Babe: The Life and Legend of Babe Didrikson Zaharias (Women, Gender, and Sexuality in American History) - Softcover

Cayleff, Susan E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 025206593X ISBN 13: 9780252065934

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 1996

Synopsis

One of the most gifted athletes in the world, Babe Didrikson Zaharias dominated track and field, winning two Olympic gold medals in 1932. She
went on to compete in baseball, bowling, basketball, tennis, and particularly in golf. The American public was smitten with her wit, frankness, and "unladylike" bravado. She became an American legend.
The legend was challenged, however, by members of the press and society who insinuated that her femininity, even her femaleness, were suspect--that   there was something different, even wrong, about this preternaturally gifted woman in a male-dominated world.
She had ably used her androgyny and her powerful athleticism to promote herself, but she soon felt compelled to craft herself into a more marketable female role model--particularly in connection with the "proper"
world of golf. To increase her opportunities for competitive play in this field, she became a co-founder and officer of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). As a major step in her makeover, Babe already
had married George Zaharias, a wrestling promoter who was a vital partner in her constant efforts at self-promotion.
But by 1950 Babe was deeply involved with a young golfer, Betty Dodd, whose for-the-record discussion of their remarkable love is included in Babe. Stricken with cancer in her prime, Babe went on to courageously and publicly fight the disease.
Babe is a comprehensive, in-depth biography of a woman who was a great athlete at a time when it was extremely difficult for a woman  to be her own person. Through interviews with members of Babe's family,
her golf peers, and medical personnel, Cayleff caringly reveals the life and probes the legend of this unusual American hero. She unflinchingly examines the athletic community, the media, and the society that both loved and judged Babe, whose story embodies the struggle of all women
who dare to transcend stereotypes and claim their own definitions and
unique identities. Babe allows her to be all the hero--and all the human
being--she was meant to be.
 

About this title

About the Author:

Susan E. Cayleff, a professor in the Department of Women's Studies at San Diego State University, is the coeditor of "Wings of Gauze": Women of Color and the Experience of Health and Illness and author of Wash and Be Healed: The Water-Cure Movement and Women's Health.
 

From Booklist:

Babe Didrikson Zaharias was the premier female athlete of her era, beginning with two gold medals in the 1932 Olympics and extending through a professional golf career that ended just before her death in 1956. Cayleff, professor of women's studies at San Diego State, examines this unique life from three perspectives: Babe's life as she lived it; the public persona Babe created in order to cope with the attitudes and mores of the times; and, finally, Babe's lesbianism. Unable to acknowledge her sexuality, Babe was forced to manufacture a palatable lifestyle for public consumption; hence, her marriage to professional wrestler George Zaharias. In researching her subject, Cayleff relies on Didrikson's sanitized autobiography, subsequent biographies, newspaper accounts, and interviews with family and friends, including the woman with whom Babe shared an intimate relationship, fellow golfer Betty Dodd. The result is a groundbreaking portrait of an astute, gifted woman forced to cope with a society that grudgingly approved of her athleticism but wasn't willing to deal with her sexuality. Wes Lukowsky

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 025206593X
• ISBN 13: 9780252065934
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368