Last week I heard about National Public Radio’s new project called Friday Night Lives. It’s a series about US high-school football, the hot spot for many communities during fall season. In response to the program’s solicitation for ideas, I emailed several for consideration (see below).
What interests and disturbs me about the culture of US high-school football is how it boxes gender and sexuality. Potential benefits like teamwork are twisted by an old-boys-club mentality. Quite simply gender-exclusive traditions do not inspire young men and women to become ‘anything’ they want to be. Especially not as women literally stand on the sidelines chanting in short skirts and shaking pom-poms.
And where do gay and transgendered youth figure into this game? Friday night football is the stage that parades homecoming kings and queens, an idealized image of the hetero couple. These traditions as they stand (because they certainly can be reinvented) do not support young people’s open expression of identity. In the worse case, such rituals sabotage efforts to counter homophobia and sexism.
Over the weekend I came across coverage about Caster Semenya, the South-African world-champion runner whose sex is being investigated by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). See Alice Dreger’s essay “Where’s the Rulebook for Sex Verification?” for more on the circus. Also I found a story from last year about women’s football, which makes me wonder if the partnership between the Independent Women’s Football League (IWFL) and USA Football has yet to impact high-school athletics.
Here are the suggestions I submitted to NPR’s Friday Night Lives series:
Overall questions I would like explored:
What does the culture of high-school football express about gender and sexuality in the USA? And how do traditions of high-school football impact young people’s expression of gender and sexuality?
Some story ideas:
(1) Despite the expansion of US high-school athletics to leagues and teams for ‘girls’, American football continues to be an exception. So what happens—from tryouts to game night—when women want to play the field rather than cheer from the sidelines? When a woman does make the team, what changes: does the girl become one of the guys, or does the community’s football culture shift in a tangible way?
(2) Where in US high schools are there openly gay football players? When a gay player makes the team, does the community’s football culture change, and how?
(3) How do high-school football players respond to the possibility of having women or openly gay people as teammates? And how do community members at games respond to the possibility of teams becoming co-ed or including openly gay players?
By the way, if you want to suggest an idea to NPR about a story, check out their contact form.
Unfortunately the USA like many bible beaters will never “get it.” With their religious ceremonies and devotion to tradition. Personally there is nothing wrong with tradition, as I practice it in my rituals. But these structured esotericism beliefs only set us apart. It’s all about power,& wealth. To try and keep people “in line,” to conform; control is what it comes down to. Religion can be used to oppress and trys to hide itself in a invisibility cloak of subtle cleverness.
And yes, what if a woman makes the team? A gay? A transgender?
Then what??? Interestingly enough so it was with the African Americans, Native Americans, Gays, “The then,what’s next???”
Society is afraid of change–they have the nack to want everyone to “fit in” their conformed ways of life. That tradition and religion is the righteous way to GOD. When in reality I BELIEVE, spiritual awareness, knowledge and to Love one another as thy self. That is the bridge between The Creator & ourselves. This planet is big enough for everyone. Shakespeare wrote, “All the world’s a stage. And all the MEN & WOMEN merely players; They have their exists and their entrances…” Then let this be so–We are all human first; we all want the same for ourselves, our children and we all breathe the same air. So let us choose for ourselves if we want to be on the sidelines of life or not.
Melissa you made some good points; hopefully those who are not so opened minded come across this. And in reading, move them to think with their hearts and feel with their minds.