A decent number of feminists have hosted their own uproar against the LFL. As an LFL fan and a feminist, here is my response:
Some common criticisms of the LFL:
1. The league is designed to focus more on having hot players than skilled players.
2. It hinders the societal success of other female athletic programs.
3. It objectifies women and their bodies.
To answer the first one simply: Watch a fucking game. The only people who can have this kind of reaction are people who haven’t watched a game, don’t have any appreciation for football in the first place, or both. Sure, you can argue that the LFL grabs one’s attention because of the uniform, but it retains that attention because of the sport and athleticism. If it were purely for the titillation, fans would leave after watching a game and just watch porn. The fact that the Lingerie Bowl has sustained a following for about a decade and grown big enough to create a league should be proof that there’s more to it than just hot chicks in underwear. Moreover, league founder and commissioner, Mitch Mortaza admits that play in early games was pretty crappy. But if you look at the last couple of years, you can track how the level of athleticism has exploded exponentially. Not only has the talent of individual players gone up, but the overall talent pool that the league is drawing from is huge and extremely competitive. Some players who were on championship caliber teams a few years ago couldn’t last on an expansion team this year. Simple: If the league’s focus was on the attractiveness of players instead of their talent, then the level of play would not have improved anywhere near the amount that it has.
For the second one, from my experience, it’s not true. I, honestly, did not know that other Female Football Leagues existed until the LFL. If not for the LFL and my being a part of that community, I never would have known about the other leagues. The LFL did what the others couldn’t do, and that’s make a break into the common media. You want to talk about what that means for the state of public media, fine, but don’t you dare ignore the fact that it was the LFL that landed a regular TV spot for women’s football. To put it simply, the other leagues didn’t. Who’s bringing the deserved attention to female athletics and athletes now? Moreover, women that played in those other leagues have gone on to play in the LFL. Nikki Johnson is one of the most prominent players to have done that. She played football in high school, participated in some flag teams, then got on a women’s tackle football team before playing for the Las Vegas Sin and being selected for the All-Fantasy Game. I saw some players from the team Nikki used to play on cheering her on in the Playoff game against LA.
The third point, that it objectifies women and their bodies… so 2nd wave feminism… This league is a means of empowerment for these ladies. Guys don’t go to these games to jack off. The stands are a celebration of the teams and players and game. The fans cheer on their teams like fans are supposed to. Sure, I’ve seen signs in the stands say things like “Will you marry me?” I’ve also seen a sign that said “Jeremy I want you LINside me.” I’ve read it argued that this kind of atmosphere that the LFL promotes encourages rape. Strange, huh? That this is what has been slippery-sloped down to… Got any more logical fallacies for me to answer? The argument goes that it’s a highly sexual and violent atmosphere and, therefore, promotes rape. This is a pretty far logic leap. To keep my answer in the real world, seeing the lines at signings, guys aren’t walking up to the athletes with the notion that they should try to get these girls on a date. Most know they’d get the shit beat out of them if they tried anything shady, not by any bodyguards, but by the players themselves. Getting more to join in this awesome act of athleticism would only further the latter reaction, not rape. Some others have said things like, “Well, you don’t see guys running around playing football in boxers and tighty-whiteys.” My answer? If that’s what you want to see, then you start that league. And, you know what? Power and success to ya for it. You know what is commonly seen? Guys playing water polo in speedos… Women playing beach volleyball in bikinis… Men playing Beach volleyball without shirts… And people watch those for the sport of it too! What’s so difficult about believing the same is true for the LFL?
This league is more 3rd wave feminist than people give it credit. These women are going out and doing what they want. As I’ve mentioned, they know that there are other leagues out there. The players choose to play LFL because they want to. They get to be stars, why take that away from them? And, you know what? Let’s address that elephant in the room: They are Beautiful. What’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with celebrating that? I’d much rather point to an LFL athlete and say to the world, “World, this is your standard for beauty,” than a catwalk model that’s skinnier than a toothpick. What happened to promoting the fit and athletic body as the appropriate body image to aspire to? What’s wrong with encouraging an exercise routine and a good diet to promote beauty when the alternative is bulimia or anorexia? The feminist movement will have made significant progress when the LFL athlete is society’s standard for beauty. It’s not at all an impossible body image for young girls to strive for (it’s literally: be healthy…). Cassandra Duffy wrote a blog post about the LFL and her struggles with whether or not she could accept it as a feminist. She mentions the ancient Greeks and the early Olympics. Those athletes competed nude in a celebration of athleticism and beauty, oh… and they were men. There is a very similar celebratory dynamic here in the LFL. Cassandra brings up another valid point when she admits to being embarrassed by her own body image. She concedes that these women “are braver than me when it comes to a positive body image.” The confidence these athletes share should be praised, not punished. How can you tell your daughters that they should be comfortable in the skin they’re in if you can’t accept some women playing football in lingerie? (And it’s hardly lingerie. Girls wear the same amount, or less, when they go to the beach. Let’s just get that out of the way.) The feminist call against the LFL is literally that they should cover up for fear that men would see them, be tempted by them. Sounds like the conservative Muslim argument for burkas to me, not very feminist…
Now, the above mostly consists of answers to some common feminist arguments. The following part of my article focuses on why a feminist that’s into sports should be encouraging the atmosphere produced by the LFL. In 2009, Anna Clark wrote a series titled Top Ten Reasons Why This Feminist Is a Sports Fan for the prominent feminist media outlet Bitch Magazine. She prides herself on being a female sports fanatic and Detroit fan (btw, where’s Detroit LFL???). Her series actually has nothing to do with the LFL, directly, but what it does do is establish a feminist perspective on sports and why sports in general foster an environment mutually beneficial to feminist ideologies. The reason I bring this up is that I hope to show how the LFL satisfies some of the points she outlines.
