Va-Jay-Jays Love Football, Too.

Va-Jay-Jays Love Football, Too.

Jaclynn Hanson

It’s a Saturday night and I’m alerted to a blue light blinking on my phone signaling a new e-mail has arrived.  I quickly snag my phone and enter my passcode and as I tap enter an image of Clay Matthews in all his beefy, vein-bulging glory is the first thing I see as my home-screen appears.  I briefly pause to admire his beautiful body nearly bursting through his skin tight jersey and make my way up to his sexy chiseled jaw clenched in intensity…sorry, I got distracted.  Did I make you uncomfortable reading that?  While my talk of Clay Matthews may be pretty mild compared to some of the commentary about the females involved in the National Football League – from the sideline reporters to the cheerleaders to the NFL wives – there is never a shortage of drooling and vivid sexual descriptors on either end of the male-female spectrum.  This makes me question whether or not this is just an ever present facet of professional sports that is universal to both men and women.  If so, maybe men and women sports fans have more in common than either are willing to admit.  And furthermore, is there an audience for masculinity, femininity, sexuality, and everything in between under bold & the beautiful letters of the NFL?  I think we are moving in that direction, and we are moving quickly.  Over the course of the past few decades, women have been leaving their mark on professional sports, particularly football, in fantasy leagues, in stadiums, and in organized play nationwide leaving behind the stigma of the female fan being just the girl in the stands with the pink jersey on just as Clay Matthews is much more than just the hot bod to look at on the field.

In 1996, an avid football enthusiast & commentator Dougie Brimson once wrote, “women like football, they don’t love or worship it” (Toffoletti, Mewett Foreword).  That, Mr. Self-Proclaimed “football hooligan” is pure bullshit.  Women are natural lovers.  Women are passionate.  And women will be your most loyal fans.  It is not a new idea that women enjoy lively competition, physical interaction, and comradery, so it should come as no surprise the NFL is the favorite sport of women making up 43% of its fan base (Smith).  I believe that makes you sir, a hooligan indeed. 

Most of the leading female NFL correspondents began as that girl passionate about her team going back and forth with her male counterparts over the intricacies last Sunday’s game.  These women face added scrutiny over not only their knowledge or coverage of the game but also in what they choose to wear any given day.  These same women who report the game often times have a vested interest in the sport that goes far beyond flirting with the quarterback or using the sidelines as a fashion runway.  Popular sports reporter Erin Andrews recounts, “So I’m having a hot dog on the sideline, and people are taking photos and submitting them to sports blogs.  And it’s like ‘how does she look eating a hot dog’?  It wasn’t about my reporting, it was, ‘What is she wearing, who is she dating?” (Female).  Many of the women reporting for the NFL share similar stories & experiences, yet almost every single one of them also touts an impressive resume not only in their academic careers but also in their professional experience within the realm of sports.   

            In the past ten years, the NFL has seen an influx in women emerging on the sidelines and beyond.  Women own and co-own teams.  Women maintain executive front office roles.  One woman, Shannon Eastin, officiates for the NFL.  Even if they are there in small numbers, they are there doing the work and to the shock of many men – doing it well.  We are moving past the days of cameras panning to the immaculately dressed, aloof wife of the quarterback sitting in her private suite above the stadium to the camera being placed directly on the woman grilling a receiver on a dropped pass in a bulky parka during a Green Bay blizzard.  While these women may have to do double the work to prove their worth within the sport, they are still there maneuvering through every aspect of the game in tandem with men and bringing football to its fans of both genders.  Women know the details, and love the game so much some are able to make their living within it. 

Women are also participating outside the viewer, fan and professional realms of football and into the participatory side as well.  In his article arguing for the inauguration of women’s collegiate teams, Rodney Smith discusses how the addition of women’s collegiate football teams would not only help women’s equity in the sport, but it would also be a step towards equality in collegiate sports for men and women alike when faced with what he refers to as the “Title IX Conundrum” of funding for student-athletes across the board.  Smith states, “Adding sports like badminton and synchronized swimming, rather than women’s football, may compound prevalent stereotypes about women athletes and deprive women athletes of the opportunity to participate in a popular sport that is more likely to attract spectators than are sports that are less well known (Smith).  He also goes on to argue that women’s football has the capacity to render much more interest therefore having the ability to contribute “significant revenue than other proposed women’s sports” (Smith).  Let’s be real.  Is anyone, male or female, really that interested in synchronized swimming on a collegiate level?  Wouldn’t we all better suited for sought after collegiate funding to go towards a sport both men and women alike are interested in?  The idea of women’s collegiate football is not as radical as it may seem.  The NFL and other organizations have begun sponsoring clinics and camps for women when they saw a rise in female interest (Clark 170) and more importantly women have been suiting up to play football by joining teams at local high schools, colleges, semi-pro leagues, and women’s leagues nationwide.  Women have a love for the game and know it so well they are making moves on almost every level of the game. 

