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• 1 2021-03-14T18:03:00-07:00 Big Cat Trainers/ Tamers 19 plain 1064286 2021-04-15T13:31:33-07:00 While some women were exhibited for their appearance or strange talents in the sideshows, others were fighting for their right to a place on the big stage. Training the big animals in a circus was a feat that required strength, versatility, and courage, something women of that time were not supposed to possess. Every menagerie head at the time was a man, and almost all big trainers were also men, “who neither desired women trainers, nor believed that any feminine performer could possibly develop herself into a position of control over wild beasts.” ¹⁸ So, it took time and effort for a woman to make her way into the field. In the past, if a woman worked with animals, it was typically in the background, never in the ring itself, unless they were being used as a prop to look pretty and fragile next to the giant beasts. 
  
  Entering any profession within the circus as a woman was generally looked upon strangely by outsiders, so undertaking a position in such a dangerous field was incredibly scandalous. It took a lot of effort on the woman’s part to convince both the circus management and their male counterparts to be able to learn the art of training the big cats.¹⁹ Whatever the cost may have been, women were determined to follow their passions. 
  
  
  Once they gained traction within the ring, they were still struggling to assert their power and be seen as equals to men in skill. “While men always appeared as vanquishers of big cats, a very different kind of depiction arose for the women who began appearing alone with lions and tigers,” often seen as interacting with the cats in a sexualized manner. ²⁰ Rather than fighting in the ring, they were lovingly interacting with the animals. This created a very different act from those of typical male trainers (e.g. Clyde Beatty), but they persevered and the women in the ring became more reputable and found new ways to train and maintain their show.
   
• 1 2021-03-14T18:06:25-07:00 Mabel Stark 11 plain 2021-04-15T13:34:10-07:00
  
  
  
  
  Known as the First woman tiger trainer/tamer, and one of the most famous trainers remembered today is Mabel Stark. Orphaned at seventeen year of age, Mabel first failed in the field of nursing before joining the circus as a background dancer. She began working with and eventually married one of the lead animal trainers, Louis Roth, another big cat trainer. Louis was one of the first trainers to use positive reinforcement while training the cats and is a training technique that Mabel used in her career.²¹
  
  While she worked on her training skills in her free time, Mabel continued to perform in other areas of the circus. During this time she was listed under a general "Performer" list, not with the other animal trainers as shown, who were all men. Only a few years after she began training, she had her first year in the big show and quickly became the star. Mabel continued to push the boundaries of animal training and improve her act and defying the norms of what was expected of a woman saying, 
  
  “Because I was a woman and grew tired of hearing men trainers say that a woman could not do this or that, I broke a twelve tiger act sixteen years ago and began wrestling tigers eight years ago. And now I’m going to have my twenty tiger act – the biggest tiger act in the business!” 
  -Mabel Stark ²²