Stitches in Time: The Roller Derby Quilt

Behold, the Roller Derby Quilt!

This week seems to have inadvertently become Awesome Blog Week, because today we're talking about the Roller Derby Quilt. The brains (and needle and thread) of the operation is Jessica Young, also known as Dreadnought of the Boston Derby Dames' team, the Nutcrackers. 

Dreadnought's project is simple but brilliant: send her  a quilt square between 5" and 10" with enough seam room that she can sew your square to the roller derby quilt without sewing over your design. Any material goes! Dreadnought suggests showing your name and number if it's a personal square or your logo if the square commemorates your team or league. It's that simple. Just email her at rollerderbyquilt (at) gmail (dot) com to get the address to mail your square to. In the mean time, check out the project on Twitter.

Though Dreadnought doesn't address this on her blog and it may not be part of her intention at all, the quilt recalls a number of amazing community textile pieces, including the simply astounding NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, which memorializes lives lost to AIDS in what is apparently the biggest piece of folk art in the world. Whether Dreadnought was inspired by that quilt or not, the Roller Derby Quilt is a great idea for a number of reasons. 

Female artists have used textiles to amazing effect, such as Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party. Quilting, as a stereotypically feminine practice gets reclaimed as a collaborative art medium in projects like the Roller Derby Quilt. And happily for those who want to contribute to the ongoing history of derby culture, being a part of this project isn't necessarily expensive or time consuming. You (or a talented team-mate) just need to get out your sewing needle and get creative.

Another Day, Another Dame: Roller Derby Girl of the Day

Recently, the blog Roller Derby Girl of the Day was drawn to my attention. Still fairly new, the blog features individual roller derby girls, nominated either by themselves or friends, from around the world. Written by Hijinx of the Rollergettes in Toronto, Canada, the blog draws attention to the faces of derby and not just the ones that grace WFTDA's top teams, lovely though those faces are. The blog, wonderfully, aims to feature women who inspire you, for any derby reason. Whether they got you into the sport or they are your secret derby crush, the women featured on this blog are there because they make a difference in the world of derby.

There are a few key reasons that a blog like this is important. We can all benefit from role models. And it's crucial to remember that role models don't just skate the hardest or block with the most elegance and force. Though the blog already features immensely talented players, it's about more than athletic ability. Hijinx's request for nominees called out derby shop owners, bloggers, and any woman who inspires her fellow players to work toward being their best and to get all they can out of this amazing sport. This blog works much the same way that derby does, but on a bigger scale, using the internet rather than sweaty osmosis (inspiration is soluble, you see). There is so much power in the inspiration players give each other and because of blogging efforts like this one, that inspiration can go so far beyond the bench, beyond the rink and all over the world.

Frankly, I wish I'd thought of it myself.

So, my challenge to you is this - nominate someone. Flood this awesome blogger's inbox with a bevy of amazing women, because they are the lifeblood of our sport. When we remind ourselves exactly how someone inspires us, they buoy us up all over again. Do yourself a favour and take the time to be inspired. You are surrounded by sources of strength. Share them.

Some of my heroes - the LOCO VPs, plus our capital P Vansterdamn, who is rather delightfully the very  first Roller Derby Girl of the Day

Going Butch: Roller Derby for the Happily Non-femme -- Part One

DC Rollergirls Logo

Generally, roller derby features a hyper-femininity without the passivity that society often associates with being feminine. Instead, derby girls are commonly pictured as stereotypically sexy and feminine in addition to being born ass-kickers. There are fishnets and booty shorts to go with that black-eye, we assure potential buyers of tickets to bouts.

Of course, there is an argument to be made that the kind of aggression that derby is often marketed to have doesn't, in fact, break through gender stereotypes, but retreads how we conceive of female aggression, namely in terms of the cat-fight. That isn't actually my main point today, but the problems presented by the popular conception of derby as ultra-femme aggression affect something close to my heart, specifically that it can create an environment unwelcoming to butch women.

I'm writing this post today partially in response to the fact that my blog stats page informed me that someone Googled "roller derby butch" and ended up on my blog.  I searched it myself to see what was out there. To be clear: there aren't a whole lot of relevant results for that search, in part because derby is not often marketed as being friendly to butch women.

How then, can leagues work on ensuring that women who don't go in for knee socks can still feel welcome in their local derby league? I have three suggestions.

If you have the credit info for this, let me know!

1) Stop relying on the pin-up. Derby's love affair with the retro fun of pin-up photography is fun, but it's not all we are. As a league, as a producer of posters, bout guides, team logos, websites, etc, try harder to depict derby in more diverse ways - there are so many different ways of being a woman and cuban heel stockings don't define all of them. Our imagery tells prospective players whether or not they are likely to be welcome in our league. Is your marketing welcoming to butch women?

2) Explore what falls outside stereotypical femininity. This is not to say that we have to give up being femme on the track. Hot pants are fun and I enjoy when my team-mates rock them.  But you don't need to be wearing glitter make-up to skate in a jam. Support your fellow players who don't go for stereotypically feminine wear. What's empowering for you might be stifling for them. As a team-member, consider how your team's uniforms, logo, and brand may be saying, "No bois allowed".

