Don't Be a Do Nothing Bitch: Popular Feminism and Women's Physical Empowerment in the UFC
This chapter examines the Ultimate Fighting Championship's (UFC's) incorporation of women into their brand. Women's inclusion has occurred amidst the rise of "popular feminism," which is invested in increasing the self confidence of girls and women via consumerism and individualism. UFC media emphasises discourses supporting girls and women's strength and martial talent and simultaneously positions fighters as empowered heroines who challenge and contradict the disenfranchising effects of body discipline in the media. This brand ethos imagines itself as rebelling against protracted notions of white femininity as physically weak and fragile and instead celebrates self discipline and individual empowerment through fitness. This chapter sheds light on the growing cultural discontent with representations of thin White feminine bodies even as cultural discourses maintain the pre eminence of Whiteness.