CLAW (Charlottesville Lady Arm Wrestlers) : 2008-Current
CLAW is a periodic live feminist performance spectacle that blends theatre, sport, and philanthropy. Woman-identifying women create theatrical personas complete with entourage, theme song, and plot points as they battle it out in an arm wrestling tournament, with all proceeds supporting woman-initiated organizations and projects. CLAW was founded in 2008 and has spawned 25 other leagues in cities across the U.S.
Promo Videos (co-produced by Billy Hunt, Brian Wimer, and Jennifer Tidwell)
- How we recruit
- Lose Yourself (promotion for Thrilla in Cvilla)
- Stiletto Southpaw’s Origin Story
Collective of Lady Arm Wrestlers (CLAW USA) : 2011-Current
CLAW USA was started as mothership organization to promote and support all CLAW-derived leagues across the U.S.
The first national smackdown was captured in Billy Hunt & Brian Wimer’s 2013 documentary CLAW the Movie (trailer below and FULL MOVIE HERE).
CLAW & Her Sisters in the Press:
Penthouse Magazine
Get A Grip
Oct 13, 2010 By Kristin Coronado The scene taking place in the back room of Chicago’s Mystic Celt bar has all the trappings of a fetish film. A twenty something blonde wearing brown furry bear ears and leggings dances with a modern-style geisha to Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough.” They’re soon joined by a pink Strawberry Shortcake and a pregnant Angelina Jolie impersonator. It’s an almost innocent scene, until the bearish femme growls and rips a baby doll from between the legs of the would-be Angie. Too bad no one else is even paying attention… Full Article: http://penthousemagazine.com/features/get-a-grip
Washington Post
Answering a Call to Arms: Ladies wrestle for charity in Charlottesville and more
by Kris Coronado Lifting weights can be painfully monotonous . . . up, down, up, down, up, down . . . unless you let your creative whimsy run wild. It’s unclear whether creativity or whimsy was running wilder between exercise pals Jennifer Hoyt Tidwell and Jodie Plaisance that November day in 2007, but what resulted was anything but monotonous. They invented a fantasy sports league in which outrageously dressed, bawdy femmes challenge each other to arm-wrestling matches. Then they dumped the fantasy part. “Soon I started asking people, ‘Would you join an arm-wrestling league if you could?’ ” Hoyt Tidwell, 37, says with a laugh. “I was half-kidding.” Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2010/02/26/ST2010022606090.html?sid=ST2010022606090