“What did you think of all the kick ass women’s sports ads for this year’s Super Bowl, V?”

As usual, my answer is, “It’s complicated.”

The women’s flag football ad was AMAZING. It had me flashback to the one flag football game during homecoming my junior year. This was the year juniors beat the senior squad. Of course, this shining championship is marred by the framing of the game. This annual flag football game was referred to as the Powder Puff game. Powder Puff is yes, a reference to the puff women have used for applying powder. And if you search the term, you get photos of boys in cheerleader drag. I do fondly recall some boys doing that and cheering on their respective squad. My high school took its sports seriously and this game was no exception. After we won, there were cries of playing too hard and dirty play. For the record, we did win my senior year.

Suffice to say that I would have loved to have flag football seen as an actual sport rather than a one-off ritual at homecoming. And I still aspire to look as bad ass as Ki’Lolo does in this ad and when she’s playing.

One trajectory in marketing and ads is the embrace of some level of feminism. Gone, for now, are the days when women athletes were merely dolled up to sell us domains and watches. Now we see fathers doing the laundry. Dove is going into its third decade trying to both sell us beauty products, but also telling us we are beautiful as we are. Launched during the 2012 Super Bowl, the #NotBuyingIt campaign goal was to point out sexist ads and send a message to those companies that women were not going to buy those products. The latest report examined representation in #SuperBowl commercials from 2012 to 2022. So after the launch of the campaign, things have been getting better! Yay! Right? RIGHT?!

That brings us to the Nike ad.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved it. It really summed up the century-plus fight for respect for women’s sports. And while everyone seems to be celebrating that Nike’s first Super Bowl commercial since 1998 is highlighting women’s sports, it shouldn’t be a surprise. Back in 1997 Nike had an ad featuring Mia Hamm. There’s even this very 1995-looking ad for the US Women’s National Team! I have t-shirts in my vast collection that have girl power slogans with a swoosh. Nike deserves all the accolades for being a long-time supporter of women’s sports.

That said, some have questioned their actual feminism.

I’d like to think that we all know that Nike (as well as most companies that make things we wear) has an issue with how they treat garment workers. So it shouldn’t come to a shock for me to tell you that the women who make the jerseys our sports heroes wear are demanding to be paid their worth.

When I first learned about the Fight the Heist campaign I was floored. And I really should not be. But what I learned right away is that while I was working from home during the 2020-2021 lock-down and we were ordering things to come our way, Nike was experiencing some amazing profits BUT had decided to stop paying their garment workers. I was fortunate to join the cause in the fall at an educational picket of the Nike store. A living wage is what the workers are asking for. And people going in to buy Air Jordans or the A’One should know that Nike ghosted their workers.

Fight the Heist worker activist committee in Indonesia, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and India organized a photo petition to brands with their coworkers, resulting in 1,000 workers coming forward publicly for the first time as part of the fight! They need you to share their image of 1,000 faces of garment workers with a message to Nike on March 21, 2025. It will take a lot of pressure for Nike to do the right thing, but we gotta try everything we can do. Take the pledge today and invite your friends to do the same. Trickle down economics doesn’t work, neither will trickle down feminism.

In addition to making me consider the tension around hyping up women who play sports and not respecting the women who make their shoes, the Nike ad should make us confront the reality of where women’s sports are today. In the 1990s ads Nike produced, they were a call to us to watch women’s sports. Today we are watching. Watching so much that the cost of attend a WNBA game doubled. “More than 60 per cent of growth based on new revenue from increased broadcast viewership and gameday attendances.” A few years ago, one could dream of buying a NWSL or WNBA team if you won the lottery - franchises were that cheap. Today, even Taylor Swift would need another billionaire to go halfsies with her.

The 2025 Nike ad wants us to think that people are still underestimating women athletes. And sure some are, but looking at the economics of the game, the attendance at the games, and the viewership, those people are a minority. During an episode of “A Touch More,” Megan Rapinoe & Sue Bird discuss the mixed message of the ad. That it focuses too much on women athletes rising above, rather than being the norm. Women sports is here to stay (well, unless the current political climate moves us to that page of the Handmaid’s Tale).

This flip happened quickly. And we all have to adjust. The athletes too. I am hoping that big names take the pledge and share out the image. That the women who are moving markets, who benefited from our daughters chanting, “EQUAL PAY!” in stadiums and victory parades, can find the courage to chant the same thing to Nike for the women who make their shoes.

How I’m Persisting…

Books

Last newsletter, I had just finished TreeNotes: A Year in the Company of Trees by Nalini Nadkarni and now it is out in the world! It’s a quick read. And is likely gorgeous in person. The downside to e-advance copies is not knowing how a book looks IRL.

I’m just finishing up Camila Núñez's Year of Disasters by Miriam Zoila Pérez. If you love YA romance, you’ll love this one about a queer Latina who falls in love a few times, whose bestie tries her best at poly, and is also learning to manage her anxiety. Oh, she’s also a dog walker and has the cutest clients. I really fell in love with Camila.

TV & Movies

Bad Sisters (Season 2): OMG, the Garvey sisters! How I love the Garvey sisters! Especially Bibi. Her style is my goals. Minus the eye patch. I will say that I felt the second season was a bit of a letdown from the perfection of the first season. The plot seemed to undercut the intellect of the whole lot. It was still a good romp, but I def yelled at the TV more this season.

Interview with a Vampire (Season 1): A quick rewatch had me pick up on a few extra details about this show that most of us saw the movie and some of us read the book that Anne Rice wrote. Take two vampires in love and one teenage vampire as a child and racial tensions set in NOLA and dang, you get some dramatic sexy TV viewing. I don’t have Bravo, so I gotta wait for season two to show up on Netflix or Hulu.

Omni Loop: I love a good time loop. Back to the Future, Palm Springs, Endgame, My Old Ass, but Omni Loop is brought me to my knees crying at the end. My Old Ass almost did too, but I somehow kept it together. Omni Loop starts off slow, but is definitely a good movie for anyone who recently turned 50 and it staring at the next chapters of her life. Ahem. Not great for someone who was pregnant when her mother died. Just saying. Despite the last 20 minutes, I really enjoyed Omni Loop. Mary-Louise Parker & Ayo Edebiri were great together. Women in STEM! Time Loop! Almost a perfect movie for me.

Climbing

I rejoined Movement Climbing. If you are in Chicago and want to try out climbing, let me know. I have guest passes for new folks. I also can often by found at the Climb Big Chicago meet-ups.

Women’s Sports

The Unrivaled 1-on-1 tournament was FIRE. if you missed it, go watch the highlights. While the Chicago RED Stars and Chicago Sky prepare for their upcoming season, Chicago is welcoming a new team! The Chicago Tempest rugby team is starting up next month and playing at Northwestern.

I also threw down some cash to invest in Minnesota Aurora FC. I had been pondering doing it for awhile, then the offering closed. Thankfully Sarah Spain (unbeknownst to her, my women’s sports bestie) announced on her podcast that there was a new offering AND she was giving out swag. So of course, I did it. At the last minute. Now to figure out how to get up and watch my team. Sarah’s podcast is part of my morning ritual. If you love women’s sports and want to keep up on all the things, give it a listen.