The book, Futbolera: A history of women and sports in latin america, presents views on the relationships of the history of women and sports in Latin America; more specifically, the focus of this blog is on the introduction section of the Futbolera. My interest in observing the popular culture of sports in Latin America led me to investigate one of the most popular and commonly played sports, football, and its influence on the sexuality, gender and social issues relating to the lives of the ordinary people growing up in latin american regions, and aspiring to become football players as their careers. Especially, decision and commitment to continue the careers of professional athletes as women can be difficult regarding their financial support system and financial gains to be reasonably sufficient for them to continue and enjoy the process of becoming ‘great players’ as professionals. The term Futbolera, according to Elsey and Nadel, can be defined as “ a deceptively straight-forward way to refer to a girl or a woman who plays football, or soccer.” The term has a history of constant neglecting and ignorance by the latin American societies; even though in today’s world, international and national athletic organizations approve their false actions of their mistreatments for women athletes in the past, the book discusses women athletes’ influence and their important contribution to the current perception on sexuality, gender, class and race in Latin America.
From the introduction section of this book, which explains the history of different limitations and adversities that women who played football faced in Brazil, Mexico, and Central America, I was able to draw similarities with those of the current situations of some professional women athletes who are desperate to succeed in the ‘bigger stage’ of sports in general. These women did and never gave up on their dreams. Even though the media and sports organizations have poorly represented these women athletes by naming them to be “aesthetic” and ‘weak’ to play football, women’s football continued to be active in capital cities such as Rio de Janeiro; because many had almost no interest in watching, cheering and supporting the women’s football throughout 1900s, less opportunities were offered to those female footballers to even think about going to play professional in the European or North American leagues. The sexual stereotype of certain activities matching specific gender definitely played a huge part in limiting women to activities such as dancing, gymnastics, volleyball, and other ‘less rough’ sports. We realize that the involvement of women at a high level of competition in sports such as football has been around historically since the early 1900s, but the exposure of them playing for the public definitely was hidden behind the shadows of the men’s competitions and male individuals.
One of the key ideas that I have earned from the introduction is to look into those individuals who inspired other women to not give up and continue to follow their dreams of becoming professional footballers, wrestlers, MMA fighters, and athletes in general. Today, because of technology, social media platforms, and the social capability of sharing one’s story quickly around the world, I am hoping to dive into exploring latin American athletes from those we call legends to those athletes who are on the process of becoming even greater; influential figures such as Pele, Messi, Marlen Esparaza, Lorena Ochoa, Jose Aldo, and many others who inspire the upcoming generations can become part of the popular culture now; what they say and how they say certain statements can become parts of the latin American culture and the representations of where they come from. Interestingly, I hope to gather more research on the relationship that deals with how athletic public figures are changing the contemporary popular culture for the younger members of the society through diverse social media platforms; the success of these influential individuals in their fields and their endless effort to hone in on their craft may give those children in latin American neighbourhoods the hope to dream big.
The class questions:
Do you recall any Latin american athletes that you were inspired by? Why? How did she or he move you?
Do you belive that sport stars, through their social medias such as facebook, instagram, twitter and tik-tok, are sharing strong ideologies and change people’s views on cultures? If yes, it would be awsome if you can provide me with some examples.
Thanks for reading.
“I made it this far, you can too.”- anonymous (Brian J)
Hi Brian,
I loved your topic! I feel very connected to this issue because, in my childhood, I dreamed about becoming a professional soccer player but faced difficulties even to play football because I am a woman. In my country, Brazil, football is very influential and present in people’s everyday life. However, this is often a male culture because people do not inspire girls to play it. Instead, they discourage girls from playing by saying women do not and cannot play football as men do. Of course, this discouragement is changing, but in my childhood, it is was very present. Yet, I was inspired to play football by notorious players such as Marta because even with no encouragement, she managed to become the best woman football player in the world. Hearing about her and seeing her on TV made me believe I could too. So I joined a local football team where I was the only girl playing. With time more girls joined. However, at some point, I was too old for that local team age and had to find a team for older people. However, those teams would not accept women (at least in my city). My dream died with that.
Still, I know today activism, especially on social media, is changing that. For instance, people, inspired by women players’ discourses on gender inequality in football, started to post about and denounce this reality on social media. As a result, people learned how women receive much less money, encouragement and training than men. Beyond speaking up on social media, Marta wears football shoes with the gender equality symbol and used colourful lipsticks in the World Cup to raise awareness about gender inequality in football. Moreover, the Instagram from the Brazilian feminine selection and other players such as Cristiane Rozeira also advocate for gender equality on social media. Some brand’s propaganda also incorporated referred to this reality. As a result, of these activisms, many people became more supportive of the Brazilian female football players’ cause. This brought real changes to female football because they started gaining the same salary as men last year and more people than ever before watched them playing in the Female World Cup in 2019. This shows female football players are becoming more valued, which inspires investment for younger generations. I think this started with sport starts speaking up whenever they could.
Oh That’s awesome Clara,
Your insightful comment on your opinion is very much appreciated! Thank you for that. Your connection on how football is perceived in Brazil, I can definitely feel that as well. I’ve also played football for a long period of time so I have also watched the Women’s World Cups and appreciate their hardwork on their craft as footballers. It is so great to see how a sport can raise awareness for gender equality, racism, and passion for the game; hopefully we can discuss about different types of activisms that may have and will impact for the better.
Cheers,