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A League of Their Own
Aug. 29th, 2013 02:53 pmI don't think many people watched the series Mr Sunshine starring Matthew Perry as the manager of a sport stadium. I did though - it had some genuinely funny moments along with a fair wallop of lameness.
There was one episode where Perry's character is trying to hook up with a "lingerie football" player playing at the stadium. Not having ever heard of this variation of football before I assumed it was probably invented purely for the show. Even if it did exist, surely it would be on a par with jello wrestling or foxy boxing - i.e tasteless, demeaning (and many other bad things) and not a real sport at all.
So last night I was scrolling through the program guide and there on ESPN was a listing for "Lingerie Football". For real. They certainly don't put jello wrestling on ESPN, so I thought I'd take a look.
So, as you might expect, the players were attired in what looked like bikinis. But they were also wearing serious heavy duty shoulder pads - just like the men playing Arena Football wear. The reason became clear in a few seconds. The women were playing this game just like the men play Arena football. Full contact, full pace and hard hits. In other words, players were playing for keeps - serious sport. And no, before you suggest it, I do know full well that women can and do play serious full contact sports - this is all about the context y'know.
So great, a serious sport - and yet they are still playing in underwear. Clearly there is still a big old chunk of exploitation there. It is a contradiction and I find myself torn. Although not that torn - I don't watch Arena football, so I am not going to watch another version of it despite the amount of skin on show - so I'll just stop watching and stop being conflicted. BTW I don't watch volleyball either so the parallel with the women's beach version is in there too
The above is all background really. One thing did impress me in the time I watched. The commentators were two men. The covered the game exactly as they were covering a men's Arena game. They described the play and the game situation. They evaluated how well the players were playing. And they did it in a fully engaged but professional manner. At no point could I discern even the tiniest amount of condescension or titillation. I really didn't think they could do such a thing. Small steps eh?
There was one episode where Perry's character is trying to hook up with a "lingerie football" player playing at the stadium. Not having ever heard of this variation of football before I assumed it was probably invented purely for the show. Even if it did exist, surely it would be on a par with jello wrestling or foxy boxing - i.e tasteless, demeaning (and many other bad things) and not a real sport at all.
So last night I was scrolling through the program guide and there on ESPN was a listing for "Lingerie Football". For real. They certainly don't put jello wrestling on ESPN, so I thought I'd take a look.
So, as you might expect, the players were attired in what looked like bikinis. But they were also wearing serious heavy duty shoulder pads - just like the men playing Arena Football wear. The reason became clear in a few seconds. The women were playing this game just like the men play Arena football. Full contact, full pace and hard hits. In other words, players were playing for keeps - serious sport. And no, before you suggest it, I do know full well that women can and do play serious full contact sports - this is all about the context y'know.
So great, a serious sport - and yet they are still playing in underwear. Clearly there is still a big old chunk of exploitation there. It is a contradiction and I find myself torn. Although not that torn - I don't watch Arena football, so I am not going to watch another version of it despite the amount of skin on show - so I'll just stop watching and stop being conflicted. BTW I don't watch volleyball either so the parallel with the women's beach version is in there too
The above is all background really. One thing did impress me in the time I watched. The commentators were two men. The covered the game exactly as they were covering a men's Arena game. They described the play and the game situation. They evaluated how well the players were playing. And they did it in a fully engaged but professional manner. At no point could I discern even the tiniest amount of condescension or titillation. I really didn't think they could do such a thing. Small steps eh?