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Sexism is still rife among football players

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In light of the recent sordid allegations involving Wayne Rooney, Journalist Beatrix Campbell writes about sexism in the football industry and how  it seems that footballers’ misogyny is something that is readily accepted. There seems to be only  a sense of resignation when it comes to reports about how footballers sexually exploit women, go to lap dancing clubs, buy sex or “harvest” local girls to line them up for shagging parties,  like it still somehow doesn’t count as sexism.

However Campbell argues that this attitude can change, if the will is there. Racism, something previously considered embedded and sanctioned in football, is now something that the football’s governing bodies have been forced to confront. Now, clubs, players and fans all know what racism is, what it does and why it won’t be tolerated.

However, sexism – an equivalently embedded culture of contempt –  seems to attract little interest and  little comprehension. Clubs do not, it seems, include sexism, sexual exploitation and sexual betrayal in the portfolio of their duty to care. They certainly don’t see it as part of their duty of care to the game itself. It is as if blokes cannot be blamed for blokey bad behaviour.

Why does anti-sexism carry no commitment or confidence in football?

More on this article from the Guardian.

  1. I wonder if it’s in part because in dominant male heterosexual culture, sexism is intrinsically linked to constructions of masculinity – and football is the last bastion of masculinity. I guess we can hope that women footballers start to change some of these attitudes, particularly since the women’s team is set to do better than the men’s in the World Cup!!

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