"Fag" in Highschool Land
Via alternet
Feminism is not only considering the social construction of womyn, but also of male and transgender, transexual individuals. Sexuality, power, gender are all forces we must examine. To unravel the sexism, we must not just limit our scope to grrls. We must look at what else is happening in the identity informing years.
Here's an interesting article about how "'Fag' is Turning into an Insult for Any Guy Who Doesn't Play Football."
Let's push it a little further.
What would you call a womyn who wants to play football?
Impossible.
ReplyDeleteI have seen that though..
Crush material. But maybe that's just me.
ReplyDeletetraditionally "tomboy," I guess.
ReplyDeletein general i think sporty women are a lot more acceptable than men who aren't sporty.
hell, as an unsporty girl i was pretty unacceptable...
I'd call them hot. :) But I used to be kinda sporty and may be biased.
ReplyDeleteForgot - I was kinda sporty years after high school. Plus, it was capoeira, not football.
ReplyDeleteHigh school was a way different story.
i wish i could do capoeira. i tried briefly. it's HARD on the quads (among other things!), man. it looks so cool, though...
ReplyDeleteRealistically, if a womyn tried to play football, it would raise all kinds of hell. Particularly if she tried to be a linebacker known for its aggression and weight as opposed to a running back that emphasizes quickness and agility.
ReplyDeleteIf I had to go back to highschool and a female tried to go out, she wudda been shamed out of her desire to play a sport.
She would've been called everything under the sun. Thank God we're no longer in highschool.
I'd agree with Joan and Lisa, though, totally crush-worthy. But I'm kinda sporty as well, so I know I'm biased.
There was a tv movie of the week when I was a teenager, and I believe it was with Helen Hunt, about a first-ever white female student going out for the traditionally-all-male high school football team. And although it made much of hammering home her still-a-feminine-girl-ness throughout all the harassment/discouragement she endured, it still gave me some happiness to see her portrayed as capable and the protagonist of the story, and the misogynist nay-sayers as lame-o's who were proven wrong.
ReplyDeleteI do think there is still pressure to not be "dyke"-y, just as there is pressure on men not to be "faggy." But especially it seems during adolescence, in most places.
i was just thinking of that Helen Hunt MOW!
ReplyDeleteI used to read Sweet Valley High books. (I know, I admit, those are AWFUL), but there was a storyline where a girl tried out to be quarterback and was ridiculed. Obviously, she as hot and she ended up saving the big game against the big rival because the star QB went blind after a car accident. You know, realistic.
ReplyDeleteStill inspiring though...
I think women being sporty is accepted more than men in theater for example. Now I went to an all girls high school, so my experience might be a bit different- I actually recommend it for women. I recently learned that a star football player at a local all male high school has two dads- a very out couple of gay men who support and cheer him at all his games. I wonder if fag is a term used by his teammates?
ReplyDelete