Sexism and Sexual Objectification in Women's UFC
In 2011, the celebrity news outlet TMZ asked Dana White, head of the Ultimate Fighting Championship: “When are we going to see women in the UFC?” White laughed and responded, “Never.” Now seven years later, the women’s league of the UFC has grown so rapidly that it seems to rival the men’s league in popularity. The credit for this rapid ascension, at least in part, must undoubtedly go to Ronda “Rowdy” Rousey, the fierce media juggernaut who dominated both the ring and the spotlight, besting twelve consecutive opponents whilst appearing in blockbuster movies and posing for semi-nude photoshoots. The UFC invested millions of dollars in promoting her, and that expense paid off in a big way, her fight against Holly Holm attracting over a million Pay-Per-View sales. The only problem? Rousey lost. In fact, she was trounced.
Charming, humble, and undefeated at 10-0, it would seem that Holly Holm was poised to carry the torch lit by Rousey and lead the UFC’s women’s league into uncharted realms of popularity. The rematch was quickly announced, and undoubtedly it would attract a huge audience and plenty of media attention. However, if Holly Holm were to win again, many were concerned that it would lead to a major loss of enthusiasm for Women’s UFC. Mick Rouse of GQ wrote, “If Dana White had introduced Holly Holm as the UFC’s first Women’s Bantamweight Champion back in 2012, would we be talking about women’s MMA the same way today? Even if she ran through the entire division over the next three years, would we care? And the answer, I think it’s safe to say, is no.” Male MMA fighter Chael Sorren said that Rousey’s loss was a “bummer” for the league’s marketability and “probably hurt things,” which begs the question: what exactly do fans look for in a female fighter? If Holly Holm is superior in talent and athleticism but simultaneously unmarketable, what makes Ronda Rousey so much more attractive to potential viewers? While Women’s UFC is a platform for women to showcase their power and athleticism, it is appreciated by the same society that continues to support the LFL, the Lingerie Football League. It seems that Rousey’s unparalleled marketability stems primarily from her sex appeal, which says a lot about the state of sexual objectification in American culture.
To be fair, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and undoubtedly there are beholders who find Holly Holm more physically attractive than Rousey. However, Rousey’s entire public image is saturated with sexual undertones and overtones, while Holly “The Preacher’s Daughter” Holm seems to care primarily about her family and her fighting. In an interview for GQ, Holm was asked if she was considering, like Rousey, becoming a bonafide Hollywood celebrity. In response, she said, “I really want to keep my focus on fighting. That’s where all these doors are opening up from anyways. I don’t want to lose sight of that. I love fighting.” Rousey, on the other hand, has consistently focused on her celebrity image in addition to her sport. Between roles in Fast Seven and The Expendables 3, she made time for parties and award shows, highly publicized feuds, and numerous sexually provocative photoshoots, including a semi-nude shoot for the Sports Illustrated “Swimsuit Edition.” It is hard to imagine family-centered Holly Holm ever appearing in a headline like “Ronda Rousey Goes Topless, Shows Cleavage In Her HOTTEST Photoshoot Yet” or the facile “Ronda Rousey has LOTS of sex.” Nor would anyone expect Holly Holm to receive the same sexually charged interview questions that Rousey answers regularly. ESPN’s Jim Rome, on his show Rome is Burning, asked Rousey if she abstained from sex in the lead up to a big fight. Rousey replied, “I try to have as much sex as possible before a fight, actually. Not with like everybody. I don’t put out a craigslist ad or anything, but if I got a steady I’m gonna be like, ‘yo, fight time’s coming up.’”
Rousey’s “rowdy” personality has also been a large factor in her appeal. In regards to Rousey’s marketability, Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal wrote, “It helped that Rousey was charismatic—an entertaining package of humble roots and bravado with a sharp sense of humor.” Similarly, Paul La Monica for CNN Money wrote, “Why is Rousey so popular? It's a combination of her Mike Tyson-esque dominance… and her personality.” The charisma and charm of Rousey’s personality is dubious at best. While it is common for boxers and MMA fighters to “talk smack” about their opponents, Rousey is particularly arrogant with her rhetoric and unsportsmanlike in her behavior. After charging Holm during the pre-fight weigh in, Rousey casually refused to touch gloves with her opponent at the start of the bout. After her defeat, people on social media were quick to laugh at Rousey’s fall from grace. Sports news aggregate Bleacher Report wrote, “Clearly, Rousey’s personality was the primary driver behind the ugly and unfair recent backlash against her. All of the nastiness directed toward her after getting knocked out by Holm raised legitimate questions about why people were tuning in to watch her fight in the first place.” If Rousey’s personality was the source of her popularity, it is peculiar that that it would also be her undoing. If Rousey’s dominance in the ring was the source of her popularity, why isn’t Holly Holm more popular? Even prior to her landslide victory, Holly Holm rivaled Ronda Rousey in terms of “Mike Tyson-esque dominance.” Both fighters were undefeated in the UFC, and Holm had a decade of credentials to back up her UFC resume. A former boxer, Holm was The Ring magazine’s Female Boxer of the Year twice, New Mexico’s Boxer of the Year for ten consecutive years, and a reigning champion in a variety of international leagues. With more experience, a longer wingspan, and a similar record, it’s surprising that Holm was even considered an underdog. She only appeared to be an underdog because the UFC invested, comparatively, so little money in promoting her.
Holm, for her part, is undeniably charismatic. In an appearance on The Talk, she had the hosts laughing continuously. One host said, “I think that’s why people like you, because you’re just a regular girl and you won the fight… and you’re just a nice person.” “She may never prove to be the media juggernaut that Rousey was,” writes Chad Dundas in a Bleacher Report article, “but—then again—who would?” Evidently, the answer to that question is probably an MMA-fighting pornstar, because Holly Holm’s undisputed talent, sportsmanship, record, and charisma just didn't seem to cut it.
Definitivamente amigo @youdontsay la división de las mujeres del UFC ultimamente ha sido muy atractiva y si tal vez en tu publicación tengas razón aunque Ronda Rousey tiene un talento exepcional lo que mas impresiona de ella es su carisma, en cambio tal vez Holly Holm se mejor luchafora pero le falta ese carisma que le sobra a Rousey
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Great article, @youdontsay. It remains a point of contention about today's female leaders to reconcile their desire to occupy spaces formerly denied them and the pressure to occupy those spaces at the cost of perpetuating sexual exploitation of sorts.
The irony for me is that many women in show business demand respect and recognition while occupying--and even encouraging in new generations of women--the same spaces they have been allegedly struggling to get out of. They complain about objectification but they seem eager to participate of the objectification show.
Machista mentality is not going to be eradicated by inertia.