With the Women’s World Cup final over a week behind us, it might seems like the US Women’s victory is old news. I, however, am still basking in the afterglow of the event, which I watched on television, like millions of others. It was my first time watching the Women’s World Cup, despite having watched the Men’s tournament several times in the past. I can’t rightly say why I never watched the Women’s World Cup before—it seems like I was never aware of it, never knew where to see it or when it was on. This year, thanks to a deal with Fox, the Women’s World Cup was more accessible, even if coverage was not ideal (many games were relegated to Fox Sports 1, a non-standard cable channel).
The level of athleticism that the athletes of the World Cup brought to the field was exciting; the games were dynamic and fast-paced; and some of the goals were mouth-droppingly amazing. Do I gush? Good, I feel gushy. It was inspiring to watch these incredible, athletic women show off their talents—and to finally see them get recognition in the media. Viewership of the finale exceeded the viewership of any televised soccer event in the U.S.—22.86 million people were tuned into the game by the end—and that fact alone has brought more attention to the event and the athletes. Since returning to the US, the team has appeared at a rally in LA, they were honored with a ticker tape parade in New York City, and soon each player as well as coach Jill Ellis will feature on their own cover of Sports Illustrated.
The broadcasting of the games and the greater awareness of the event also made it possible to learn more about the team. For example, I had no idea that US goalie Hope Solo is considered by many to be the world’s best goalie (male or female) and forward Abby Wambach holds the world record for number of goals scored in international competition (by a male or female athlete). This World Cup added another factoid to the growing list: Carli Lloyd’s jaw-dropping hat-trick in the finale was the first hat-trick in a World Cup match since Geoff Hurst did it in the men’s final in 1966. And her mid-field goal was no accident, either, I learned. It was the result of hard work and incessant, inspiring practice. It has been inspiring to read these statistics and facts and know: These are women—talented, dedicated, athletic, powerful women.
Further, it was exciting to learn that the Women’s World Cup featured 18 out players and coaches—as compared to no out male soccer players at last year’s Men’s World Cup. The US representation alone has 3 out members: Abby Wambach, Megan Rapinoe, and coach Jill Ellis. Abby Wambach’s post-finale kiss (with her wife Sarah Huffman) went viral on social media, leading to a somewhat chuckle-inducing spade of articles entitled, “Abby Wambach kisses wife after World cup win” (like this one). It seems a bit silly that a single kiss can cause such a reaction, nevertheless it was a heart-warming moment that seemed an index of the many changes we have experienced in gay rights and visibility in the last fifteen years.
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The USWNT win of the Women’s World Cup is a start—an awesome start—to a renewed conversation about women in sports, and a much needed one. Just a week after the win, Serena Williams won the women’s division of Wimbledon, only to be body shamed for her (amazing, beautiful, powerful, stunning) athletic physique. While the visibility of queer women in soccer is wonderful and inspiring, we still have to wrestle with the fact that many athletic women are denigrated for appearing “mannish” and face homophobic attacks on their sexuality (whether real or suspected) by fans and the media. A number of transphobic comments and attacks have surfaced online recently about Caitlyn Jenner’s (formerly Bruce Jenner) being named the recipient of the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at the ESPY awards. (Fittingly, Abby Wambach presented the award to Jenner last night at the awards gala, where the USWNT was also honored with the award “Best Team.”)
We need a national discussion of women in sports—but we also need more than just lip service. The ticker tape parade in NYC for the women’s team was a nice first step, and the media attention to our brilliant USWNT and Serena Williams is well-deserved, but we can’t stop there. Newspapers, media outlets, sports channels/networks, and the public at large need to stop ignoring women’s sports, need to stop putting them in second place as less important, exciting, or worthwhile than men’s sports. ESPN, for example, has refused (thus far) to consider airing roller derby bouts. And yet, with so many ESPN channels, it seems unlikely that they “don’t have the airtime.” After all, they seems to have airtime for a variety of other niche sporting events, like pro darts, pro bowling, the World Series of Poker (is poker really a sport?)…
When I was a kid, the only sports I was interested in watching were competitive ballroom dance, gymnastics, and figure skating. I loved the style and grace of the performances, the technical ability paired with the aesthetics. I also knew, from very early on, that many people did not consider these sports “real” somehow; that they were girly or feminine was a given. That they were inferior to baseball, soccer, basketball, football, or hockey because they were “girly” was somehow also clear to me—and I despite that attitude, though I couldn’t quite explain why it was wrong. Today, many of those same hierarchies exist, and these attitudes have real, lasting, negative effects on women and girls.
I hope that the World Cup win, the conversations that are taking place, and the attention to women in sports continue to re-shape and re-mold our world view of women, women’s athletic abilities, and women’s intellectual and physical capabilities on and off the field. Participating in a sport (in my case, roller derby) has positively impacted me. It has taught me the benefits (and challenges) of being part of a team, and it has given me a sense of power and physicality that I never knew I needed or could possess. Watching the amazing feats of athleticism on the soccer field, I felt energized and exhilarated. We need women in sports—we need their inspirational power, their confidence, and their dedication, for they can and do fuel our own endeavors.
