[Reader-list] " Ponytails - Ringtones - Punches " women boxers in India

[pankaj r kumar]

" Ponytails - Ringtones - Punches " women boxers in India 

Boxing has traditionally been associated with the male physique and psychology. Blood, bruises, cuts and concussion, are considered to be "natural" for men, but absolutely at odds with the essence of femininity. Boxing is deeply engendered, embodying and exemplifying "a definite form of masculinity: plebeian, heterosexual and heroic." Thus, when female boxers display unconventional signifiers like aggression, power and hyper-performity, there arises confusion and a complete lack of grammar to understand to which category they belong. The feminine signifiers (like make up, bindis, manicured nails, and hairstyle) are culturally set ' natural ' signifiers, whether they are carried by a markedly feminine woman in a traditional sense or by a markedly muscular woman. In the context of female boxing the confusion arises because they combine culturally masculine aggression and traditional feminine signifiers. Thus, in the premise of the ring, they feminize masculinity and masculinize femininity. 

          One of the sanctioned societal spaces that make the gender distinction permeable is sport. For both men and women, sports inherently demand a skill, which pushes one to the extremes of physical and mental ability. A female athlete is clearly not the same as a male. Although she may participate in the same sports, under similar rules and regulations, she is biologically and historically different. She has not always been free to participate in the breadth of sports now available to her, and these constraints in her past mark the difference in her present.

          Keeping the above paradigms in perspective, I have made initial contacts with women boxers. Thorough extensive interviews, the following are the questions that I intend to explore in the coming months.    



Methods, materials, processes
---Is there a realization about the insufficiency of women occupying public spaces and hence taking up boxing?

---Do they see themselves as the marginal in the sport because coaches/referees are predominantly male? 

---How female boxers in India are circumventing / negotiating their sexuality when they enter space which is traditionally and historically dominated by men  
     
---I asked Richa Hushing (A student at Film and Television Institute, Pune, ex boxer): What should the film be about and as a boxer what do you want to see of yourself and others like you? Richa Hushing: "I want you to show that half an hour before the match, it is your mental make up which decides your victory or defeat... The film should highlight my relationship with my opponent off and on the ring. I am not there to kill her but to confront her as an equal. It is a mental battle. You must highlight the fact that only girls from lower and upper class get into boxing because they are already at the extremes of the society. They have nothing to lose. In contrast, to the middle class, the idea of fighting scares them. It is the complacency of the middle class and the tragic truth of opportunities wasted by them to create a niche for themselves."

---How male boxers react to their existence, is it a threat? 

---Is woman boxing about speed and aggression or does it have a feminine side too? Is it a uniquely sensuous bodily experience, which, when mixed with the mental challenge is addictive for these women boxers?

---To follow, Aksir in Delhi, (student class 9), whose father is in the Army, who apart from boxing regularly practices Ballet, Kathak, Indian Classical singing, and takes guitar lessons. She will represent the 'class' which one hardly associates with this sport in India. It will be interesting to document and inquire how she moulds her mind and her body as she moves from one activity to another.

---To research on the history of women sports especially women boxing in India. 

---Explore the possibility of a woman Coaches and referees.   
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