Mad Rollin' Dolls: Race & Feminism

Madison's roller derby league, the Mad Rollin' Dolls grace the cover of this week's Isthmus. Having attended several bouts, I eagerly read the story written by one of the newest Dolls, Melissa Faliveno, hoping for a glimpse behind the scenes. While I learned quite a bit about how the league works, I found a couple other elements to be even more fascinating.

Between the article itself and the sidebar, it was mentioned a few times that women from all walks of life are members of the Mad Rollin' Dolls. Chemists, daycare workers, and all women in between are welcome. But noticeably absent from any of the accompanying photos were women of color. Thinking back to the matches I attended, I can recall only one non-white woman in the league. And looking at the team photos at the league's webpage, I see all pale faces. Perhaps no women of color have tried out for the team recently.

I don't mean to take anything away from the Dolls. It's just that I've dated a bi-racial woman for about two and a half years now so I've learned to look for the presence of colored people wherever I go. If you've poked around this blog or listened to my podcast, then you know that I'm positively pasty and many of my interests are as white as Wonder Bread. Progressive rock, Dungeons & Dragons, art film – these realms are dominated by pale faces. (And male ones at that.)

Still, I can't help but feel there's something wrong with describing the league as "Boasting women from all walks of life…" when there appear to be no women of color. The hue of the mass of people at a Mad Rollin' Dolls match is virtually identical to that at a Jethro Tull concert, gaming convention, or a screening of a David Lynch film – white. There is certainly an egalitarian spirit to the Mad Rollin' Dolls but I must ask: why are there no women of color? This is a question and not an accusation. I'm genuinely curious to know. Is roller derby "white"? Perhaps it is. Take a look at Chicago's roller derby league, the Windy City Rollers or the Gotham Girls Roller Derby league in New York City. In large cities that are vastly more diverse than Madison, the leagues have only two or three women of color.

Like the league itself, the article is focused on gender. The Dolls are described as strong, sexy women who flex their muscles on the track but also flex their muscles of independence and empowerment. The notion that short skirts, fishnet stockings, and the signs of fans describing "various bodily functions" might the objectification of women is addressed towards the end of the article. One of the players, Crackerjack, dismisses this idea by saying, "It's about owning what we do" and "This isn't my mom's feminism".

This is a good example of something I've been reading a bit about lately – "choice feminism". As defined by Katha Pollitt: "women have learned to describe everything they do, no matter how apparently conformist, submissive, self-destructive or humiliating, as a personal choice that cannot be criticized because personal choice is what feminism is all about." Or "I'm a free agent. I'm making my own choices, so we don't have to talk about them. In fact, it's insulting if you want to talk about them. Don't judge me." I encountered an interesting debate about this at I Blame the Patriarchy, in a post entitled "Do It Till You're Satisfied" in which the blog's proprietor, Twisty, states "BDSM is patriarchy, the whole patriarchy, and nothin’ but the patriarchy, in a black latex nutshell." This prompted responses by a handful of women who were into kink and essentially espoused a choice feminist ideology. (Curiously enough, Faliveno has also written a piece for Isthmus about kink in Madison's clubs.)

Faliveno notes that the women in Mad Rollin' Dolls, "have come together to play this sport and to make friends; and for some, to gain a sense of strength and self-esteem that they perhaps previously never had." While it's unfair to deny the positive aspects of the sport and the impact on the players, it is fair to ask what it says about our society when some women can only find strength and self-esteem in a short skirt and fishnets. And exactly how empowering it is for a fairly scantily clad woman to draw the attention of young men with a PBR silo in one hand and a placard describing a bodily function in the other is debatable. I suppose on which side of this feminist divide you fall is a function not only of age but also of gender and whether you're a participant or a spectator. My favorite Doll is Jewels of DeNile and I'm sure what this self-described "roller derby bitch" gets out of playing and what I get out of watching are wholly separate things. Personally, I'm ambivalent on this intra-feminist debate. Choice and freedom are important to feminism and to American life generally. But sacrificing quality for quantity has its downsides.

From the article:

Mad Rollin’ Dolls roller-derby bouts take place at Fast Forward Skate Center, 4649 Verona Rd. (271-6222). Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door. Bouts sell out.

The last regular bout of the season is March 3; semifinals are March 31, and league finals April 28.

For more information, go to www.madrollindolls.com, or call 271-6222, extension 150.