3) Market directly to butch women. Derby and diversity can go hand in hand - the excitement of derby league involvement in Pride Parades is proof of that. In Toronto, we even have the yearly Clam Slam - an all-queer derby extravaganza. This is not to say that a queer woman is necessarily a butch woman or vice versa. But putting up a poster indicating that you accept *all* women in your league in spaces that support butch women (such as your local queer bar or a meeting space for folks who don't go in for gender normativity) is a good step toward making your league more friendly to butch players and ultimately stronger for that diversity.

By the amazing Cristy C. Road for Bitch Magazine, 2005

On Monday, look for Part Two of this post, a more in-depth discussion of suggestions for butch players who still want action on the track while being themselves. There should also be a Part Three featuring amazing butch players and role models in Canada and farther afield who I may or may not have crushes on.

Take Back The Night...On Skates!

On September 15th, I and several of my league-mates volunteered to be safety-sisters for London, Ontario's Take Back the Night march. For those who don't know (and until recently, that included me) Take Back The Night is a rally and march, held internationally, that brings women and allies together to protest violence against women, partriarchy, and the simple fact that as a twenty-three year old woman living in a city, I get nervous walking home alone at night.

Photo Credit Mike Maloney London Community News

Our London-VP suggested we volunteer for the march as a way of continuing our league's commitment to community involvement. Several skaters attended, some, including myself, on foot. We were safety-sisters, which meant that we wore orange and yellow reflective neon vests and walked or skated along the street median, so marchers would know not to walk past us and cars wouldn't hit anyone. It was honestly a little bit harrowing. Several times vehicles sped up as they passed us, potentially endangering members of a crowd of about 400 people. But we cheered and chanted anyway.

On my way to the rally, I was in a wretched mood. But when I got there, I was stunned by the joy and passion of the crowd and the organizers. When we marched, women shouted and waved to pedestrians and cars and drivers honked back. A contingent of male supporters applauded us from the sidewalk, holding up a banner that said "Men Against Violence Against Women". I was buoyed up by all the positive energy, all the intensity of feeling that rode through the street, contained only by a dotted line of women in neon vests.

As is probably obvious by now, my roller derby is feminist. I put on my skates as a feminist activist and I love the sport for many reasons, but chiefly because it is a sport that encourages women to know one another, to work together, to compete productively. For me, having roller derby players skate for a feminist march is not merely logical, but also the coming-together of two things I fiercely love.

What's next on my feminist agenda? I'm going to improve my transitions because I'm back on skate this week!

Fat Derby + Five Things You Can Do to Encourage It

What does it mean to be a fat roller derby player?

As discussed in a previous post, the face of derby is usually a very particular one: slim-waisted and large-breasted. Team logos and posters and other facets of the public persona of derby almost always feature slim women or stereotypical pin-up proportions. This is odd given that derby in actuality embraces lots of sizes. You do not have to be a size 4 (and a D cup to boot) to block, or even to jam, though smaller players are often assumed to be jammer material.  You can be a large player and still kick derby behind. It can be difficult, however, for players to speak and act the fat-acceptance the sport seems to encourage, while derby culture simultaneously places fat players under erasure.

(A side-note on language here: I am not using the word fat in a derogatory way. I am a believer in fat-acceptance and an enemy of body-shaming. Size is not a sure indicator of health. Fat-acceptance activists continue to work on reclaiming the word 'fat' and I'm going to respect their work enough to use it myself.)

by winterbutterfly81 on DeviantArt, quote from Julie Garwood

Derby needs players of all sizes. The greater our base of would-be players, the better our sport can be. That's not to say that we should overhaul roller derby for the masses and that we should rob the sport of what makes it wonderful, namely the DIY aesthetic, the focus on women working together, and the sport's ingrained humour. But we do need to look critically at how, regardless of our intentions, we actively encourage some women to play and discourage others.  As players and supporters of the sport, we have a hand in shaping it every time we play, every time we hang out with each other, every time we tack up a bout poster. Are you doing enough to encourage women of all sizes to join the roller derby family?

Some people might say that fatness is inherently at odds with being a good derby skater, that athleticism requires being slim and toned. I must call bull-shit on that one. A player's skill on the rink relates to their dedication, practice, endurance, speed, and a host of other things that are not necessarily dictated by a player's weight. Fitness is the key there, not weight. There are players in my league who are fatter than me but frequently skate circles around me.

Even more importantly, roller derby is not just a sport, it's a movement. It's one of the few women-focused areas we have that isn't solely defined by outmoded stereotypes of what women 'should' be. We have a duty to the women we play with to keep roller derby a positive space for women.

So how do we do this? How do we help roller derby progress? Here's five ideas.

1) We look more closely at how we brand our sport through logos, posters, and league websites. We make those representations of players more inclusive by featuring different sizes, by talking to the artists we work with.

2) We demand better from the companies we buy from. If their knee-pads only go up to an M/L and that's not big enough for you or some of your league-members, write to the company. Tell them they need to do better and they just might.

