O.P.I. and O-A-R-S: Rowing, Nail Polish and Femininity in Sports

The Marist crew team is full of people with very different personalities. Part of being on a team is using everyone’s different strengths and weaknesses to work towards a common goal. Besides rowing, however, we do have one thing in common with each other. Our team loves nail polish. Granted, it’s not everyone, but the amount of times one of our rowers has been distracted by another rower’s nail color is probably more than our coach would like me to admit on the internet. On the surface, this seems very shallow. What kind of athletic team goes out of their way to care how their finger nails look? Shouldn’t they be working harder? 

I used to be this doubter. I’ve never been a girly girl and the only “feminine” accessory I rock on a regular basis is a pair of fake pearl earrings – not because I necessarily think they’re pretty but rather for the fact that I think my earlobes rival Dumbo’s without them. As a freshman, I was teasingly chastised by my teammates for my bare nails. At one point, one upperclassman was so upset by this fact that she painted my nails in a parking lot while we were waiting for a hotel room the night before a race. Sure, I had the time to paint my own nails, but once they started chipping I didn’t care enough to redo them. Bare nails had always been fine with me and I didn’t see a reason to change.

Tory's nail polish "collection" prior to Summer 2011

Then, one day this summer, I had a less-than-perfect day. I’d had a bad row, a rough day at work and things just weren’t working out the way I wanted them to. I had a random and immediate urge to go straight to the mall. Surprised by this abnormal coping mechanism (normally I like to hit the gym), I went with it. I ended up at a store in the Poughkeepsie Galleria that was selling O.P.I. brand nail polish for $2.79 a bottle – when full price is usually $8.50. I bought two bottles and went straight home to paint my nails. To this day, I still have no idea where this overpowering urge to paint my nails came from. But I did it, and it made me feel much better. The next week, the same thing happened. I’d had a bad day, I bought a new color, painted my nails and felt better. 

Tory's current nail polish collection

What is the reason for this? My theory is that stems from a subconscious desire to make our tough hands look more feminine. It’s no secret: rowing has a lot to do with the hands. Sure, the rest of our bodies get beaten up pretty badly from the endless miles on the water and the erg combined with lifting sessions. However, it is our hands that manifest this work. The first weeks of practice everyone has gross blisters, but a month or so in, girls on our team are going callus for callus with gym rats who spend their free time with their hands wrapped around a weight bar. Calluses are a sign of hard work. Back in the day, women with rough hands were members of the lower class, because they could not afford to have servants doing manual labor for them. I believe that remnants of this stereotype still prevail today. If a guy has callused hands, he is considered manly. If a girl has callused hands, she is also considered manly. The same word is taken two completely different ways by different genders: one a compliment, the other an insult. 

I don’t believe that the desire to gravitate towards things considered to be “more feminine” is solely felt by rowers. My friends Steph (volleyball) and Dani (softball) said that their teams feel the same way too. During competition, both volleyball and softball teams have elaborate braided hair styles complete with ribbons to match the school uniform. And this isn’t just at Marist. If you look for a picture of Jennie Finch, arguably the best softball player in the US, you will see that she does the same thing. (She even has her own store to promote her look.) Female athletes often get a stereotype as “butch” or “manly” and I think that gestures as small as wearing pearls and painting our nails helps us feel that we are subconsciously fighting that stereotype. 

Jennie Finch: playing like a girl, winning like a champ

Last winter I deadlifting was in the weight room with my teammate, Angie. I was halfway through our set when she looked at me.

“I think your pearls go way better with the bench press than the deadlift bar,” she said teasingly. I just laughed. Sure, I might look silly walking around the free weights in a pink tee shirt and pearls. But once I start working, I don’t think anyone continues to laugh. I am a firm believer in a “look good, feel good” mentality. I know that painting my nails alone won’t help me win a race but I know that looking good combined with knowing how much hard work I put in on a regular basis means that I am going to feel damn good going down the course. 

Rowing Calluses vs. Rock Candy by Esse

 Next Saturday, our team races against Colgate in a four-mile re-enactment of the old IRA regatta. I’ll be racing in the women’s varsity eight, proudly representing my school in red and white. But you can be sure that my nails are going to be painted the most kick-ass color pink I can find. And my calluses? Well, they’re pretty awesome too.