Although the inclusion of women in the sport of football can be seen as a relatively unifying experience, the rise in female fandom within the NFL has generated somewhat of a division between the woman who loves to shop and host football parties and the woman who really loves the game itself.  In 2010, the NFL created a specific site for women, nfl.com/women said to feature “robust content and a deeper look into the campaign” (NFL).  When directed to this site, all I could find was where a woman can go to get a bikini in her team’s logo and colors.  It is strictly a shopping website.  In 2011, the NFL announced their “gameday party” campaign where women buy a sandwich press or collaborate on recipes and tips for a “homegating” experience.  Lindsey Mean discusses the division of female fans saying, “some women fans are ‘turned off’ by sites or texts that trivialize the seriousness and traditional forms of their sport fandom by failing to offer them the sorts of content they expect as sports fans” (Toffoletti, Mewett 171).  While I’m not trying to devalue these women as they do, indeed, contribute to the popularity of the NFL and the sport, I think there’s much more to female fandom than social gatherings and shopping sprees. Many women who have a real love for the sport are lounging in sweat pants drinking beer and actively engaging in their Sunday afternoon routine of back-to-back game coverage.  Women don’t need to wear revealing team apparel and serve spinach dip to show their love for football.   

Now, back to the e-mail I was going to check my lurid fantasies of Clay Matthews without his shirt on distracted me from my main intention when picking up my phone.  As I click on my e-mail, I am giddy to see it’s a reminder to re-join my Fantasy Football league where once again I can trash talk my older brother and his friends on our league’s message board and shock them all with bold pick-ups and drops every week.  I may not know everything about football, but I know enough to beat my brother last year and that is all that matters going into my second season.  Because last year was my first year doing fantasy football, I felt as if I was in a unique position as the only girl in our league of twelve teams to choose a really strong name.  After many hours of research and debate, I chose Va-Jay-Jay Cutler originally out of its pure comedic value.  Now, looking at it from a different frame I’m slightly offended that slang for my lady parts is paired with a crappy quarterback so I’ve relented to keep it for now only this year I will be dropping Cutler from the title.  The way I see it, va-jay-jays should be paired with terms of power and affirmation because va-jay-jays love football and the more va-jay-jays out there the better.  Did I make you uncomfortable again with the use of va-jay-jay talk mixed in with football?  I hope so, Va-jay-jay football!

Works Cited

Clark, John S., Artemisia Apostolopoulou, and James M. Gladden. "Real Women Watch Football: Gender Differences in the Consumption of the NFL Super Bowl Broadcast." Journal of Promotion Management 15.1-2 (2009): 165-83. EBSCO. Web. 24 July 2014.

"Female Sports Reporters." The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Aug. 2013. Web. 24 July 2014.

"NFL Announces New Women’s Apparel and Gameday Party Campaign." NFL Communications. NFL Enterprises, 15 Sept. 2011. Web. 24 July 2014.

Smith, Rodney K. "Solving the Title IX Conundrum With Women's Football." South Texas Law Review 38 (1997): 1057-080. EBSCO. Web. 24 July 2014.

Toffoletti, Kim, and Peter Mewett. Sport and Its Female Fans. New York: Routledge, 2012. University of Iowa Libraries. 2012. Web. 24 July 2014.

Toddler Nightmare

By: Morgan Douglas

TLC’s “Toddlers and Tiaras” is a reality TV show about child beauty pageants. The show follows crazy moms and their contestant daughters through their pageant life. Some of the girls start competing at the young age of three. What happened to having a childhood of playing outside and hanging out with your neighbor friends? Instead these little girls are being put in little outfits, caked on with makeup, wearing hair extensions, and some even have to put in fake teeth to hide their gaps. These women are teaching their kids to be superficial at a young age while most of society is trying to make it the opposite. Little girls are being pushed to grow up faster by being exposed to a world where beauty is the only thing that matters.  The show Toddlers and Tiaras sexualize and promotes superficialism in girls at a young age.

          “The costumes, the make up, and the “primping” process teach these girls that their looks are what matters. Rather than raising strong, confident girls who want to achieve the best in life, these parents and the hosts of the competitions provide a platform on which little girls are dressed up as Barbie dolls and paraded around, trying to achieve some form of perfection that shouldn’t exist in little girls” (HubPages).  Toddlers and Tiaras has faced controversy ever since it aired in 2009.

