I see no connection between football and violence here - but the inability
to deal with losing and not winning and the inability to control - many
men go to watch, enjoy and experience the ups and downs of their teams -
why do they not beat women up ? This is a wider gender issue. I'd be
equally interested in how feminism in the nineties - the laddish,
independent, etc female - deals with the disabled man, who to them may
appear to be vulnerable etc and have female qualities, when the things
that matter to them don't go to plan ? A kind of reversal of the film 'in
the company of men' - psychological violence here rather than physical.
Going back to football
etc, some men will be macho - others won't.In the same way, why do some
disabled people experience more prejudice
than others - you have to take into account more factors than a+b=c - such
simplistic causal relations was what allowed disciplines to individualise
disability issues for a long time.
Glenn.
On Mon, 8 Feb 1999 [log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> Gill Radford presented a paper at last years BSA on this topic. I think
> it was called something like "Praying for a draw". She interviewed
> women at a local refuge who described how, on a Saturday night after
> football, their partners would regularly beat them. They were violent
> if their team lost and got drunk if their team won, either way resulted
> in a beating. For the women the best result was a draw. The research
> took place in Middlesboro towards the end of the season as the local
> team were struggling to avoid relegation (which they didn't), a factor
> which Radford argues added to the tension. Can't remember the full
> details of the paper, but she clearly showed how football can cause
> violence against women.
>
> Nick
>
> I would also be interested to learn how football encourages violence
> against women and children. I have no experience of American football
> but UK football is often characterised by feminist writers in a
> similar way; however, I have no direct evidence of this myself. My
> club side, Chelsea, is well known for its violent following, but this
> is usually lads fighting each other; I have never seen violence
> perpetrated against women and children. Do you mean that football
> encourages men commit physical assaults on women and children
> outside of football? This is highly unlikely. Have any of these
> feminists who criticise 'macho' working class male culture ever been
> to a football match? I doubt it! Let's be clear, maleviolence is a
> problem, but it has very little to do with football. If there is
> violence at football (a problem in the UK) or if some men who attend
> football are also violent outside of football, this is more likely to
> reflect broader social values and relations. I have yet to see any of
> this' well documented' evidence of football being the cause.
> Nick Watson
> Dept Nursing Studies
> University of Edinburgh
> Adam Ferguson Building
> 40 George Square
> Edinburgh
> EH8 9LL
>
> Tel: 0131 650 3895
> Fax: 0131 650 3891
>
>
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