3) We demand more from the third-party companies who don't make merchandise, but do sell it. Ask where their fat models are. Offer to be one. Suggest merchandise with sizing and/or support for players of all sizes.

4) Eliminate body-shaming from your derby vocabulary. Stop saying "Oh, my thighs look awful in these short-shorts" when the player next to you, regardless of size,  might have thought she looked pretty fine in her hotpants right up until you said that.  Self-hatred has no place in roller derby. It catches. Judge yourself by your skill and dedication, not your size. Encourage your fellow players to do the same.

5) Talk. Organize. Educate yourself on the challenges fat players face. Look up fat derby bloggers and activists and get in touch with them. My league president has a fab fat derby blog at Vansterdamn XXX: True Adventures of a Big-Ass Derby Girl. Consider blogging yourself. We need more voices if we're going to have a good conversation.

In short, love your derby self and make damn sure you're encouraging your team-mates to do the same.

Zebra Love

The zebra was one of my favourite animals when I was a kid. It was like a horse, but with a cooler paint job. Today, the zebras I interact with are human ones - the fine referees of roller derby. Assuming you're not playing renegade derby, you need refs if you want to play the game. And derby is a damn complicated game.

Some of my favourite leagues, like Terminal City, list their refs as a kind of team all their own. When it comes down to it, refs have to pass their own skills testing, they have to know WFTDA rules inside and out and they have to deal with derby girls. It's not glamourous, but it is pretty bad-ass. As the Montreal Roller Derby Referees' page says, "No pain and no glory, not vain nor scary, just a simple concoction: Respect, rules and execution." Our zebras are part of what makes the derby machine run. They tell you that you're the lead jammer, they send you and your booty-shorts to the penalty seat.

When I first started practicing, I was struck by the seeming fact that refs were almost always male. Women's derby has two particular roles men can play, namely referees and coaches. At first, it irked me that these positions of authority were held by guys. Couldn't women ref? Couldn't women coach? Wasn't patriarchy one of the things we went to derby to escape, at least for the duration of a two-minute jam? It bothered me that a sport I identified as feminist just seemed to reinscribe tired gender stereotypes by having the women in fishnets and the men in positions of power. I've since learned that lots of women do both of these things, but the majority of women prefer to skate because that's what they came for. Skating is the sexy part. Reffing is a different kind of hard.

My league has several refs we know and love and these range from home-grown officials to volunteers we've borrowed from other leagues. My refs have taught me how to manage the penalty box and my refs have shown me how to handle my gear better. Referees are crucial resources for players, especially new ones, to learn about the game, their gear, and skating technique. So, in short, I say show your zebras some love today and ask them a question. These folks know their stuff.

Derby Wifery

I do not have a derby wife. It's not that I disapprove of derby marriage, it's more that I'd feel awkward, perhaps even silly asking one of the girls in my league to be mine. Would they think I was secretly hitting on them? Would I be? Do I want to be a derby husband instead? These are the questions I'm faced when I consider foregoing my derby bachelorette-hood.

Some of you might be asking, "What exactly is a derby wife, again?" A derby wife is a woman, presumably on your team or in your league, who is your go-to girl, your derby soul-mate. A surprising number of definitions online describe her as the one holding your hair back while you vomit, which either tells us something about roller derby or about the people trying to define the sport's culture. Simply put, your derby wife is your  number one support - she might keep you motivated to stay skate-ready, she might untie your skates for you after you've hit the ground and are too dazed to deal with things like shoelaces, she might call you on your shit when necessary. Your derby wife is your partner.

There are some criticisms of the convention of derby wives. There's concern that this kind of pairing off of besties is a retreading of the kind of cliqueish behaviour that drove so many of us away from the society of other women in the first place. It can be easy to feel excluded when surrounded by intense bonds. I think those concerns have merit. Everyone in a league deserves the best possible chance of feeling welcomed and sometimes we forget how hard it can be to take those first steps into making friends with total strangers. If we are to support derby wife culture, we need to make sure we don't forget about the single ladies putting their hands up.

Because the derby wife phenomenon can be a wonderful thing. It's at the heart of what makes derby great: women coming together to support and challenge each other. Female friendship is incredibly fraught with societal pressures about competing with other women, particularly for male attention and the various successes of womanhood, namely marriage, babies, etc (which are not in and of themselves bad things). It can be incredibly hard to have healthy friendships with other women while operating within that system.

As I've said before in this blog, so many of my friends in derby have said, "I've never really had many female friends before roller derby". Roller derby creates a space where we compete on the track and we leave it on the track. When the clock isn't going, we allow ourselves just to be friends without the heinous fuckery of worrying our friends are thinner, prettier, and more adequate women than we are. And whether we want to identify one player as the focal point of that friendship and support or (like me) stay a derby lothario, we still engage in a community of female friendship that can be crucial to a woman's self-care.

So, I say, if you have your eye on a derby girl, feel free to make an 'honest' woman of her. But don't forget your sisters of skate, at least not once the honeymoon is over.