Women’s Tennis and the Uterus
MFMM Minor Character Love - Constance Burrows played by Lauren Williams.
(In honor of Wimbledon 2018) While it may not be true minor character Love, it is some minor character empathy at least.
Constance is a world class tennis player, recently married and coming back from a short hiatus from the circuit. She is famous, attractive, an easy target for tabloid fodder but most of all…. She is driven. To the point where we really don’t like her for it.
In theory, Constance’s story should cause some admiration as well as some sympathy but instead her character is presented in a way that makes me want to punch her in the face more than once.
The episode sets Constance up as phenom who only cares about her career and we later find out she is willing to kill for it, which is NOT ok.
But taking the murder out of the story for a moment, we see how a woman’s drive coupled with her gender can put her in a very difficult predicament. Circumstances that peg her to be the bad guy before she even poisons anyone.
1. She is young and fools around with a guy she is attracted to and may even kind of love. She has to keep it secret or risk ruining her reputation and thus her career.
2. She gets pregnant – mostly because she certainly is not getting any kind of guidance on her reproductive rights and options as a woman much less a professional athlete. She has to keep the pregnancy a secret or risk ruining her reputation, career and her life.
3. She chooses the physically safer option to have the child (rather than chance it with a back alley abortionist) and give it up for adoption. This, she definitely has to keep a secret or risk ruining her reputation, career and her life. (Are you seeing a theme here?)
4. She comes back to train before she is fully through her postpartum recovery. (She is still lactating for goodness sake!) She is in a tough spot because she is vulnerable career-wise and needs to continue to train and compete. She gets married to her coach and a trusted friend, Stanley to ensure her security and to have her career supported. He has the means. She seems fond of him but is it love? This motivation is also being kept secret.
At this point, what has she really done that other women haven’t had to do? The only thing I can see that is really wrong is using Stanley. It’s mean but to her point, necessary. Constance sets it up so Stanley can have sex with her friend so he won’t bother her while she trains. So weird but oddly generous. This is where she should have told the truth. She should have said, “Hey Stanley darling, I have a secret and if you really love me we can move past this.” & I think he would have moved past it. He already suspected her of the murder and was willing to cover for her. Is having a child worse than murder?
Meanwhile, Phryne refers to Champion Angela Lombard as the “potentially desperate woman” because her husband is divorcing her and she wouldn’t have the money to continue playing tennis. Phryne explains how she herself is interested in women’s rights. (We already know this about her.) She talks about how it is for women’s tennis; how a woman has to be wealthy or have a man to fund this “hobby”. Little does she know at the time how desperate Constance was as well.
It seems women at this time were always on the verge of desperation if they didn’t have their own wealth. Add children to the mix and there are few options for autonomy.
The uterus is an inconvenient organ to be walking around with. It can do great things like carry to child if that is your goal, but we are still living in a time when women are penalized for reproducing while men are not.
Back in the world of tennis but in 2017-18, Serena Williams paused to have a baby as a 23-time grand-slam champion and ranked #1 in the world to come back eight months after having her daughter (as well as critical medical complications and recovery) to find herself knocked down from her #1 ranking to #453! This has sparked more needed conversation about the sacrifices women, not only in athletics but all professions, are expected to make to have children when men are hardly affected. Maybe things have not changed all that much.
At any rate, Constance turns out to be the murderer and a rotten person. Her talent and drive is wasted all because she didn’t have a condom. Just kidding. She is pushed by the fear of exposure and the fear of not being able to pursue her passion. She feeds the fear and rather than beating her opponent, she chooses to eliminate her. She eliminates all of the obstacles she faces in the most drastic of ways.
Many women encounter unfair obstacles and show a strength of character and resilience that is to be admired. They overcome and they often bring others with them in the process. Constance only knows how to clear a pathway to her own success. And there is no room on that path for anyone to walk along side her. Her circumstances are unfortunate, but its the women who won’t be victims and won’t create victims who win in the end.