Our society lays many restrictions. Any one particular individual defying a few societal constraints is often shunned. Our mindset is normalised to the traditional gender roles set up by society. It is disturbing, on so many levels. Patriarchy is ruthless to women; it has confined us in every way possible. It is hard to remonstrate against patriarchy everyday.
However, it is not just the female population that suffers from the extremely contorted patriarchal setting. Males suffer too. If only people were more cognizant of how much it has crippled humans, would they appreciate what feminism is trying to do. Feminism isn’t just for women. Feminism is for anyone who is adversely affected by the patriarchal society, which let’s face it, is pretty much everyone.
I am a member of a football (association) group on facebook. I have been so since 2011, possibly. Since my initial days in the group, there has been an increment in the female fans but despite that, it essentially continues to be a male dominated group. I have nothing against it. It is obvious that boys and men are much more inclined towards football. I think it all narrows down to personal preference. I cannot help but sometimes think of an alternate reality – What if we weren’t smeared with sexism and gender bias all around us? Would we still have lesser females interested in football as we have today?
That anyway, is not what has been on my mind.
Coming back to the group, there was a post recently made. A picture of a really attractive and beautiful woman, wearing an AC Milan jersey. The caption suggested that she was the team physiotherapist. It didn’t end there. It further suggests how the boy (who posted the picture) had finally understood why players agreed to join the club in the first place. Many likes, many comments. One disturbing notion: Sexism.
He and the others probably do not realise that the said caption is highly sexist and degrading to their own sex. Or maybe they do realise and anyway endorse the idea. I don’t know which is worse.
What his caption implied was that men are willing to do anything so long as they have an attractive woman as the incentive. It betrays the commitment and the zeal and the passion that footballers have for the beautiful sport. It paints them in a very tainted picture. It tries to assert how men are only sexual beings, who get blinded to everything else when being confronted with their sexual urges. Isn’t it wrong? Isn’t it unhealthy?
To their defense, they may come up with the bland excuse of it being a joke. What they don’t comprehend is the deep-rooted sexism associated with this joke. One simply cannot extenuate everything in the name of a joke. People need to understand that this idea of men being driven by lust purely is a very huge negative that is a huge part of popular culture. Instead of furthering it by making a joke out of it, maybe people should do something to permanently remove the existence of this idea (also, the other disturbing sexist ideas).
The thing is, it is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it is insinuated that the woman earned her position as the physiotherapist in a reputed club only due to her looks. SEXIST. On the other, it insinuates that the footballers get employed to the club only because they want to be around the hot woman. SEXIST. I cannot fathom how anyone could find the joke in that.
I don’t know? Maybe, just maybe the beautiful woman bagged the job because of her merit and the footballers signed for the club because of the opportunity and the impact that it would have on their skills but most importantly because they love to play? Hmm? Yeah.
Optimistic Verbiage. 