The American team has made it to the Women's World Cup. Although it's a huge accomplishment, it does not attract the same attention as if it were the men's team. I only found out about it today on Facebook, my most trusted news source, and there was but one lonely post about it on my newsfeed. Come on, people... this is a big deal, isn't it? Sure, we are Americans and don't really care about soccer anyway, but you don't have to be a social theorist to recognize the discrepancy between men and women's sports.
Since I have already established that I am not a social theorist nor very well informed, let me share this theory I have about society and why there is less interest in female sports. For the most part, chicks don't really watch sports. The majority of sports fans are dudes, and girls who want to flirt with the guys watching the game. Just kidding! There are women who genuinely enjoy sports, like lesbians. Just kidding again! They only like softball. Men who watch sports have no issues with rooting for guys that are significantly more talented than they are, and even feel as if they were part of the team while sitting on the couch drinking beer and cupping their balls. After all that scratching, they need some comfort. But guys don't like to watch girls be better than them, and so they are not going to watch competitive female sports. You could refute this and claim that women's sports are less exciting because girls are weaker, but they are better than you, and it's still sports isn't it? So if men weren't intimidated, why wouldn't they watch the girls play for the love of the game? Plus, they could watch their boobs jiggling while they ran. Double bonus! Something isn't adding up here.
Because men cannot stand the idea of women surpassing them in physical ability, the entire effort of women's sports doesn't get the same attention, funding, and support. If you think I am being unfair and don't think that the male ego is a major contributing factor, then meditate on this for a moment. Men, have you ever gone to a yoga class? Do you know how many good-looking, fit, healthy, sexy, attractive, striking, and pretty women do yoga? Have I mentioned gorgeous, stunning, and statuesque yet? For every man in yoga class there are about 35 Amazonian creatures from another dimension of beauty. If men had half a brain they would get their ass to a yoga class faster than you can vinyasa, but most men don't. And you know why? They can't handle the beginning part of learning where all the chicks would be better than they are. So they stay at home and look at Internet porn instead.
I admit that women should be more proactive and support our fellow females athletes, but women aren't raised within the same culture of watching and participating in sports. Boys have thousands of professional athletes to look up to and aspire to be. They have these great role models of dog torturers, woman assaulters, and murderers, but we girls aren't so lucky. From an early age we indoctrinate our boys to be rambunctious, wild and male bond through sports, but we tell our girls to be careful, watch out and play with your dolls indoors.
I think women need more exposure to seeing powerful female athletes so they know that there is not only a potential future for them in sports, but also all the positive impact that simply participating can make. I got a chance to ask some questions to soccer super star and Olympic Gold Medalist Brandi Chastain and I got to hear first hand the importance of getting your daughter involved in sports. We should encourage all children to test their limits, and imagine the impossible. Of course I am not implying that you should get your baby into base-jumping, but I do think that we should be just as supportive of our little girls being tough as our boys.
So even if society doesn't share the same enthusiasm for women in sports, unless it's for the splitting capacity of some cute Russian gymnast, that doesn't mean it isn't equally important for girls to get just as involved. The process of challenging our bodies and pushing the limits of capability is important for all humans regardless of whether you have a penis or a... you know.