I want you to picture this: a cloudy November Saturday afternoon at Ross Park; there’s a football tournament going on; women’s residence teams are kicking butt, pulling flags, getting down and dirty in the mud, and loving every minute of it.
Enter random man, let’s call him “Paul”. Paul walked up to my team and asked, “Why are you teaching women how to play football?”. Cue stunned faces all around. The surprise soon turned to anger as this man continued to ask, “Do you actually believe women are equal to men? Why are girls trying to be strong and powerful? That’s not how God made them. Why bother teaching them to be something they’re not supposed to be?”. And before you ask, no, he wasn’t joking around or playing Devil’s advocate.
I get it – people are entitled to their own opinions. However, no one asked for this man’s thoughts and, frankly, we shouldn’t have been obliged to listen. Unfortunately, we couldn’t force him to leave a public park, so instead we just stopped engaging. While he got to walk away, the effects of his offhanded comments and jokes lingered throughout the day for players. Despite making light of it, beneath the surface we were furious. In fact, we are still furious and will continue to be until we are no longer subjected to this kind of sexist garbage.
In addition to being antagonizing, this event is representative of more than just one man making a comment to one team. This demonstrates that, despite how far we think we’ve come as a progressive society, inequality and sexist ideologies persist—to the point where a man will interrupt women grinding out some football just to remind us we are not perceived as equal.
Let’s break it down into the aggravating details.
First, the man approached our male coaches, instead of the female players, for an answer. Despite him attacking our right as women to play football, the male coaches dominated most of the conversation because the man valued another man’s response above ours. Now that’s not to say that I don’t appreciate our coaches for having their players’ backs, but it was incredibly frustrating to stand by as a bunch of men argued over my right, as a woman, to play football. Through much of history, women have been silenced and oppressed which has continued in today’s society (i.e., panels made up of 100% men voting on pregnancy and maternity care). It is simply unacceptable that women’s opinions are overshadowed by those of men on an issue that clearly concerns us.
On top of this, Paul perpetuated the stereotype that women are supposed to be weak. We play rough and with passion, getting battered and bruised but always getting back up. We tackle gender stereotypes every single time we step onto the field. Assuming we are weak because we are women, and as such should be incapable of football, is not only ridiculous – it’s completely incorrect.
Lastly, this man hid behind religion to justify his sexism. Believe in whatever or whoever you want– I don’t care – but religion gives you no right to define our femininity or to try to control how we act. Our coaches did not teach us to be strong women – we already were; they taught us football and what it truly means to have your team’s back.
In this case, there were no severe repercussions. I certainly lost a little faith in humanity that day, but obviously Paul can’t (and won’t) stop our team from playing football. However, the reality is that there is a world full of Pauls out there. What is especially scary is that there are people wielding power in issues concerning women’s healthcare, employment and education who share his sexist opinions.
Therefore, what hurt the most was the reminder that women are still seen as ‘less than men’, weak, irrelevant and incapable in everyday society. It’s not about the football, it was never really about the football; women are simply not treated equally in society despite being told that we are.
If you’re Paul, or even slightly agree with his sentiments, listen up. Try as you might, the delicate boxes you try to cram women into are turning to ashes. Women burn them to the ground every single day, only intensifying the flames when supported by others. Just to be perfectly clear: football doesn’t make us less feminine, it just makes us more badass. Deal with it.
Related articles:
- Western Powderpuff: A Broken Stereotype
- Western Student Recreation Centre Now Charging Students For Classes; Female Students Outraged
-
American Woman Wins NYC Marathon For The First Time In 40 Years
Want more HCW? Check us out on social media!