THE FUTURE OF FOOTBALL IS FEMALE
Football is a sport designed to be for a specific fraction of American culture: the white patriarchal imperialist nature. A game of war simulation played by men that has become the battleground for how America itself will change. The Future Of Football Is Female discusses the way that gender itself plays a part in the way football with either innovate to survive, or die trying to protect its origins.
This piece was done for a Sociology of Sports class in December, 2019
Photograph is of Oakland Raiders Cheerleaders by the United States Army, cited below
Samantha Ponder original illustration with commentary taken from social media around it
The year you turn 15, you go to Thanksgiving understanding a little better why all the characters on TV hates visiting family. You only have a few days off from school and last year on Thanksgiving you ended up crying in the bathroom when your cousin called you fat. This year, things are going smoothly a few hours in, mashed potatoes passed around as the Patriots game plays in the background. You don’t talk about the game, even though you used to sit at the table with a stats book in your lap reading it like your aunt read grace.
It’s not that you don’t love football anymore, or that you don’t watch the games, but you have learned no one wants to hear about it. Last year when you tried to offer some analysis, your cousin interrupted you to tell you how you were wrong about a point you never finished making. When you tried to defend yourself, your mother told you not to be rude. This summer when you broke up with your boyfriend, he told all his friends you only pretended to like the Rams because he did and you picked players based on who you thought were cute. That’s not the only reason why they would go on to call you a slut on your Facebook wall, but it probably didn’t help. It was a reminder that even watching a game on TV can’t be genderless, and sometimes when you watch you remember the way in which he tried to stick his hand down your pants when you were feeling sick and just wanted to talk about playoff chances. Your mother told you he was just a bad kid, but the memories come up a lot when you hear your dad’s friend call a ESPN reporter a dumb bitch for...well, you’re not even really sure what she did. Maybe there are a lot of bad kids.
This year you just want to make it through the night. It’s no longer a goal to try and play with your cousins outside and try to be included in the fun. You don’t want to be included because it’s no longer fun. It’s much more enjoyable to watch highlights on your computer when you get home, sitting in the dark and keeping the volume low. You can finish what you’re thinking when no one’s around to tell you that you’re wrong.
During a lull in conversation, the analysts on TV bring up the scandal of the week, a quarterback who is being accused of raping a girl at a party. The party was at the University of Michigan. A school you have been thinking about applying to. None of the women at the table say anything, but you think your aunt holds her breath. The men are quick to laugh and open a debate. This is a fun topic for them, and there’s smiles as they say that “people are coming up with weird ways to pay their tuition these days.”
At first you text your best friend what’s happening with some eye roll emojis and typos, but it starts to get to you when your dad joins in. He’s usually quiet on these things, never voicing his opinion one way or another. He threatened your boyfriend when he called you names, but never had an issue with you being spoken over by men in the family.
“I think none of these women would have survived back in the old days.” It comes even toned. The less emotion you show, the more logical your point seems to most of the people at the table.
It’s an art you’ve never mastered and it shows as your voice shakes in your reply, “A lot of them didn’t survive. A lot of them got killed by men when they tried to stand up for themselves.”
The men at the table circle in on the vulnerability like sharks who’ve yet to eat. They tell you that it’s not the same thing, clearly if she can go on social media she’s okay. To not bring gender into things. You never get a full sentence out in response before someone cuts you off and your father is among the patronizing tones at the table. He says he cares about women, that he has two daughters, but you’re one of those daughters and don’t exactly feel cared for right now.
Finally, your aunt speaks up and you think she’s going to stand up for you. You’ve always liked her.
“Can we talk about something else right now?”
Humans see themselves in sports, and America is meant to see themselves in football. Yet as the sport has transformed into the highest grossing industry in sports and one of the most profitable industries in America, it has changed to reflect a culture that the rich and powerful want to exist in order to stay on top rather than a culture all of America would truly thrive in.
If football wants to survive, it has to give itself worth to the demographics it has ignored for so long and seen as a threat. The NFL may not be the answer, but others leagues are willing to tell the stories of our mothers, our wives, the women with wives, the women working multiple jobs to fund her daughters love of sports, the women on hormone replacement therapy, women who came to america from other countries. These are the real stories the public can relate to, not the one of a guy in a suit using players like objects thats packages in fantasy football.
The NFL can innovate or experience it's demise. Woman like Toni Harris, Katie Sowers, and Samantha Ponder aren't saying this is the best the world can do. They're telling young girls to dream of a bigger future than the one the NFL tells.
How do we save the lost generation?
The Women's National Football Conference (WNFC) was recently founded to united women's football around the country that ran in factions. It's run by lawyer and athletic director Kandice Mitchell
Their upcoming season will run from April 2020 to July 2020, with games airing Sunday nights on YouToo America Network as well as running their own streams.
There are 20 teams currently, with independent teams able to br added to a conference with an application process. The league currently functions in 17 states
Additional Sources
Bibliography
Kantor, Stuart. “The History of Women's Professional Football.” Profootballresearchers.com, THE COFFIN CORNER: 2000, profootballresearchers.com/archives/Website_Files/Coffin_Corner/22-01-837.pdf.
Ciammachilli, Esther. “A League of Their Own: Women Tackle Football Players Push For WNFL.” WAMU, WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio, 13 Mar. 2019, wamu.org/story/19/03/13/a-league-of-their-own-women-tackle-football-players-push-for-wnfl/.
sport, Guardian. “ESPN Host Calls out Barstool Sports over Sexism Ahead of Partnership.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 17 Oct. 2017, www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/oct/17/samantha-ponder-barstool-sports-espn.
Bergman, Jeremy. “Toni Harris Is First Female Skill-Position Player to Sign LOI.” NFL.com, National Football League, 28 Feb. 2019, www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001019418/article/toni-harris-is-first-female-skillposition-player-to-sign-loi.
Buzinski, Jim. “San Francisco 49ers Assistant Katie Sowers Is First out LGBT Coach in NFL.” Outsports, Outsports, 22 Aug. 2017, www.outsports.com/2017/8/22/16175286/katie-sowers-san-francisco-49ers-coach-gay-coming-out.
Mackenzie, Hannah. “NWFL Transgender Couple Hopes 'When We Rise' Will Open Minds.” WEAR, WEAR, 1 Mar. 2017, weartv.com/news/local/nwfl-transgender-couple-hopes-when-we-rise-will-open-minds.
All photos taken from the United States Army, and is part of the public domain as a result. Save for one, which is from the Public Archives of Florida. Images host sites can be found at the following links
All edits, illustrations, and transformation are my own