The claim that football CAUSES violence against women would, of course,
be simplistic. Even the claim that it directly/intentionally encourages
violence against women per se would be difficult to support.
However, it seems to me that it is plausible to claim that U.S.football
is one among a number of male-dominated practices in which the values
and language of aggression, physical and territorial combat, and so on
are valorized. Together, such practices create a network of values and
behaviours that DO contribute to violence against women, gays, disabled
persons, and children.
James McBride makes just this argument in War, Battering and Other
Sports: The Gulf Between American Men and Women.
Football is a territorial game...war-like in its structure. The
"ability" in such games is often urged on through misogynist
epithets...e.g., "You throw like a girl" and "My grandmother could
through better than that." At the other extreme, it is well known that
the language military basic training is often explicitly misogynist,
racist and ableist. I don't think these linkages are either a "stretch"
or "coincidental."
Regards,
Joan
*****************************
Joan Mason-Grant, Ph.D.
Lecturer
King's College
266 Epworth Av
London, Ontario N6A 2M3
Phone: 519-433-3491 ext. 350
Fax: 519-433-0353
email: [log in to unmask]
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