What's wrong with women's football?
I'm going to start by shamelessly bragging about getting a retweet from a celebrity; Baltimore Ravens rookie WR, Torrey Smith (@TorreySmithWR):
@TorreySmithWR: What do you think of lingerie football?
@MC_Odd: @TorreySmithWR sexist, objectifies women. Women who want to play football shouldn't have to become strippers to do so.
@TorreySmithWR: RT @MC_Odd sexist, objectifies women. Women who want to play football shouldn't have to become strippers to do so... agreed
I was, of course, stoked. Not just from the retweet, but from learning that this new player to my favourite football team might be a bit more enlightened than the stereotype.
It did, however, spark a lot of ignorant tweets from others who follow Smith.
@FSIDELINESHOW: @TorreySmithWR @MC_Odd they are not being forced can they quit at any time? was they forced to sign up? nope free will..
@MC_Odd: @FSIDELINESHOW there aren't many avenues for women who want to play football to do so. So it's a "choice" between lingerie or nothing.
@MC_Odd: @FSIDELINESHOW fortunately the IWFL and WFA are making moves to change that.
teacherbyday01: @TorreySmithWR but they aren't forced too... they choose to play
@MC_Odd: @TorreySmithWR @teacherbyday01 LFL is the only paid women's league. Not much of a choice, hence "forced".
@teacherbyday01: @MC_Odd @torreysmithwr You are entitled to your opinion but they aren't forced; end of discussion.
@dannyboykerr: @TorreySmithWR @MC_Odd they do if they want to make money doingit, just the world we live in
This whole exchange brought into the forefront of my mind something that I'm rather concerned about, as a pro-feminist and a sports fan: the situation of women's sports; in particular, my favourite sport, American football (commonly known as gridiron in New Zealand and Australia).
The Lingerie Football League (LFL)
The Lingerie Football League is a 7-on-7 women's football league (I use the term "women's" here lightly, as it's clearly a league designed by men, for men) which grew out of an alternative Super Bowl half-time show, the pay-per-view Lingerie Bowl. The rules and format are similar to those of Arena Football, and other indoor football leagues. As the name suggests, the league pits women against each other wearing nothing but underwear and football pads, including a helmet, which is more akin to a hockey helmet than a football one, (perhaps so the player's face is more visible to the spectators), shoulder pads which are modified to expose the breasts as much as possible (regular football shoulderpads cover the whole upper torso), and kneepads.
Before I get into the issue of sexism inherent in such a league, there are some glaring safety issues with the equipment used. Firstly, the helmet and (lack of) facemask. Aside from protecting the head itself from concussions and the like, a regular football helmet also limits neck injuries by limiting the ability of the head to snap back too far, and protects the face and jaw by way of a facemask. Regular shoulderpads cover the whole upper torso to prevent damage to the ribcage and spine, and the lessen impact at the point of collision by spreading the force over a large surface area. Exposing the players' breasts exposes them to injury. One other important element that isn't modified in LFL, but rather is missing altogether, are hip pads. These basically protect the hips and pelvic bones from injury during ground contact; particularly important on the unforgiving astroturf that is standard in indoor football.
Aside from the obvious design of the equipment to fit in with the "expose as much of the players as possible!" theme, there is probably also an assumption that the women won't injure each other because they're less physically strong. While there's a certain amount of truth in this, the women playing in the LFL are very athletic, and there's no excuse to expose players of any league to risk of serious injury.
LFL: Sexist?
Perhaps the only argumet that LFL isn't sexist is the idea that it makes women's football commercially viable, thus opening the door for women who want to play the sport. Therefore, it's not sexist, but actually good for women!
Wrong. Perhaps it opens the door, but it leaves the sliding chain lock in place, so that women can get a glimpse of what's behind the door, but without ever actually being able to go through it. I would assume that most supporters of lingerie football readily acknowledge that it's sexist, and simply don't give a damn.
First of all, yes, women's sports (not all sports, mind you, just women playing "men's" sports) are financially irresponsible, from a business perspective; in it's 15 year history, no WNBA team has managed to turn a profit. It's important to look at why this is the case, though, instead of just assuming it's "how life is" and moving on, because that ideology is what limit's women's opportunities in so many aspects of life.
There's a very pervasive stereotype that sport is a manly endeavour, and that it's something women are simply "not good at". There are probably a lot of reasons for this are probably largely to do with ideas about a woman's place in patriarchal society. The earliest record of an organised sporting event was the Olympics in 776 BC, a religious festival which women were barred from even watching, let alone competing in, lest they contaminate the sanctuary of Zeus. (It's interesting to note here that in Spartan culture, women were encourage to participate in sports as much as men, because it was believed that strong women bore strong children. Naturally, when Greece initiated the Heraen games in the 6th century BC, Spartan women dominated.) The "women = not good at sports" stereotype is as old as patriarchal society itself.
This idea affects the financial viability of women's sports directly, as it breeds the assumption that women's sports will be of a lesser quality than men's, and so not worth watching or investing in.
