The following two videos and commentary in blue font is a post featured on one of the blogs that I follow Vivaville ,briefly discussing the Lingerie Football League (LFL). I decided to write my own response to this post.
These girls play rough!
"American Football has the most gender barriers. Women do not have many or any options to play football scholastically. The L.F.L. in its inaugural season will definitely draw male fans & women that are interested in football. Can this league evolve into something better where people will view it just to watch football?"
"Do you think this league is here to stay or a one hit wonder?
I had to write my own post about this for ZestyV because there are so many wrong things about this picture. And I’m not sure if the positive outweighs the negative.
We are more than just our looks
Vivaville does not discuss in detail the positive or many negative aspects of the LFL, which leaves me to do the task.
Supporters of the league have argued that the LFL could eventually lead to more successful women’s professional football leagues. If this is the case, it’s just another example of using women’s bodies and sexuality to achieve our goals. This is an insult to women because it is showing that we have no other way of achieving success and an insult to men because they are suckers for giving in so easily, just for some eye candy.
To reiterate, it would be another ploy used to show that women can only make changes by shedding some layers. And we know that that is not the case with influential women like Rosa Parks, Hillary Clinton and Oprah, all of whom have made the most important changes.
After watching several videos on their website, I could see that this isn’t their goal at all. Mitch Mortaza, founder of the league, wanted to mix the world of modeling and sports mainly for what he says is, “purely entertainment value” and to become mainstream.
The LFL
We have the same assets that men have
Women have brains and muscles just like men. Men have used these very two things to get ahead in sports. How are women supposed to be viewed as equals, if we can’t even reach our goals by using our brains and muscles like men have? By using our bodies and sexuality to get ahead, is showing that women are incapable and that the talents and assets we already have is not enough.
I’m not saying that if we take the same steps that men have taken that we’ll achieve the same results. Women will always have to work twice as hard for twice as long, but we’ve done it before and we can do it again.
Not enough protection
The skimpy outfits on these sexy girls may draw in viewers but it does not necessarily showcase the players’ talents. There will hopefully be many people who watch the girls and realize how good women can play football, but the overwhelming display of booty and breasts with every tackle and play, sends out a different message. The exposure can easily lead to a mass following of perverts than real sports viewers. Not only is the exposure unnecessary, but the women are not as physically protected as they should be. I would think that wearing a bikini while playing football isn’t the smartest thing to do. Luckily the women have the basic protective gear (shoulder pads, elbow pads, knee pads), but they are still really exposed to getting hurt. Any type of abrasion, mild or severe can be easily avoided if they are covered up more.
Lfl attire
Dangerous eye candy
Being eye candy is not the only type of attention the women will get. Obviously some men watching will hope for a nipple slip or two, or underwear tear. How are you supposed to expect respect, especially as an athlete, if your main viewers are only thinking of sex while watching you and undressing you in their heads?(which looks like it seems to be the point) This is not a Playboy photo shoot, or a club, or a high school cafeteria, this is supposed to be serious sports. And it’s definitely not that! Not to be overly dramatic, but what if some random guy decides to grab them, on the field or at an event, or even stalks one of the girls. We all heard about the Erin Andrews case. This stuff does happen people!
If one of the players were to complain about the negative attention, people would only respond ignorantly that she was “asking for it”. Danger can happen to anyone, but the women are really putting themselves out there, more so than any model would for example, because models work in a confined and safe studio.
The girls obviously working hard!
The effects on women
We have to think about how the LFL affects other women because the players themselves are women. The LFL’s goal is to become a mainstream professional women’s football league, which I and others hope will open up the doors for other leagues. It hopefully will allow females to play as little children, in high school, in college, then professional. Gayla Harrington, who is a co-owner of the LFL and interestingly also a member of the Independent Women's Football League(a real women's league) says, "It could be positive or a negative".It could be that people still don't take it seriously or it could help."
I know that when I was little I wanted to play football, and actually start my own football league! But what kind of message is it showing to girls when watching the LFL? Is it a message that says that any girl who likes football will one day get the opportunity to play? Or that you must look a certain way to play football, do it for the attention of guys, and always use your looks to be successful?
For the minor women’s professional football leagues that have surfaced throughout the years such as the WPFL, IWFL and NWFL, the women do not look anything like these LFL players. They are obviously much more muscular and wear the complete gear and attire. The LFL players on the other hand all look like models, again another example of unrealistic images of women! And if I was a professional female football player or just played football regularly, I would feel completely misrepresented by the LFL.
What a real player looks like!
Passion for the game
After watching some of the other professional women’s football teams, I realized how these women really love the game despite the little opportunities they have to succeed in it. When the Women’s Professional Football League arose in 1999, the women were only paid $100 a game! The pay has not changed much since then. These women are just as passionate as the men are about football. Meanwhile, the women of the LFL are obviously getting the most buzz but just don’t share the same passion, and it’s not fair.
This video below is from the Women’s Football Alliance.
This is a video from the Lingerie Football League.
Do you see the difference? In the second video, although the women of the LFL actually have the skills, it is not mentioned once! And I’m certainly not playing the devil’s advocate because you can easily find many more videos just like this. TV hosts, anchormen, and sports analysts all making perverted jokes about the league and their “tight end”, which the LFL website itself proudly displays in their playlists of videos!
To be fair, I found an article written by one of the players on the team.
