October 02, 2009

“Derby girls” at Domy

Share: posted by Sara Haji at 02:25 PM

Roller derby, an American sport dating back to the 1920s, is now almost exclusively played in women-only leagues. The sport involves lapping members of the opposing team around an oval rink, and, as a full-contact sport, the risk of injury is high. Roller derby gained a following in the 1960s and again around 2002. The women who engage in this rough-and-tumble enterprise today are of a third-wave feminist culture--one that breaks-down gender binaries with a punk-rock ethic resulting in grassroots community organizing. The aesthetic is bold, and the sport has become a type of performance, blending athleticism and campy accoutrements. 

Shelley Calton, a Houston-based photographer, has been chronicling Houston's "derby girls" since the resurgence in the early 2000s. From 2005 to 2008, this Bayou-City native photographed the rowdy entertainment of derby matches and leagues, as well as the women who partake in them. Her book, Hard Knocks: Rolling With the Derby Girls, explores the women's self-image and the integration of masculinity and femininity in their sport. The tongue-in-cheek humor, sexual innuendo, and outrageous, burlesque costumes juxtapose the ferocity with which these women train and approach derby. There's a mystery--a sense of empowerment gleaned from their refusal to adhere to any particular norm; from the combination do-it-yourself attitude and the stage names like "Panty Raider" and "Becky Booty." Roller derby, to these women, is a negotiation of womanhood itself.

Calton will be signing books at Domy Books, Houston, on October 15th at 7 pm. Admission is free.

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