When Women Stood
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
When Women Stood by Alexandra Allred
The disrespect. 😡
First and foremost, this is more of a history book than a sports book. It is not about women coming into a sport, breaking down a gender barrier, and showing they are just as good, if not better, than men. For example, Serena Williams 🐐 has only the briefest of mentions. Rather, it is about the historical struggle for equality women have faced in sports.
Insightful on a level that is rarely seen, on a subject that is rarely talked about. The disrespect to women in sports is real. Even when a female team is better and has won more than their male counterpart, they still get shorted on every aspect of their profession: pay, amenities, exposure, and notoriety. Case in point is myself, there were several professional women's sports leagues mentioned in this book that are currently active today that I didn't even know existed.
But when I say "the disrespect", I'm actually referring to the book's complete lack of recognition for one of its own: Fabiola "Fabby" da Silva.
Even with so many women, currently and throughout history, that have proven they are just as capable as men, Fabiola da Silva achieved what many of them likely never will.
Fabby is the most decorated female athlete in X-Games history. A 7-time gold medalist 🥇, and is the first woman ever to land the double back flip on a vert ramp. She was so good that, in 2000, she forced the hand of the ASA (Aggressive Skaters Association) to create what is now known as "The Fabiola Rule", allowing women to compete in the formerly all-male vert competition.
What other woman was so dominate at their sport that the league had to change the rules to give them a greater challenge?
In my opinion, for this book to have absolutely no mention of Fabiola da Silva shows an astonishing lack of insight. Now normally I would just chalk this up to the fact that a lot of women simply don't follow the X-Games, after all, the book primarily focus' on the four major American sports (Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey), Soccer, and the Olympics. But considering the amount of time and research that went into this book, and the author's history with female athletics, I find it hard to believe that she isn't at least aware of the significance and impact Fabby had on Inline Skating. Sadly, recency bias, combined with a sport that the majority of women don't follow, have led to her unparalleled achievements going unrecognized in the wider world.
