Free Young Woman and the Sea: How Trudy Ederle Conquered the English Channel and Inspired the World by Glenn Stout Page A
Authors: Glenn Stout
wrong kind of attention and the IOC was still pondering the question of adding women's swimming to the Olympics, Charlotte Epstein led an insurrection. The female members of the USVLSC broke off and formed their own group, the Women's Life-Saving League. Its aims were far loftier than those of the USVLSC. It wasn't enough that women simply had the opportunity to learn how to swim. The Women's Life-Saving League wanted to institutionalize the sport of swimming for women. It wanted lifesaving swimming instruction to be a mandatory part of school education, and it wanted to foster athletic competition among women for health benefits.
"Eppie," as Charlotte Epstein was known to her friends, became the chairman of the athletic branch of the group. She was well equipped for her position. As she sat in court every day working as a stenographer, she watched and listened as male attorneys and judges battled one another using not only their intellect, but their powers of persuasion, rhetoric, and political savvy—all skills that would come in handy in the fight for the right of women to compete in swimming. She was not intimidated by men, and she both knew how to make—and win—an argument, sometimes on the merits of her claim, but also through the shrewd manipulation of her opponent.
In 1914, after a successful visit to the United States by an organized group of Australian women swimmers, the AAU sensed that despite its efforts to suppress women's swimming as an organized sport, it was nonetheless gaining a foothold. Someone had to take charge, and, ever so reluctantly, the AAU assumed the role as the sport's governing authority, overseeing Epstein's fledgling competition wing of the Women's Life-Saving League. Although Epstein and other officials of the league grated under the AAU's domineering influence, which relegated women's swimming to second-class status within the organization and allowed the actual participants, coaches, and managers like Epstein little influence over their own sport, Epstein realized that if she openly fought the AAU, she was destined to lose. Eppie wisely chose another tack.
In Australia, a separate swimming association for women ruled their sport, and in occasional competition against American swimmers, the Australians, who used a variation of the trudgen known as the Australian crawl, were clearly far superior, beating American swimmers handily. The losses were embarrassing and offended the AAU's sense of nationalism, making the notion of an American swimming association based on the Australian model intriguing. After all, the AAU still wasn't certain it wanted to be in the business of women's athletics at all, and an American association based on the Australian model might relieve them of that responsibility.
Following the death of James Sullivan, in September 1916, Epstein sensed an opportunity. Over the next few months she worked behind the scenes and used the local press to her advantage, methodically extolling the advantages of having a women's swimming association managed by women, while deftly praising the example set by the AAU as an organizing body without peer, essentially killing the organization—and its male overseers—with kindness. She wrote the
New York Times
that while she was certain there would one day be some kind of women's association, "If we are left to our own resources now, totally unprepared to meet the situation, much harm could and probably would come to it." She was just as politic in person, at least initially. Almost waiflike in her personal appearance, underneath her complacent exterior was the heart of an athlete who did not like to lose and was determined to do what was right.
Epstein's calculated brand of passive-aggressive reasoning played on the AAU's inflated sense of superiority. In 1917 she struck out on her own again, creating the WSA, a group that slowly evolved from an idea into a working organization whose stated purpose was not to compete, but to
"Eppie," as Charlotte Epstein was known to her friends, became the chairman of the athletic branch of the group. She was well equipped for her position. As she sat in court every day working as a stenographer, she watched and listened as male attorneys and judges battled one another using not only their intellect, but their powers of persuasion, rhetoric, and political savvy—all skills that would come in handy in the fight for the right of women to compete in swimming. She was not intimidated by men, and she both knew how to make—and win—an argument, sometimes on the merits of her claim, but also through the shrewd manipulation of her opponent.
In 1914, after a successful visit to the United States by an organized group of Australian women swimmers, the AAU sensed that despite its efforts to suppress women's swimming as an organized sport, it was nonetheless gaining a foothold. Someone had to take charge, and, ever so reluctantly, the AAU assumed the role as the sport's governing authority, overseeing Epstein's fledgling competition wing of the Women's Life-Saving League. Although Epstein and other officials of the league grated under the AAU's domineering influence, which relegated women's swimming to second-class status within the organization and allowed the actual participants, coaches, and managers like Epstein little influence over their own sport, Epstein realized that if she openly fought the AAU, she was destined to lose. Eppie wisely chose another tack.
In Australia, a separate swimming association for women ruled their sport, and in occasional competition against American swimmers, the Australians, who used a variation of the trudgen known as the Australian crawl, were clearly far superior, beating American swimmers handily. The losses were embarrassing and offended the AAU's sense of nationalism, making the notion of an American swimming association based on the Australian model intriguing. After all, the AAU still wasn't certain it wanted to be in the business of women's athletics at all, and an American association based on the Australian model might relieve them of that responsibility.
Following the death of James Sullivan, in September 1916, Epstein sensed an opportunity. Over the next few months she worked behind the scenes and used the local press to her advantage, methodically extolling the advantages of having a women's swimming association managed by women, while deftly praising the example set by the AAU as an organizing body without peer, essentially killing the organization—and its male overseers—with kindness. She wrote the
New York Times
that while she was certain there would one day be some kind of women's association, "If we are left to our own resources now, totally unprepared to meet the situation, much harm could and probably would come to it." She was just as politic in person, at least initially. Almost waiflike in her personal appearance, underneath her complacent exterior was the heart of an athlete who did not like to lose and was determined to do what was right.
Epstein's calculated brand of passive-aggressive reasoning played on the AAU's inflated sense of superiority. In 1917 she struck out on her own again, creating the WSA, a group that slowly evolved from an idea into a working organization whose stated purpose was not to compete, but to
Similar Books
A to Z Mysteries: The Bald Bandit
Ron Roy and John Steven Gurney
Quintessential Tales: A Magic of Solendrea Anthology
Martin Hengst
Asimov's Science Fiction: April/May 2014
Penny Publications
The Roman Hat Mystery
Ellery Queen
When Sparrows Fall
Meg Moseley
Cursed
Monica Wolfson
One More Bite
Jennifer Rardin
Lie for Me
Romily Bernard