LFL Chairman MItch Morka has admitted to choosing image over athleticism.
Lingerie football is made strictly for the purpose of attracting a male audience. There is no appreciation in the sporting, the appreciation is for watching woman wear tight clothing and jump around, so there cleavage jumps around with them. Still for some reason, there is much debate on weather this sport should be deemed sexist or not. Names such as “San Diego Seduction” and “LA temptation” favor the male gaze. More so, Lingerie football players numbers, unlike male football players whos are listed on the back of their jerseys, are listed on the buttocks of their bottom piece of lingerie. And even more startling is the lack of payment that they get for playing in the LFL in general. Not only are they not getting paid but according to An Inside Look At What It Takes To Play In The Lingerie Football League “Under the current structure, the ladies actually have to pay a fee to participate in the league.” (Trinidad, 2017) These issues are negative towards the image of woman in society in terms of unequal pay and showing them in only a sexual fashion. It is quite obvious despite the views of some that this sport objectifies and sexualizes womens sports for profit. Still one area that is even neglected to be seen about this misogynistic sport is how negatively it portrays body image for the female community and even promotes violence against women.
Foremost, in a sport such as football, size certainly matters and those who are on the line blocking for the quarterback usually have some girth and increased size to them. But in the LFL every participant is skinny and almost perfectly fit. In the national football league, bigger men make great use of themselves on the offensive or defensive line. This limits bigger or “fat” woman from playing the sport where they could even excel, just as fat men do. My point is that certain body types are already neglected for woman in common areas such as fashion and modeling. Now it is time people see, it is extremely present in athletics as well, which the LFL exemplifies vividly. More so, young woman watch events like this and feel like something is wrong if there body doesn’t look like the girls out there playing LFL do. With more diversity of body type in a sport such as that, there would be more satisfaction with a girls own body image and less satisfaction with looking like a perfect model; the way some of these LFL players simulate. Woman also get cut from the LFL for being to “fat”. This doesn't only discriminate against bigger woman because of their looks but it gives no regard to their athletic talents.
LFL Chairman MItch Morka has admitted to choosing image over athleticism. Although it is not a surprising statement considering the previous information, it shows that this is less of a sport than a display for woman to sport their goods.
Violence is certainly promoted towards woman in a sport that gets ratings off of violence amongst the woman participating. Watching woman tackle and harm and practically beat each other softens the harm that can come from men taking similar action. “The LFL has drained the bank accounts of former players in the US by not providing adequate compensation for serious injuries.” (Liszewski, 2013). This sentence would further initiate that point as major injuries do come about from this game. This sport can act as showing women as aggressors, which can only inflate the violence that can come their way.
LIngerie football is an issue for woman in terms of body image, the microaggressions around being fat and seeing violence around a group that already struggles with gendered violence. We deserve better for our girls and there are actual sports where athleticism is more important than body image. Lingerie football is not one of them!
References
Liszewski Melinda. (November 20th, 2013) LIngerie Football: an open response to an open letter. Retrieved from URL. http://www.collectiveshout.org/lingerie_football_an_open_response_to_an_open_letter
Trinidad, TK (November 2nd, 2017) A look Inside What It Takes To Play In The LIngerie Football League. Retrieved from URL http://uproxx.com/sports/lingerie-football-league-lfl-tryouts-inside-story/
(February 18th, 2013) Stil Sexist: Why were not falling for LIngerie Football’s rebrand. Retrieved from URL http://www.collectiveshout.org/still_sexist_why_we_re_not_falling_for_lingerie_football_s_rebrand
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