television audience, but this time they tell us it’s all real, and we know These Modern Girls® know better than to fake it.
Human Soap Box Derby, Burlesque on Blades, Rugby on Roller Skates, a possible unhealthy combination of american violence and american sex appeal … whatever you are, Roller Girls, gliff.org heartily approves. Your sociological issues not withstanding, hot girls good-naturedly beating each other up for their own entertainment, and perhaps a post-bout beer, can only be good for the Universe.
Images shamelessly stolen from the Rose City Rollers website, and will be promptly removed the second one of those girls gives me the evil eye, because I have no defense against a roving pack of girls on skates.
1. My dream of a Drag Queen Roller Derby team not withstanding. The problem there being a small, but paradoxically prominent glint of misogyny that runs through most drag communities.
That and roller skates don’t come with heels.
Originally Posted November 29, 2005