Being judged from such a young age can do damage to these little girls self esteem. This kind of exposure to the pageant and beauty world creates unhealthy habits. The little girls are being expected to perform perfectly which can create stress on a child who shouldn’t have anything to be stressed about at such a young age. “Brooke Breedwell, a former child pageant star, told ABC’s Good Morning America that the pageants left her with stress, anxiety and the feeling that she needed to be perfect, all the time. Breedwell was also forced to go to a tanning bed three times a week for 20 minutes, during her pageant career” (HubPages). These pageants also put the idea in these girls heads that they need to be thin and have the perfect “Barbie” body. This can create eating disorders, and emotional and mental harm.

            Many people look at the moms in disgust because they cant believe they are doing this to their kids. Others believe that some of the things they are doing could be considered child abuse. These little girls are being forced by their moms to tan and wax their eyebrows. Spray tans and tanning in tanning beds is harmful to your skin and can even give you skin cancer. Why would these moms expose their daughters to something that is harmful and life threatening? One of the girls on the show was forced by her mom to get her eyebrows waxed. As her daughter screamed and trembled, the mother confided to the camera that her kid was scared because once a salon worker put on wax that was too hot, and tore off her skin. When the horrifying scene was over, the girl was shaking in pain and crying, as her mom said, "There! Doesn't that look pretty?" (Business Insider). And it doesn’t stop there; it actually gets worse. In one case the mom actually injects Botox into the little girl before pageants. Are these moms real life? Giving a child Botox is outrageous. Not only is that exposing a kid to the word of plastic surgery, but also that seems completely unsafe for someone so young.

            Not only do they perform every beauty ritual of a pop star to these girls but they also dress them in provocative clothing. Every day girls are being sexualized at a younger and younger age. It’s scary to imagine how they are growing to grow up being exposed to proactive clothes at such a young age.  Soon girls are going to try showing up to middle school in cheeky undies and crop tops. One of the girls on the show was only three years old when her mom had her go on stage dressed as Julia Roberts character from Pretty Woman, who was a prostitute. The outfit was a little tank top connected to a skirt by a silver hoop. Completed with knee high boots and blonde wig. Another girl was dressed as Dolly Parton. The costume even included fake boobs and a fake butt.

            Maybe some of this is coming from the moms shattered dreams of being Miss America but that is no excuse to put your daughters in the scary world of pageants.  These young girls are being taught that what is on the outside is what matters. Instead of having normal childhoods where you don’t care to wear makeup until your in middle or high school, they are having their faces caked with makeup by age 3. They are having things done to their bodies that most woman don’t do until they are in their 50s or not ever. This is creating harm to the girls self esteem, bodies, and thought process. They are going to grow up believing that beauty is everything. If girls are getting botox at 6, whats next?

The Georgetown Indy

Sources

Admin. , Indy . "Sexualization of Our Youth: Toddlers & Tiaras." The Georgetown Indy. Word Press, 21 Mar. 2012. Web. 1 Aug. 2014. <http://thegeorgetownindy.com/?p=535>. (picture)

Lindsey, Claire. "The Ugly Truth of Child Beauty Pageants." HubPages. HubPages Inc. , n.d. Web. 1 Aug. 2014. <http://clairelindsey.hubpages.com/hub/The-Ugly-Truth-of-Child-Beauty-Pageants>.

Week, The. "The Five Biggest Controversies To Hit 'Toddlers And Tiaras'." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 17 Sept. 2012. Web. 1 Aug. 2014. <http://www.businessinsider.com/toddlers-and-tiaras-controversies-2012-9>.

"Same Love"

In a musical genre that is often labeled as negative, misogynist, and homophobic, rap/hip-hop artists Macklemore and Ryan Lewis went against all of the stereotypes associated with their genre on the biggest stage possible. To many observers, 2014 will be remembered as the year that the Grammy’s went gay. The duo performed their song “Same Love” at the Grammy’s along with Madonna, Queen Latifah, and Mary Lambert while 34 couples, gay and straight, wed each other on stage. The performance made a huge splash in the United States as they brought the same sex marriage issue into our living rooms. The concert was much larger than just a catchy song; it was symbolic of the growing support for same sex marriage in pop culture.

