The undefeated UFC female bantamweight champion, Ronda Rousey, has become wildly popular lately, not just for her ability to brutally and quickly dismantle her opponents, but also because she’s unapologetically outspoken in a brusque, blunt sort of way.
In late July, she caused a sensation in an interview for the UFC video series, Embedded, when she talked about the body-shaming she receives from those who call her masculine. She’s not “a do-nothing bitch,” she said. “The kind of chick that just tries to be pretty and be taken care of by someone else.” Since, “Don’t be a do-nothing bitch” has become something of a catchphrase for Rousey, so much so that she trademarked the term and its acronym, as ESPN reported.
It all suggests Rousey may be eager to push into the merchandise business. She’s already made t-shirts emblazoned with “Don’t be a D.N.B.” Part of the proceeds, according to the site where the shirt is sold, go to the Didi Hirsch organization ”for their work in mental health services and for women with body-image issues.” The site says the goal was to sell 1,000 t-shirts. Actual sales hit 56,809 by the time the limited sale ended today (Aug. 21).
Rousey has become a de facto representative for women’s body issues, as she acknowledged in her Reddit AMA, since countering her body-shaming critics in the Embedded interview. “Listen, just because my body was developed for a purpose other than fucking millionaires doesn’t mean it’s masculine,” she said. “I think it’s femininely bad-ass as fuck because there’s not a single muscle on my body that isn’t for a purpose.”
But plenty of women take issue with Rousey’s catchphrase. Some see it as pitting women against one another, and it’s yet another degrading use of the term “bitch.” Rousey has also been the one accused of unfairly criticizing another woman’s body in the past when she said last year Fallon Fox, another female fighter, had “an unfair advantage” because she’s transgender.
She admits she may not be the best role model, and doesn’t like to call herself one. But there certainly seems to be demand for Rousey and all associated with her. In fact, in the New York Times, fashion critic Vanessa Friedman even wondered why it was taking so long for the fashion world to discover her.