Billie Jean King and his Book Pressure is a Priviledge

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Recommended: Gender roles and gender equality

The book I chose to read for this assignment was Pressure Is A Privilege: Lessons I’ve Learned from Life and the Battle of the Sexes, by Billy Jean King. The book chronicles the lessons Billy Jean King, a tennis legend and advocate for gender equality, learned from family, friends, and mentors growing up, as well as her efforts to help the women’s movement in the 1960s and 1970s. King writes that the lessons she learned as a child and young adult really paved the way for her success on and off the tennis court. The advice and life tips Billy Jean provides not only give the reader insight as to what kind of person she is and why she has been so successful in her endeavors, but also serve as inspiration to live life to the fullest.
Billy Jean King was born on November 22, 1943 in Long Beach, California. Billy Jean, along with her brother Randy, grew up in a middle class household with two loving, yet strict parents. King’s father was a Navy man turned firefighter and her mother was a homemaker. From an early age, Billy Jean can remember her parents instilling in her certain values, such as: be polite, show respect to yourself and others, show gratitude, help others in need, integrity, and perspective. Many of these values were taught and encouraged around the dinner table, a place the family met and talked every evening. She also talks about learning values from childhood friends, like taking advantage and trying every new opportunity that comes your way. For instance, when King was in 5th grade, her friend Susan Williams asked her to come along for a game of tennis. Billy Jean was unsure, considering she never played tennis in her life and thought of it as a country club activity. She deemed tennis to be out of her co...

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...in sports.
In conclusion, I found Pressure Is A Privilege: Lessons I’ve learned from Life and the Battle of the Sexes to be informational as well as inspiring. I’m pleased that I had the opportunity to read about Billy Jean King’s endeavors to change the way women are looked at in sports, as well as society. Her actions were truly revolutionary, and she is deserving of all the recognition that comes her way. I also thoroughly enjoyed her life lessons and anecdotes; I look to use some of her tips in my day to day life as a way of accomplishing my goals. Therefore, it was a pleasure to read Billy Jean King’s book, and I recommend it to anybody wanting to learn from a strong leader in American society.
Works Cited
King, Billy Jean. Pressure Is A Privilege: Lessons I've Learned from Life and the Battle of the
Sexes. New York: LifeTime Media, Inc., 2008. Print.

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