American football is a largely popular sport among American men. There are many commercials and videos that cater to it. The video I chose was a compilation of the best plays in the NFL in 2021. It is just one of many videos that are like this. The fanbase for American football is very large in the U.S. and therefore gets lots of attention and funding along with interest to make videos with rankings or commentary such as the video I chose. Football is a very male dominated sport due to the sport almost always only offering positions for men. Women participating in the sport is rare and usually looked down upon. Due to the gameplay of American football, lots of pushing and physical contact, team recruiters look for men to participate. The business behind the NFL and American football is also dominated by men. Sponsors will also more heavily fund and broadcast male sports as a whole. This sport heavily speaks to the misogyny among sports funding and exposure. It speaks to how sponsors would much rather fund male sports and make a larger deal about the sports men play versus women. Football is very popular and culturally important to the U.S. as a whole. We have Super Bowl Sunday every year to watch the finals for the NFL and thousands of ads and news articles that promote the sport. There is also the importance of football in colleges and high schools. Going out to watch the school football players play games is considered “having school spirit” and is implied to be important in participating in the school culture.
American football is in my opinion the blueprint for “playing gender”. There is no real option for women in this sport but yet the sport is said to be culturally important to American life and school life while leaving out half of the population. Football is thought of as a wild and more brutal sport due to its heavy contact which plays into how it leaves out women. Women in society are not expected to be seen as wild and therefore are not truly welcome in this wild sport despite women still being capable of being wild and playing heavy contact sports such as rugby and roller derby.
-Stephanie Wilhite