We love fangirls

A few days ago, an article published on Howler, a US magazine entirely devoted to football, got our attention. The article was about the problem of sexism and discrimination towards women, problems that historically affect football standings, Italian ones and not. Because is pointless to deny it, football has always been considered - and still is - a matter for men, with fangirls often relegated to a marginal role and never placed on the same level of male alter egos. This is the best option because actually women are usually discriminated in stadiums, there’s no other word to say it, because of their sex. 

This can happen in many ways, maybe not always perceptible for those who watch games on television. In this case, one of the most obvious cases is the very one brought under the spotlight by Howler which, even if committed to a political analysis instead of social one, based its reflections on a banner appeared in AC Omonia’s standings, a team from the Cypriot Premier Division. It’s, of course, the most blatant case, as this banner was a clear decrease of the female image as a mere sexual object. Other inquiries, though, as the one made by Daily Telegraph, underlined troubling data, not so visible to whom doesn’t attend English football’s standings. Six women in ten confessed to having been victims of sexist banters or jokes, while others - even if in smaller proportions - have been victims of bullying, harassment or barred from certain areas of the stadium.

It obvious, then, that today many women aren’t still comfortable inside of stadiums, mainly because they’re not make feel comfortable. So, we decided to pull out some Girl Power, asking an opinion to our friends at This Fan Girls, Season and Girlfans, women that love football and used to attend games in Premier League’s stadiums where, despite the technical and organizational superiority, they have the same problems of the rest of the football world. According to Jacquim Cassey though, photographer and founder of Girlfans, sexism in not a matter of organized groups of supporters. “Football is often described as being a microcosm of society, which will be made up of people who are and who are not sexist. I can only talk about my experiences and those of the supporters I have talked to for the Girlfans project, and sexism is not something they have focused on".

What seems to be the focal point of the problem is more the way women who live football games in stadiums are perceived by men, that maybe are not used to have them as a steady and aware presence among their “ranks”, but this doesn’t authorize them to have hostile or discriminatory attitudes towards women. “One in four fans that attend League games are women, according to the Premier League”, says Felicia Pennant, creator of Season magazine, “is the highest number yet, and so the number of women in stadiums has grown and is growing into a sizable minority”. And it’s obvious that the increase of women attending games can only be good for the movement, contributing to putting the “end” word to sexism in football. “The more women that are there, the more normal it is to see them there dispelling fan stereotypes. They can challenge sexism when it occurs, raise awareness about it and empower themselves and each other”.

There aren’t many data about this numbers on Italian setting because in our country there aren’t any representative groups of female supporters. And this, to be honest, should say a lot about our current situation. However, is undeniable that the matter goes beyond national borders, how clearly proved by the banner appeared in the Cypriot stand. Just to make a point, an almost identical banner has appeared in Toronto FC stand, in Canada. It’s fundamental, then, that the growth of female supporters continues constantly because, as said by Amy Drucquer, This Fan Girls’ curator, “The father-daughter fan dynamic is such a wonderful thing and if a father feels it is safe to take his little girl to a game, that can only be a positive thing. Who is going to start a sexist chant in the stands whilst they're standing next to a family? It's this organic change that happens when more women feel comfortable to go to a game that I think changes the perception of sexism in a very natural way”.

Amy also proposed a very interesting reflection about the perception of sexism in the stands, besides its actual presence. “More women in the stands will have an effect on the perception of sexism”, she said. “Perception has a degree of ambiguity about it. If there is less perceived sexism, does it mean the football stands are a less sexist place? Have any sexist attitudes really been changed or are they just kept quieter? I don't know, but I do know that more women in the stands encourages even more women to games. It makes for a more inclusive and safe feeling environment”. 

The hope is that this could actually happen and that one day all fangirls in the world will be able to follow their team with the same unaffectedness than men. This, of course, would mean a radical change in the perception of fangirls, mainly by men. The presence of women in stadiums’ stands seems to be - according to women themselves - one of the best ways to guarantee treatment equity and the end of discrimination. And women, as we all know, are right most of the times.