Reddit reviews She's a Knockout!: A History of Women in Fighting Sports

I've been reading L. A. Jennings's She's A Knockout!: A History of Dubious Punctuation Women in Fighting Sports. Jennings's background is in MMA, and she seems somewhat ambivalent about pro wrestling, but I've found some interesting tidbits.

It seems that in 1888, two women were arrested for prize fighting, along with their seconds. The defense argued that the whole thing had been a "sham"--a work. A species of Entertainment, as one may term it, in the nature of an affaire du sport. If it was a work, the women had evidently stiffed the hell out of each other; according to the news story, their faces were badly bruised. In any event, the State of New York sentenced Hattie Leslie and Alice Leary to six months a piece, and their (male) seconds were each fined $500, or about $12,200 in 2016 dollars.

Roughly a year later, Leslie had a pair of wrestling matches with one Ethel Marks. The first was apparently a shoot, judging by both fighters' lack of technical savvy, but the second was widely decried as a "fake"--the moves appeared to have been planned in advance, and some spectators claimed they could hear Leslie and Marks whispering instructions to each other. Their male seconds, scandalized and offended both, fought each other in a catch-as-catch-can bout soon afterward. Cynical minds suspected a connection.

I'd recommend the book. Jennings is a former fighter who now co-owns an MMA gym, in addition to holding a Ph.D in literature. It's a unique perspective and I hope this isn't her last (non-academic) publication.