I just watched a fantastic documentary on HBO about Billy Jean King called Portrait of a Pioneer. I tend to steer clear of biographies on sports figures, and a large part of the reason that I watched this one is because the guy who edited it, Jason Schmidt, is my boyfriend’s friend. But clearly I missed the “Billy Jean is Awesome” memo. The fact that I grew up in the 80s probably has something to do with this, and the only Billy Jean I knew about was the one that wasn’t Michael Jackson’s lover!

I knew that BJK was a famous tennis star, but I had no idea that she played such a pioneering role in women’s sports, and in the women’s movement in general. As I watched the documentary, I couldn’t help drawing parallels to Annie every step of the way. One of the key moments in the documentary is when BJK decides to challenge a male tennis player in a match, and all of a sudden it becomes a media circus and it is billed a “Battle of the Sexes.”

I kept thinking of Peter’s quote in our promo video, when he said: “Wherever someone stood on the question of women’s equality in the 1890s, and it was a very lively topic of debate at the time, she ensured that people would have an interest in one side or the other… She was either going to make it and vindicate women, or she was not going to make it and she was going to vindicate the chauvinists.”

Annie, as you know, completed her ride in 1895, vindicating the “new women” of the era. But isn’t it amazing, and perhaps a bit maddening, that the same chauvinistic challenges were still being posed to women athletes 70 years later? I bet BJK would have a thing or two to say about Annie and her accomplishments… If anyone wants to forward me her contact info, by all means..

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