Nicki Ghazian , LFL player responds to criticisms about her league
“The most common question I get from men after they realize I play for the LFL is “So do you guys practice in your lingerie?” While I find this amusing, as it makes apparent the laughable yet endearing qualities of the male psyche. I also find myself burdened, on a subjective level, having to break the mental mold the mass public has about the league on an individual basis. Yes – we play tackle football in our Lingerie. Yes I am a model, and some of my teammates are as well. However, the truth is that we are out there putting our bodies on the line, wearing drastically meager padding in comparison to our male counterparts in the NFL or NCAA. We have had broken bones, just in our last game I played the entirety of the game with a broken finger. Last week in the game between Dallas and Denver a player had her tooth knocked out. Many of the teams in the LFL play indoor and playing in lingerie only leaves you open to more turf burn. The truth is, we aren’t scared. We are out here putting our bodies on the line, playing a sport which in my opinion, takes the strength of a modern day Gladiator, and doing so only because we love the game and want nothing more than to prove that beautiful women can be strong and athletic.
There have been many times at practice that little girls have come by our field, and watched in admiration, and at times even started doing push ups next to us. I’m a law student, one of my teammates is a nurse, and many of my other teammates are successful business women. This is why I find it hard to believe that there has been so much feminist criticism drawn to the league, as I see it, what we are doing is a form of turning the tables around on society. It is an ingenious clockwork that founder Mitch Mortaza has come up with, he has allowed us women to manipulate our physical stereotype, using it to our advantage as an attracting tool, but allowing our skills as an athlete to awe and captivate our fans. Whether Mr. Mortaza knows it or not, I believe he is owed a ‘thank you’ by female athletes and feminists everywhere because he is enabling us to prosper on a level that has never been done before.
I have read many critical articles based on the feminist perspective, including renowned feminist Courtney Martin’s article, which inarticulately presses that “This is objectification at its most pernicious — give women an opportunity to participate in a sport that they haven’t had the chance to do for pay and publicly previously, but only let them do it if they are stereotypically pretty and willing to do it in their underwear.” While this statement on a prima facie showing may be true, it is important to delve into the issue further to asses what the league is really doing. What Ms. Martin fails to realize the congruous overlap between oppresive stereotypes and the mechanism to use it as a vehicle of empowerment. The LFL has created a symbiotic binary relationship where oppresive stereotypes have enabled women to attract and show the world their athletic prowess, and prove that two supposed opposites, beauty and strength can co-exist in one woman.”
My response to Nicki Ghazian
My response to Nicki Ghazian
I’m honestly happy I ran into this because it should be essential to always know what the other side is thinking. It’s also pleasing to hear how hard they work and to know that most are successful in their private lives. Her interpretation of the LFL can be inspiring to hear, but it still does not override the flaws of the league and the overall business aspect to it. At the end of the day, it is still a business run mainly on the beauty and sexuality of women. It’s not realistic of the real life, football loving professional female players but only a slap on the face to them.
It’s great that the league shows that beauty and strength can coincide, but why does the view on beauty have to be so narrow? These women still don’t look like most of the women I see on a daily basis, that I consider beautiful. They look like everything we are used to seeing in magazines, which we already know is not representative of most women in America. This factor often seems to go unnoticed when talking about beauty.
Ms. Ghazian needs to realize the flaws within her industry and there is nothing that any feminist needs to thank them for. And although she and her teammates have an inspiring and positive outlook on the purpose of the LFL, realistically her founder Mitch Mortaza and supporters do not share the same view but rather a chauvinistic, business oriented one.
It’s great that the league shows that beauty and strength can coincide, but why does the view on beauty have to be so narrow? These women still don’t look like most of the women I see on a daily basis, that I consider beautiful. They look like everything we are used to seeing in magazines, which we already know is not representative of most women in America. This factor often seems to go unnoticed when talking about beauty.
Ms. Ghazian needs to realize the flaws within her industry and there is nothing that any feminist needs to thank them for. And although she and her teammates have an inspiring and positive outlook on the purpose of the LFL, realistically her founder Mitch Mortaza and supporters do not share the same view but rather a chauvinistic, business oriented one.
the girls during practice
Written below is both a negative and positive comment on Nicki Ghazian’s article:
1) “What you say about empowerment, strength, and wearing less pads than your male counterparts is true. However, would the league be as popular if you were wearing regular uniforms, that other just as talented and beautiful female athletes wear in other sports? Unfortunately I don’t think so. You wear lacey underwear, make out with other team players (I’ve seen pictures), and all your advertising is based on the fact that the players are sex symbols. It’s glorified mud wrestling. The team names themselves convey the message that the game is about sexy women bashing into each other. If you want to be recognized for being beautiful and strong, don’t play for a league that only wants to make money off of your bra size.”
2) “Niki Ghazian, bravo I got goosebumps while i was reading your article.you brought up so many important issues regarding women’s broad abilities which are being deliberately ignord by a male dominated society. Mr Mortaza as you mentioned coupled with the effort of your leaguemates team acknowledging women’s strengths is a way that will help build a strong foundation for a modern society.keep doing what you are doing.”
with the best wishes for LFL
Women have fought way too hard to see changes going backwards instead of forwards. We don’t need to be told to shut up, look pretty, dress skimpy, and go to the kitchen (or field). Whether you’re female or male, the errors here should be clear to see.
PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT EVERYONE ON THIS TOPIC. I NEED TO KNOW WHAT YOU ALL THINK ABOUT THIS TOPIC!
~{Acts of inequality can easily be masked as revolutionary and unfortunately often goes blind to the victims of the injustice - Zesty Gabriel}~
