American Football and Gender

“Let’s leave the women folk at home, this is football, women folk don't play football. Women folk watch football, they enjoy football, we appreciate them watching, but guys, let’s leave the women folk home and let’s get to business (Put Up Your Dukes, former sports television show). This quotation exemplifies the contradicting gender discourse that is surrounding American football today. American football has been constructed with the attachment of a male stigma that when opposed is met with massive rejection and retaliation from football fans. Football has always been a man’s game where masculine athletes are perceived to be strong, intimidating, and emotionless rocks while women smile and shout emotional chants to fulfill the feminine role of cheerleaders on the sideline. However, in the past decade, the NFL has been focusing on advertising to the female market for its licensed goods by selling team and athlete merchandise for women. This topic is finally being addressed because the NFL has decided to use an amped-up marketing campaign this year with ads such as “It Doesn’t Matter” to appeal to the 79 million female fans making up 44% of its fan base. Yet, in this ad specifically, the females wearing male athletes’ football jerseys are portrayed in a masculine light when observing their postures, gestures, and attire. As a result, while the effort by the NFL to appeal to the feminine market shows an attempt to deconstruct gender stereotypes, the obvious disciplinary practices of masculinity present in the ad deter any real message about gender equality besides the fact that the NFL would gladly take money from both men and women. Ultimately, this ad only proves that strict gender identities created by the relationship between power, body, and sexuality are socially constructed and hard to change since they are so deeply embedded within society and sport sociology studies.

There is a contradicting gender discourse surrounding football in the United States. American football has long been constructed with the attachment of a male stigma that, when opposed, is met with massive rejection and retaliation from football fans as would be expected for deviation from normal behavior. Historically, football is a man’s game, where masculine athletes are perceived to be strong, intimidating, and emotionless rocks. Professional football players excel at their sports and are celebrated by an entire nation as heroes. At the same time, women are only generally only involved in the sport as cheerleaders, and they smile and root for the male athletes from their rightful place on the sidelines. However, in the past decade, there has been a discernible shift to make the game more appealing to women. Most recently, NFL released a marketing campaign targeted to the female audience and actively tried to sell team merchandise to women. The advertisement, titled “It Doesn’t Matter,” was specifically designed to appeal to the 79 million female fans that comprise 44% of the NFL’s fan base.

In this commercial, the dimly lit, smoke-filled scenes feature women engaged in various physical activities. Each female is dressed in men’s football jerseys, making the commercial itself innately masculine (NFL 2003). Women are shown in aggressive and dominant posture while walking dogs, riding skateboards and riding motorcycles (by definition masculine activities) (NFL 2003). Each scene within the commercial is set in rugged terrain, with women walking tall and acting tough (i.e., masculine) (NFL 2003). Even the only stereotypically female activity – caring for and giving affection to a baby – is done by a woman who stops to first slip on a masculine cut jacket over her clothes (NFL 2003). These actions are interplayed with other masculine activities (NFL 2003). A strong male voice overpays compliment to these women, presumably for their achievements, and lauds the women for doing what, “[they] couldn't do, what [they] wouldn't do or what [they] shouldn't do” (NFL 2003). The women are praised for doing it anyway (NFL 2003). The commercial closes with the reassurance to these women that it does not matter what anyone says about them anyway, and the voice frees them from their stereotypical roles (NFL 2003). This was done without fear of retribution from anyone, including men.

One glaring concept in the commercial is the reconstruction of women and their self-images. As Bardo expressed, advertisements often manipulate “characteristic dilemmas of the ‘contemporary woman,’ who is beset by conflicting role demands…” (143). As the voiceover explained, the women were told that they could not, would not or should not do something (NFL 2003). But in celebrating their achievements, the NFL provides women with the important emotion of “master” over their own lives, contrary to the ads appealing to men, where mastery of others is primarily the focus (Bardo 144). One woman in the commercial is performing tricks on a skateboard when skateboarding is a male-dominated sport. The woman with the baby further confirms this theory, as she is free to not only care for her child but enjoy the sport of football (NFL 2003). She does so while wearing her officially licensed NFL gear (NFL 2003). Notably absent from the commercial are men. These women are not accompanied by anyone and are not bound by the conventional roles of partnership. The only male in the commercial is the one providing the voice-over, and he is confirming that the women are free to behave as they want to.

