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Athletes

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Collection
Image of girls playing soccer over collage of a green field and torn paper

Athletic Like a Jew

Jessica Primus

Being surrounded by Jewish women molded me into a little girl who knew that Judaism was a strength. 

Topics: Athletes
Rows of young women in baseball uniforms with hands on hips

Going to Bat for Women’s Equality

Peter Dreier

Ever since baseball was invented, Jewish women have challenged sexist stereotypes to make their mark on the sport. 

Collage of Images of Bobbie Rosenfeld and of Elle Rosenfeld's Crew Team

Bobbie Rosenfeld and Me: Athletic By Chance, Inspirational By Choice

Elle Rosenfeld

As an athletic Jewish feminist, is attacking an uncomfortable situation assertively, but quietly, an effective protest technique?

Topics: Feminism, Athletes, Media
Helene Hines on her handcycle

This Year, Resolve to Be More like This Badass Woman

Madisen Siegel

Whenever she heard ‘no,’ Helene Hines pushed back—and proved everyone wrong.

Sports in Austria 1918-1938

This article gives an overview of the participation of Jewish women in Austrian sport from the Habsburg monarchy to the present day. Drawing on selected biographies of sportswomen and functionaries, and with a regional focus on the capital city of Vienna, it explores the double relationship between female emancipation and Jewish self-assertion in an environment that had long been male-dominated and anti-Semitic.

Rosie the Riveter

Finding My Femininity

Ilana Jacobs

I was weird for being strong. “Weird” because physical strength is not often an attribute associated with women.

Olympic athlete Caster Semenya

Restricting Semenya is Sexist and Violates Human Rights

Molly Weiner

By saying a woman can only be defined as female and enjoy success if she has an arbitrary amount of testosterone, the IAAF has turned the hormone into something it is not: a myth of male greatness.

Rising Voices Fellow Molly Weiner's school cross country team

Look Fast

Molly Weiner

The first step the female athletic community can take towards fostering healthier norms is to share stories collectively, to address a pain that is all too common.

Topics: Schools, Athletes
Black Lives Matter Logo

Kneeling to Take a Stand

Rachel Harris

I’ve never really distinguished between my feminist and activist identities. They’ve always been one and the same – my feminism inspires my activism, and thus they are not two distinct parts of me. As I’ve grown, I’ve gained more awareness about important social justice issues both inside and outside the feminist movement, one example being police brutality. 

Josie Rosman's Roller Derby Team

Derby Girl

Josephine Rosman

When I first started playing roller derby (a contact sport played on roller skates) as an 11-year-old, I didn’t know how to skate. I could barely make it one lap around the track in my rental skates. Fast forward to last summer–my team and I made it to the national championships in Colorado. I think it’s safe to say that I’ve come a long way during the past four years—not just as a skater, but as a person. Roller derby has been one of the most empowering forces in my life, and it’s contributed significantly to who I am today.

Topics: Feminism, Athletes
Shira Small's High School Softball Team

Sexism and Softball: Covering All the Bases

Shira Small

At five years old, I launched into little league stardom by hitting a home run without even using the tee. From then on, my coach called me “Slugger,” a name I proudly wore throughout my thirteen years playing softball.

Topics: Schools, Athletes
Legends Football League Game

1 Down and Yards to Go for the Lingerie Football League

Natalie Harder

I’d like to think that I’m really good at pretending to know about football. As a self-proclaimed Green Bay Packers fan, I can name about 5 players and can usually tell which team is scoring the touchdown. Needless to say, when I found myself watching a Packers game at a friend’s house with all of her friends (who didn’t know me, but certainly knew football), I felt pretty out of place. I couldn’t offer much to the conversation comparing Packers’ quarterbacks Brett Hundley and Aaron Rodgers, but when the conversation turned to the Legends Football League (LFL), formerly known as the Lingerie League, I had plenty to contribute. 

Topics: Feminism, Athletes
"Eating Disorders: Obesity, Anorexia Nervosa and the Person Within" Front Cover by Hilde Bruch, 1973

Hilde Bruch and the Persistence of Eating Disorders

Isabel Kirsch

Clinical descriptions of eating disorders date back centuries, yet it took until the 1970s for the pioneering research of doctor, psychologist, and writer Hilde Bruch to bring the issue to public attention. 

2016-2017 Rising Voices Fellow Eden Olsberg Snapchat

Strongly Undecided

Eden Olsberg

Every morning when I wake up, I immediately open the New York Times app on my phone to read the morning briefing to which I’m subscribed. I’m instantly informed of worldwide events from the past 24 hours. Then, I scroll through my Facebook feed and find out what my friends think about these same topics.

Naomi Kutin

Naomi Kutin earned the nickname “Supergirl” and set the weightlifting record for her weight class … at age ten.

Ilona Elek / Sada Jacobson

Fencers

Riposte like a Girl

Ilona Elek

Hailed as one of the greatest female fencers of all time, Ilona Elek won her first Olympic gold medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
New England Patriots, 2011

Why Women Should Be Furious About Deflategate

Emilia Diamant

Disclaimer: I am a Boston girl/New Englander, born and bred. I am a Patriots fan, and I like Tom Brady (I honestly don’t understand how someone could NOT like him, but that’s a different post).

Topics: Athletes

Shay Doron

When the reality of playing for the WNBA turned out to be less than she had dreamed, Shay Doron took her MVP skills back to her home team in Israel.

Naama Shafir

Committed to both her athletic career and her Orthodox faith, Naama Shafir faced challenges alien to most basketball players, from walking to games on Shabbat to altering uniforms for modesty.

Yael Arad

Yael Arad celebrated an unprecedented victory in 1992 when she won the Olympic silver medal for judo, making her the first Israeli Olympic medalist for any sport.

Annie Londonderry

A symbol of women’s growing independence at the turn of the twentieth century, Annie “Londonderry” Kopchovsky became the first woman cyclist to circle the globe in 1895.

Bonnie Bernstein

One of the most accomplished female sportscasters in history, Bonnie Bernstein combines her role as on-air journalist with her work behind the scenes as vice president of Campus Insiders, a leading media platform for college sports.

Loren Galler-Rabinowitz

A champion in two very different fields, Loren Galler-Rabinowitz took home the bronze medal for ice dancing in 2004, then competed in the 2011 Miss America Pageant as Miss Massachusetts.

Emily Jacobson

Emily Jacobson, raised by a family of fencers, reached the pinnacle of her career when she competed in the 2004 Olympics, which was the first time women were allowed to compete as sabre fencers.

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