Rap and hip-hop have always had a tumultuous relationship with the homosexual community for obvious reasons. Many of the biggest names in rap have been very open about their dislike for gays. Several examples include the time when 50 Cent said in a 2004 interview with Vibe Magazine, “I ain’t into f*ggots, I don’t like gay people around me, because I’m not comfortable with what their thoughts are.” Another rapper who is well known for his use of homophobic slurs and the uproar he has caused among homosexual organizations is Eminem. In his song “Criminal” from his 2000 album The Marshall Mathers LP, he raps, “My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge/That’ll stab you in the head whether you’re a fag or les. Or the homosex, hermpah, or a trans-a-vest/Pants or dress, hate fags? The answer’s ‘yes’!”. Obviously Slim Shady’s lyrics had not been taken well by GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) and they chose to protest outside the Staples Center at the Grammy’s that year when he performed alongside the openly gay Elton John. Although the two artists embraced after they were finished performing, it can hardly be considered a monumental act that promoted equality among homo and heterosexuals. Rapper Erik Sermon also chose to weigh in on homosexuality in a 2012 interview with Vlad TV. “Being a rapper and being homosexual don’t mix…It’s the same when you talk about sports players too. We don’t know if that’s going to ever happen because that’s like a curse to be in sports and to be gay and be in hip-hop and be gay.” This is a perfect example of just how much has changed regarding gays coming out in the mainstream. An NBA player (Jason Collins), an NFL player (Michael Sam), and an R&B artist (Frank Ocean), have all come out within the last two years. Erik Sermon surely did not see that coming. However, not all rappers are anti-gay. Jay-Z, Kanye West, Asher Roth, Nicki Minaj, Lil B, A$AP Rocky, and others have all voiced their support for same sex love and marriage.

Although the song “Same Love” is not the first song in hip-hop to speak about gay struggle, it is the first to come from such a popular artist on such a large stage. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ended up taking home four Grammy’s in the rap category for best performance, best song (Thrift Shop), best album (The Heist), and best new artist in any genre. In “Same Love” Macklemore addresses his own experiences as a child when he thought he was gay based on certain stereotypes he had associated with homosexuals like being good at drawing and keeping his room straight. I can certainly relate to him in the aspect that since I was little there were always certain things you knew not to do or you would be called gay such as dance, cheerleading, or even being too good at singing. Not only were the lyrics to the song very upfront about how America needs to come to accept people for who they are, but also the performance was equally upfront while it displayed numerous homosexual marriages for mainstream America to view first hand. Ever since I can remember gay marriage has been a hotly debated topic in my lifetime. Religion is obviously a major factor that plays into it, but I think with the mainstream media being so accepting towards homosexuals, people will begin to feel less and less scared to come out and really be themselves. President Obama has also made it publicly known that he is in favor of gay marriage. There are finally some athletes and singers coming out of the closet and there are only bound to be more that follow. If history is any indicator, the more and more people are exposed to something the less shocking it becomes over time. Currently there are 19 states that allow same sex marriage and 31 states that have banned it. However, if the current trend continues it will not take long for the rest of the U.S. to allow same sex marriages.

 

            Homophobia is still very prevalent not only in the world of hip-hop and rap but also throughout Middle America. With new and upcoming generations being educated and exposed to same sex marriage on a mainstream level in pop culture as well as older generations passing, this homophobia can only decrease. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ performance symbolized the growing acceptance of homosexuals and the Marriage Equality Act. In “Same Love” Macklemore raps, “America the brave still fears what we don’t know.” With President Obama and other large names making a statement in favor of same sex marriage hopefully people will start to be comfortable in their own skin and be more accepting and understanding of others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka9ybs5L-bY

Brian Herther

Works Cited

Brown, Ryan. "Macklemore's Humblebrag Shows His "real" Quality Is Just for Show."

Spartan Daily. PricewaterhouseCoopers, 30 Jan. 2014. Web. 30 July 2014.

Kristoff, Katie. "'We Laughed, We Cried, We Yawned' Watching the Grammys." Flyer

News. Flyer News, 30 Jan. 2014. Web. 30 July 2014.

Yuscavage, Chris. "10 Rappers Who Have Gotten Into Trouble For Making Homophobic

Statements." Vibe. Vibe, 9 Jan. 2013. Web. 31 July 2014.

Gym Time

Elise Dilger

Tips and Tricks for navigating The University of Iowa Rec Center (as observed by me):

1. The weightlifting on the first floor is SCARY and filled with college aged men lifting weights (only about half actually know what they are doing).  Do not enter unless you are a college age man who knows how to lift weights.
2. The many fitness classes offered are for college age women and old people ONLY.  If you are a college age man and walk into one of those classes you will get weird looks.  I promise.
3. You do not go swimming in the lap pool unless you are in proper gear.  Proper gear being: swim cap. goggles, and one piece bathing suit if you are a girl, swim trunks if you are a boy.  DO NOT DARE WEARING A BIKINI. 