In this advertisement, the NFL seeks not only to deconstruct gender stereotypes but the entire concept of normalization, as the theory was applied by Michel Foucault (Foucault 1990). If in line with the traditional gender roles for women in football, the commercial may have shown how women are expected to behave. This theory goes back to the absence of men in the commercial, and the way that women would be expected to treat them. What would arguably be “normal conduct” for women may have shown these women engaged in less rigorous activity. They would have been wearing light-colored clothing, and the commercial, as a whole, may have had a lighter overall feel. The voiceover may have been the voice of a woman, instead of a gruff, masculine voice. In fact, the entire commercial flies in the face of normalization (Foucault1990). It shifts away from the innately feminine and towards the masculine.

Also important to note is the overall style of the women as a whole in the commercial. As described in Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power, while the style of the traditional female figure varies, there are certain physical attributes that are poorly received by the consumer (Bartky 28). The stereotypical woman is slender and expected to look a certain way (Bartky 28). However, in this commercial, the gender roles are non-existent, as women act and look in ways that are not “traditionally” female. By way of example, the first woman shown in the commercial has short hair, where long hair is more in light with gender expectations. According to Bartky, women are also far more restricted in their movement and spatiality, with different posture and movement (29). However, the aggressive stance of these women and the general attitude is definitely contrary to the female ideal. As described in the text, women are also more reluctant to “reach, stretch and extend the body,” or risk being characterized as a “loose woman” (Bartky 29). Not only do the women here participate in rigorous physical activity, but they do so without fear of being labeled. Again, the voiceover reassures these women that it does not matter what anyone says about them anyway (NFL 2003) The biggest challenge to the ideal of women’s movement can be found in the faces of the women featured in the commercial. The text explains that women are expected to avert eye contact and generally smile more than their male counterparts (Bartky 30). The women in this commercial are boldly staring at the camera and do not break their gaze (NFL 2003). One goes so far as to blow a bubble with her chewing gum to the point of popping (NFL 2003). Her defiance in the role is clear.

Lastly, it is important to look at the perspective of the commercial and the role of the male gaze. Although the women in the commercial do not fill the traditional “exhibitionist roles” as described by Mulvey, there still appears to be a strong visual display, and somewhat erotic impact, created by the women in the commercial (1988). While the women are dressed in men’s NFL jerseys, one woman has combined the jersey with a short, schoolgirl skirt (historically the subject of male fantasy) (NFL 2003). Here the women arguably both “hold the look” and “play to male desire” (Mulvey 1988). Conversely, the underlying theme of freeing women from their gender roles, by its very nature, contradicts the objectification of women implied by the male gaze theory (Mulvey 1988). If women were placed in that role because of their participation in a traditionally heterosexual male sport, then the freedom realized by their active participation would negate women being seen as just symbols of female sexuality. This designation would be reserved for cheerleaders and not the women in the commercial.

While clearly marketing to a female demographic, the NFL commercial serves to free women from their gender roles, empowering them to be who they want to be, without apology. If this liberation from the confines of womanhood is as appealing as the marketing team would hope, the revenue generated from the sale of licensed apparel should skyrocket.

Works Cited

Bardo, Susan. 2002. "Hunger as an Ideology." Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. 6th ed. Bedford: Bedford/St. Martin's. 139-74. Print.

Bartky, Sandra Lee. 1998. “Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power.” The Politics of Women’s Bodies: Sexuality, Appearance and Behavior.. New York: Oxford UP.

Foucault, Michel. 1990. The History of Sexuality, Volume I. New York: Vintage.

Mulvey, Laura. 1988. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Feminism and Film Theory. New York: Routledge. 57-68. Print.

NFL. 2003. Women’s Apparel Collection Commercial. YouTube. Web. Accessed Oct. 32, 2013.