The specific sports branch I am going to focus on is American Football. Despite what some may think, there are leagues for both men and women. The goal of football is to score the most points through field goals or touchdowns of the oval-shaped ball called “football.” There are eleven players per side that have different positions, and depending on that, they work together to ultimately win the game. While both genders play this sport, there are some crucial differences. Women play on a field that is half the size of the typical men’s football field, they use a smaller ball due to the stereotype that women have smaller hands than men, and women are dressed more provocative and showy compared to men. While both men and women are playing the same sport, men’s football has gained more fan attention and awareness. Men’s football is mainly focused on the skill, speed, and overall athlete abilities while women’s football leagues tend to show off more of the “sexy” side.
Through both of these videos, it is obvious both men and women show intensity and the want to win, but there are many different gender dynamics happening within both leagues. Men tend to be more aggressive and violent compared to women, celebrations after touchdowns are different, and men tend to show more speed and skill compared to women teams. Also, it is understood by the pure number ratio of fans coming to games that men’s football is more popular and tend to “sell out” more compared to women’s games where seats are often empty. I believe football is not considered wild, but the type of player, the way they play, and the way they can interact and make fans in the stands react can make a football game seem wild regardless of gender. Both the links to female football highlights and male football highlights are listed below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxYW4n_cy30
~Audrey Wines
I appreciate how you touched on both the female and male side of the sport football. It is good to explain both sides in order to draw contrasts and differences between the gender dynamics of a sport. However, I disagree with you at the end when you mention that football is not necessarily considered wild. I would consider football a very wild sport due to the amount of injuries players can endure from playing it.
I was very surprised when I saw the gear worn by women football players when compared to men. Football is a sport in which protective gear is especially important due to the level of physical contact involved, yet there is a glaring difference between how women are required to dress compared to men.