Megan Rapinoe it gets personal about his “A Life”.
In her memoir, released Tuesday, the Olympic gold medalist and two-time Women’s World Cup champion opens up about her life and soccer career, from her younger years in Redding, Calif., to her sporting stardom , which led her to travel. around the world.
The book strikes a perfect balance for soccer fans and Rapinoe admirers. Not only does she give her own insight into notable games and explain the challenges she and her team faced in their fight for equality in women’s sportbut she’s also not afraid of stories about her coming out journey, his relationshipsher inspiring activism and much more.
Here are some of the ways the book will inspire readers:
To take up space
” by Rapinoésignature pose” of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup is synonymous with the feeling we felt when finishing this book: our hearts full, our arms outstretched and ready to take up space in this world.
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Rapinoe, thanks to her confidence in everything, of last minute purple hair has fight for equal pay (which included appeal a judge’s rejection pay equity demands from Rapinoe’s team in May), serves as an example for other women to be unapologetically themselves.
She explains in the book that her catchy “I deserve this” remark while celebrating their 2019 World Cup victory over the Netherlands was her “speech on behalf of women who are told to be selfless, invisible, soft; to accept less money, less respect.” …who are told to be grateful, without complaining. Who is discouraged from recognizing their victories or even seeking them in the first place.
She continues: “You can share, help and be part of your community, but also stand tall and enjoy your success. No caveats, no excuses. Arms outstretched, claim your space.”
Set to work
One of the themes that comes through in the book is her emphasis on activism, women’s equality, LGBTQ rights, and racial issues.
Readers learn about Rapinoe’s early efforts to take a stand against racism throughout her career, including her headline-making decision to kneel during the national anthem of a September 2016 game in solidarity with the NFL star. That of Colin Kaepernick peaceful protests against racial injustice, which began with him sitting during the national anthem the previous month. She also points out that it is members of the WNBA who launched sports-based protests against racial injustice even earlier by wearing T-shirts emblazoned with “BLACK LIVES MATTER”.
“I give Colin Kaepernick a lot of credit, but the fact is that the first athletes to protest were the women of the WNBA and they never received their due,” she wrote.
While telling a bit of history about racism in America, she talks about how she educated herself on the subject, including reading “every article on racial injustice that appeared in the press” as well as works by Ta-Nehisi Coates, notably “We were in power for eight years“, a collection of essays which confronts the legacy of President Barack Obamathe election of President Donald Trump and what everyone is saying about the intractability of race in our country.
She also explains that you don’t have to have her level of notoriety to participate in the work of fighting for change: “I don’t think you need to have a big platform to do that. can be as simple as fighting a bigoted remark when you don’t belong to the targeted group.
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To recognize our privilege
Rapinoe doesn’t mince words about how white Americans like her have a “four-hundred-year advantage.” Even as a gay woman, she highlights the privilege she has as a white person.
“There were far fewer black Americans in football than in basketball, and before I protested, I knew that my whiteness and the whiteness of my sport in general probably provided some degree of immunity,” writes- She. “To his detractors, Colin (Kaepernick) was the embodiment of the racist stereotype of the aggressive black man.”
She also talks about her privilege of coming out as a female athlete, writing: “I came out and it was applauded; it’s not the universal experience, or probably even the norm.”
And she talks about the importance of using whatever privilege you have to help others.
“I’ve always understood that once you have a tiny bit of power, space, or control, you have to do everything you can to share it,” she writes. “Given the breaks I’ve had, talking seems like the least I (expletive) can do.”
Be open about the things that matter most
Another notable part of the book is her openness about not only her activism, but also her decision to speak out on other topics, including her sexual orientation and her brother’s drug addiction.
In the book, Rapinoe guides readers through her coming out process, from her journey of discovering her sexuality to her relationships with players on and off the field – all the way to her current partner, star WNBA Sue Bird. Both I recently got engaged.
Just as her public coming out provided much-needed representation in the sports world, her book continues this push for representation and normalization.
“I hoped that by talking about all of this, I was doing something to normalize being gay and counter the fact that so many athletes remained in the closet,” she wrote, explaining that the more people coming out, the more “we are breaking the stereotypes of what it means to be gay.”
Another topic she speaks openly about in an effort to shed light on a difficult topic is her brother Brian’s challenges with drug addiction and incarceration.
She traces Brian, who is five years her senior, from a young footballer she “idolized” to learning of his first arrest for drug possession when she was 10 and how “it all unfolded at go from there.”
She talks not only about Brian’s ups and downs, but also how it affected her and her family, as well as the larger issues in the justice system.
“This is the nightmare that Brian, my kind, funny, adorable brother, found himself in as a teenager and still finds himself in today. He wasn’t the ‘bad’ kid who went off the rails,” says -She. “I don’t entirely absolve my brother of any blame, but it was always much more serious and complicated than that.”
Have a winning mentality
Rapinoe comes across in the book as having a distinct contrast in her personality – not taking herself too seriously, except when it comes to things that matter, like her activism and, of course, winning.
She explains that her team is often described by outsiders as “unbeatable” because of its “winning mentality.”
“We lose, of course. I’ve won a lot and lost a lot,” she says. “The difference is we truly believe we are going to win, every game, no matter how the game goes or what stage it is at.”
In today’s world, where current events can make it difficult to feel hopeful, this is an inspiring concept for keeping the faith. And for Rapinoe and her team, it’s vital: “It’s the difference between winning and losing.”
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