Tackling the stereotypes of football
Sports in our society today, especially football, are a major aspect of our lives. Although it is not just about the types of sports, it’s who plays them. Girls are taught from a very young age that they are to grow up dancing, staying away from “dangerous” sports, and even if they do decide they want to play a “man’s sport” like baseball or lacrosse, they are dumbed down or the sport is made easier.
Every sport made for athletes has a copy of it made easy for women. When there was no league for women in the NBA they made the WNBA, because they thought women were too tender to play with men. This social construct has been around for centuries, building our society on this thought of fragility being hereditary in women. As a result, it created a divide in the athletic world that has a longing for a solution, something to break the social barrier made for women.
Flag football was recently introduced to the high schools in the Conejo Valley Unified School District. This was a great accomplishment considering the controversy surrounding girls playing this sport. However, they are not really playing football the same way as our regular team. It has been made a completely different sport because of the changes regarding the rules. For instance, there are no spin moves, no fumbling, no kicking and the fields have been made slimmer and shorter. These might not seem like the most drastic changes, but without this, and especially without physicality, the game just doesn’t seem to have a purpose beyond running or throwing a ball.
A survey was sent out to the Newbury Park High School Girls Flag Football team on Thursday, Sep. 7, asking each player what their favorite and least favorite part of flag football is. The answers didn’t vary much as they almost all addressed the same topic, that they want more aggression and that the district has made the game too “easy.” Even though the girls love the game, a majority of them have an issue with the restrictions made. Eight out of the twelve responses from the players stated that they would play on a tackle football team rather than a flag football team if given the chance.
Society has put girls in a fragile light, and there needs to be something done to change that. Not all girls want to be ballerinas–some want aggression. They want to be able to attempt the same challenges men do. The issue isn’t the physicality of the sport, it’s the idea that they are less capable than men.
