The Stronger Women (as a group) Get....

[bloom]

the More Men Love Football (Sexism and the American Culture of Sports)


That's a book by Mariah Burton Nelson - I haven't read it - but I think it's an interesting concept.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0380725274/002-1862568-2519260?v=glance&n=283155


And thoughts on the idea?

[Sparkly]

1. Interesting!! Sounds like basic backlash within sports.

I'm no expert on the history of women in sports, but has our progress in that area been one long continuum, or has it ebbed and flowed within the past century?

I find fascinating how other parts of the culture change with women's social independence and progress, or dependence and submission -- for example, the "fashion" of body image. In the 20s and 70s, when women were making large strides, the fashion ideal was stick-thin and flat-chested. In the 50s, it was hourglass with prefab pointed boobs. (Now it's "do it all" -- stick thin except for implanted boobs.)

Btw, I'm old enough to have played softball in highschool when we had to use the boys' discarded equipment -- unlaced mitts, balls with the string showing, etc...

[MountainLaurel]

2. It's a great book

I read it a few years ago when doing some research for work on athletes being perpetrators of domestic violence and sexual assault. I thought her arguments were dead on right.

[bloom]

3. I guess this might apply to Europe as well ->

Not only that - this sounds like sex trafficking...


Sportsex 2006
Published by Twisty March 9th, 2006 in Patriarchy-blaming.

Fans of human trafficking will be pleased to hear that a massive World Cup-related mobilization of the pan-European sex industry is in the offing....

http://blog.iblamethepatriarchy.com/2006/03/09/sportsex-2006/

BUYING SEX IS NOT A SPORT
SAY NO TO GERMANY’S PROSTITUTION OF WOMEN DURING THE WORLD CUP
GAMES IN 2006

From June 9 - July 9, 2006, 12 German cities will host the World Cup Games. Approximately 3
million football fans – mostly men – will attend. It is estimated that 40,000 women will be “imported”
from Central and Eastern Europe into Germany to “sexually service” the men.

Germany legalized pimping and the sex industry in 2002. However, it is predicted that the legal red
light districts will be too small for the thousands of sport/sex tourists in attendance. In preparation for
this influx, the German sex industry has erected a massive prostitution complex for the “booming
business” expected during the games.

“Football and sex belong together,” claimed the lawyer of the newly opened 3,000 meter mega brothel
in Berlin, built next to the main World Cup venue to accommodate 650 male clients. Wooden “sex
huts” called “performance boxes” that look like toilets have been built in fenced-in areas the size of a
football field, with condoms, showers and parking for the buyers and a special focus on protecting
their “anonymity.”
http://catwepetition.ouvaton.org/telechar/WorldCupStatement-en.pdf

[leeroysphitz]

4. I'm a male...

and I never watch football or any other sport. In fact, I can't IMAGINE how powerful women would have to get for me to start wasting my weekends in front of the tube watching a GAME.