While some of these things seem like ridiculous things to be concerned about when going 

to the gym it is something I observe every time I go to the rec center.  Right down to seeing girls 

laugh when they see a male college student participating in a fitness class.  Many people come to 

the gym and immediately feel insecure about themselves when they should feel good about 

themselves because they are working to better themselves.  Why do people feel this way?  Gym 

culture has been a large factor in the negative body issues America has today.  

To clarify my definition of “Gym Culture” is that every gym has rules and etiquette.  

Some rules are as simple as not to block the aisles with bags, coats, etc or as unspoken as it is 

rude to take showers over 10 minutes long.  There is also the idea gym culture creates that in 

order to go to the gym you need to look like you go to the gym which falls into the definition of 

gym culture.  Thomas Johansson sums it up nicely saying: “When entering into this world, you 

therefore also become a part of a lifestyle, where certain attitudes, bodies and styles are valued 

higher than others.”

One part of gym culture I have a love hate relationship with is fitness classes.  On one 

hand I enjoy the motivating environment of working out with the same people every week and 

the motivation the instructors give you to finish the work out.  Many people, and myself, lose 

motivation during their workouts after about 20-30 minutes.  Being in that space for an hour and

being held accountable (psychologically because in reality you can leave in the middle of a 

fitness class if you wanted to) for staying that whole hour is very beneficial for the fitness class 

goers.  

While it is a great feeling being done after a hard workout.  That “runners high” that 

gives you an hour of energy and makes you feel great is one of the best feelings in the world.  I 

often have the “runners high” after leaving fitness classes, but that “runners high” is often 

overpowered by the feeling of that I am not good enough.  Instead of focusing completely on the 

workout for that hour I find myself looking around the room and wondering why my legs are not 

as toned as that woman in the blue shorts, or how can I get my stomach to be as flat as the girl in 

the Linn-Mar High School t-shirt.  I know I am not alone with walking away looking at my body 

and thinking it could be better.  Fitness classes are one way in which gym culture has a negative 

impact on body image.

Then there are people many call the “gym rats.”  These people look like they were born 

and raised in a gym.  They look like they should be on the cover of a magazine.  These people 

are part of the reason many non gym rats avoid the gym in general.  Non gym rats believe gym 

rats are judging them which gives them a poor body image.  This is exemplified perfectly in the 

form of a Facebook post a “friend” posted in early June.  She stated: “So, I started going to the 

gym again. For those of you that know me, I have a list of medical problems that makes the gym 

not my friend (aka, I end up fainting). But, it's a good way for me to burn off some steam. 

However, in the two days I've gone, I've realized what a horrible and judgmental place the rec 

center is. Yes, when I work out, I look like a dying whale flailing to shore, and I openly 

acknowledge that. But I'm there, and I'm trying, and it's not your place to judge me or to give me 

a look that I don't belong there. No, I don't look like you, and I don't look like a runway model 

glacially trotting across the treadmill wearing next to nothing to impress the douchebag grunting 

as he lifts weights and tries to impress you. But I'm trying to do something I haven't been able to 

do in a long time, and that means way more than you know, and way more than Barbie and Ken 

trying to out beautify each other. So, please save your judgement for someone else.”

Immediately after reading this I couldn’t help but think about how the only reason she 

believes people are judging her for not looking like Barbie or Ken is because that is what Gym 

Culture one sees on television taught her to believe.  The reality is that no one was probably 

judging her.  She was just looking around the gym and seeing people who do not have her exact 

body shape and jumped to the conclusion she was being judged.  

One way the media can help change this gym culture standard of looking like you belong 

on the cover of a magazine could be to start having less fit characters seen more at the gym.  

These characters do not need to have to plot focus around them wanting to lose weight either.  

The whole purpose of the gym visit could just be to stay healthy.  This gym culture that has 

become a reality because of the believed stereotypes created around it has contributed to the 

negative body image issue many people face today.  Now people are feeling discouraged to even 

set foot in the gym out of fear of being judged.  This culture stereotype needs to change in order 

to increase a positive body image and keep people coming to the gym to stay healthy! 

Hahm, M., & Cohane, Q. (2013, March 1). Some find gym culture perpetuates body image stereotypes. . Retrieved July 22, 2014, from http://bowdoinorient.com/article/8053

Journal of Sport and Social Issues May 2001 vol. 25 no. 2 158-179

Johansson, T. (n.d.). Gendered spaces: The gym culture and the construction of gender. . Retrieved July 22, 2014, from http://archive.today/X947M#selection-19.7-19.16