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Introduction

Shannon Gardner 4/22/2002 WMS 200 A League of Their Own In A League of Their Own, a girls' baseball league was started while the professional male baseball players, along with many other men, were across seas fighting in World War II. This movie takes place in 1943. A group of ladies left their homes to become part of the All-American Girls Baseball League to keep the baseball traditions alive. In this movie, gender roles are crossed. "After years of perpetrating the image of the docile little women who sat at home caring for her lord and master, American society suddenly found that it needed women who were competent to do hard skilled work during World War II" (Ebert). This was alarming to the nation and threatening to some. During one of the scenes, a radio announcer announces that the league was "dangerous to society." She called it "sexual confusion." Much of the country began to worry about what type of women the men would have to come back to. ...read more.

Middle

As if the uniforms weren't discrimination enough, each and every girl had to take classes at a charm and beauty school. Here, they taught these women how to be ladies. They critiqued them in every way. They walked around and inspected each one, ordering for haircuts, eyebrow waxings, etc. When they reached the homely Marla, they were stumped as to what to do. They didn't see anyone being able to make a lady out of her. One instructor asked the other what she suggested. All the women could reply back was "a lot of night games." She said this about one of the best players in the league. Also at the school, the ladies were taught how to sip "not slurp" tea, cross their legs appropriately, walk with grace, and balance a book on their head to promote a more graceful, feminine posture. As the movie continues, this so called women's league wasn't drawing in any profits and was threatened with closing down. ...read more.

Conclusion

If they are playing baseball and working in the factories, then what is the male role? "Every woman who goes into medicine or law robs them of a job" (Beauvoir). The men were threatened to what else the women would begin to do. "Hollywood threw out its romance scripts and started making movies about strong, independent females and it was discovered that women could actually excel at professional sports" (Ebert). This is a phenomenal movie that shows the power of women. It gets women out of the house and into the work force. It gets them doing just as the men. This was just the start of the women getting out of the house. Once the men came back from war, the women fought to keep their league alive. Many of the women in and outside of the league went on to be doctors and lawyers. Women were breaking out of the house whether the men were ready for it or not. The first girls in the league now have the own spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame. I believe that these women truly deserve this. ...read more.

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