The second issue is the way that stereotype creates a self-fulfilling prophecy (as stereotypes tend to do), and indirectly affects the quality of women's sport, and the financial viability of it as well: it severely limits the sporting opportunities for females of all ages.
Males are encouraged from a very young age to play sport (think of a young boy playing catch with his dad), because "boys like sports". The encouragement continues through school, both institutionally and through peer pressure from other socially-conditioned boys. It's important to note that this is changing a lot, particularly in primary schools, where girls are starting to get essentially the same opportunities as boys. This tails off in high school and college however, when the boys start playing the rough "boys" sports like rugby and football, and for the most part there are just no avenues for girls to enjoy the same games. Sometimes, if she's lucky, a girl might be able to bulldog her way onto the boys' team, but then she's likely to face bullying and inacceptance, and possibly sexual abuse as well, from the boys in the team who are conditioned by that stereotype to be unaccepting of girls playing their "man's" game.
The older they get, the less opportunity there is for girls to play games like football. Understandably a lot will get frustrated and move on to more "feminine" things, reinforcing the idea that girls just don't like sports; while on the other other hand male professional athletes are groomed from just about the day they're born. Does it really come as a surprise that these men reach a higher level of athleticism?
The other major issue with LFL is the sexualisation of a largely asexual interest (even though football games often look like a great big orgy on a field). Why does a women's sport need to be sexualised to be of any worth, financial or otherwise? Because our society sees her sex appeal as having more worth than any of her other qualities; in this case, athleticism. Just as it's sexist to use a half-naked woman to sell beer, or to hire/promote a woman based on her appearance, it's sexist to use sexuality to make women's sport more palatable. As well as the direct sexism, this further hinders the cause of women's sport, because it actually undermines the validity of a woman's athleticism if she's follows an athletic career. By focussing on female athlete's appearance first and foremost, this ensures that women's sports will always be not quite as good.
There's a certain amount of sex appeal going on in men's sports too (Reggie Bush or Isaiah Mustafa, anyone?), but the key difference is that that's a side effect of their athleticism, and not what they're judged on as athletes. For women, though, it's the inverse, and ideas like LFL support and enforce that.
How many men's leagues do you see putting their players in crop-top jerseys to expose their abs, to increase popularity?
Perhaps the biggest issue with LFL is the fact that it's the only paid women's football league in America (and most likely, anywhere in the world). Regardless of how talented she is, if a women wants to make a living playing football, her best option to make a living by being half-naked and sexy while she plays football. If a man wants to be a stripper, he can; if he wants to be a pro football player, skill considering, he can; if he wants to do both at the same time, I'm sure there's an avenue for that, too. But for women, it's LFL or nothing. How is that fair? How is that not sexist?
As far as I'm concerned, the NFL has a large responsibility here. That organisation makes something in the region of $10,000,000,000 a year in profit; they can certainly afford to support a legitimate, quality women's professional league, so that female footballers can have something more to aspire to than lingerie football. The NBA does it, and keeps the WNBA afloat despite the rarity of WNBA teams turning a profit, because they recognise the importance of having that goal of professional level sport to shoot for, and the empowerment that comes with it. NFL, this is a snap you need to take.
The Alternatives: WFA, IWFL, WWCFL
The good news is that, unless she wants to get paid for it, there are some other options for a gridiron girl who prefers to play with her clothes on. In USA, there are the Women's Football Alliance (WFA) and Independent Women's Football League (IWFL); in Canada there's the Western Women's Canadian Football League (WWCFL). Considering that they managed to field national teams for the inaugural Women's American Football World Cup, I would say there are opportunities for women in Sweden, Germany, Austria and Finland, too (though I can't find specific details of clubs or leagues).
The Independent Women's Football League was founded in 2000 by a group of women, with the aim to create a quality, respected women's tackle football league. The league currently has 51 teams, and over 1,600 players; however it seems to be losing steam to the newly establish Women's Football Alliance.
The Women's Football Alliance was established in 2009 by Jeff and Lisa King, with the aim to create a high quality league that was affordable enough for women of any income bracket to join. It has grown drastically in just two years, with over 60 teams now in the league.
The Western Women's Canadian Football League is a new Canadian women's league which will have it's inaugural season this year, with seven teams around Western Canada.
In sum, despite what many supporters might say, lingerie football is incredibly sexist, and counterintuitive to the cause of women's sports. The NFL has a responsibility to use a portion of it's ridiculous profits to support either a new women's league, or more likely and established one like the WFA, in the way that the NBA keeps the WNBA alive. But it's not just the big organisations that can help; you can too, by going to women's football (and any other sport) games if you live near a team, or by following and supporting your choice of league(s) from afar via the wonder of the internet. The best thing about the IWFL and WFA is that their season runs during the NFL off-season, so it won't conflict with your precious men's league, you just get more football!
It's time to break through the glass curtain.
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