I watched the world cup final, USA vs Japan. I had been following the rest of the tournament via an ipod app. The first half was boring, but when they started scoring goals I was hooked. Anyway, congrats to Japan.
The thing is, I find it great that women's football is being broadcast on BBC3, because funnily enough women playing football can be seen as a feminist thing.
There are those that are against it. The final overran so some people were annoyed that they had to wait for Family Guy. One person I know put as her facebook status "It's not even real! Just flip a coin!". Yes that person was a girl, and yes she got a lot of likes for it. But women's football isn't "real"? The rules are the same, you kick a ball about, and it gets taken far too seriously. Sounds like football to me.
And besides, women's football has it's benefits. The goalkeepers can be smaller, so more goals are scored. More exciting for the audience. And the players don't have their personal lives the focus of "Heat" and "O.K." magazines. So they earn respect by being good players, such as Abbie Wambach and Hope Solo of the USA team and in my picture.
Then when Japan won they fell to the ground hugging each other. So my mother calls out to the TV "lesbians!" So my dad and I gang up on her to tell her off. Because she was being ridiculous, they are women playing sport professionally. There are heaps of women doing this. But football is a "men's sport" so when women try it out their sexuality is automatically assumed, as though it even matters.
It wouldn't surprise me if men face this too. If a man is a skilled gymnast, I bet he wouldn't be a "real man", and people would automatically assume he's gay.
My point is, let people play any sport they want, because gender should not restrict. The presence of restriction is why I became a feminist.
