Lady Tyger: A legacy starved into existence

The article explores the literal and figurative hunger experienced by professional boxer, Mirian ‘Lady Tyger’ during her hunger strike in 1987. Through Irit Rogoff’s notion of without, the authors argue that Lady Tyger’s withoutness was the driving force behind her intersectional political activism. The article examines how hunger was performed by and projected onto her Black, female, body. Drawing upon newspaper articles written about the hunger strike, and oral history interviews conducted with Lady Tyger, the authors contest notions presented by medical science that the hungry body is a weakened, apathetic, and monstrous body. The article argues that in the case of Lady Tyger the figurative hunger she experienced was far more powerful and impactful than the literal hunger she faced. The case study of Lady Tyger presents a blueprint for political athlete activism when understood through the lens of hunger.