10. Sports are Community Building
Communities that center around sports leagues and teams are as inherent to the LFL as they are to any other sport. LFL taps into this proud energy just like the NFL, NBA, or MLB. I know I have the kind of conversations about the LFL with my friends that she describes having as a sports fan. I use the team “we” as much as an LA Temptation fan as I do a San Diego Chargers fan and USC Trojans fan, and I’m a guy… I think another area to see how communities are sprouting up is on Facebook. The Lingerie Football League has over 250,000 likes. The individual team pages each have around 5,000 to over 9,000 likes. Related products like the Gridiron Beauties line host engaging discussions and their own awards driven toward fostering the LFL community.
9. Sports Celebrate Physical Intelligence
Far too often, people look at the LFL and think it simply applauds physical beauty. These people are wrong. This article I’m writing is posted above a few highlight reels of some amazing players. I encourage anyone who holds the belief that this league is just a bunch of models running around half naked to look at the footage below, and you’ll realize just how wrong you are. These girls hit and they hit hard. They also play smart with most coaches utilizing a wide variety of trick plays in their playbooks. Most of these players come from collegiate sports. Two athletes with sports careers that merit celebration before joining the LFL come from LA’s Temptation and USC. #13 Monique Gaxiola played soccer at USC where she won a National Championship title. Check out an LFL360 article on what she’s endured here and an early USC player bio outlining more of her high school success here. She’s tough. I know I wouldn’t want to mess with her. She’s not some hot bimbo that just wants to prance around in her underwear. No, she pours her fucking heart out in the game and has the scars to prove it. On the other side of the LA line up is fellow Trojan Alum #2 Melissa Margulies. Melissa went to Mammoth High School where she ran track. Only issue? The school didn’t really have a track team… She WAS the track team. Now, in track and field competitions, schools can win sweepstakes which are awarded based on how the teams competed collectively against each other scoring points for total success in each category of competition. Melissa did so well that she placed 3rd in sweepstakes ON HER OWN competing against WHOLE SQUADS. Fucking Beast. Click here for LFL360’s piece on Margulies just after LA’s Western Conference Title win over Chicago. These two athletes are only examples of the talent pool in the LFL. The athleticism displayed in any given game is stunning. You’ll hear fans talk about the power running of Philly’s Marirose Roach, the quick accelerations for tackles of Tampa Bay’s Liz Gorman, or the calm pocket presence of Las Vegas’ Nikki Johnson. Each of these women is fully deserving of this praise as they display their skills on the field featuring both physical and cerebral athleticism.
8. Sports Are One of the Few Realms where Adults Play
This one’s short, but, to put it simply, sports are fun, and the LFL is no different. And I don’t mean fun just from the fan’s perspective. I mean the players are getting a kick out of being on the field and playing football. After games, during signings they’re all smiles and pumped from such exciting play. I’ve said it before, but it deserves repeating: These athletes don’t complain about being objectified; rather, they complain that they only play 4 regular season games. They WANT to play MORE. Many of the US players have asked if they can go up to play in the Canadian league this fall, just so that they don’t pass up on an opportunity to play more. They’re having fun, and I can think of no reason why anyone should want to get down on them for it.
5. Sports are Aesthetically Beautiful
This one speaks for itself, but not just for the reason you’re probably thinking. I encourage you to read all 10 of Clark’s posts, but this one in particular relates to the LFL. She speaks to the beauty of the athletic figure and how the “athletic figure” is defined differently from sport to sport. I don’t need to say that these women in the LFL are beautiful, I already did that. What really matters, for this discussion, is the other part of Clark’s article which is about how the athleticism itself is beautiful. It’s hard to describe the beauty in an LA defender’s tackle, or a Marirose Roach run up the middle, or an Ashley Salerno deep throw to Melissa Margulies, but any sports fan (or, at least, football fan) would be awe-struck at any of these feats. I remember watching the LA versus Las Vegas Playoff game earlier this year. Right by the end zone, Vegas’ Sunshine Misa-Uli was about to run one in for a touchdown, except LA’s Stephanie Psick, someone considerably smaller, lowered her shoulder and brought Sunshine to a sudden stop. It may be difficult for an outsider looking in to understand, but that was an awe-inspiring moment, a David vs Goliath kind of moment that, without better words to describe it, was beautiful.
You may want to read Clark’s article first: Sports are microcosms of the society at large, and LFL is no exception. Clark describes a fan’s ability to cheer for teams that aren’t his or her own. We have home teams, dynasty teams, and under dogs, all of which are simultaneously praised. LFL’s home teams are all over the nation. It just established its first official dynasty with LA taking the 3peat. Las Vegas played the successful underdog role this year being the expansion team that took the Western Conference by storm. Clark is right, that the otherwise conventional thoughts on winning and losing get turned on their head in sports. A lot of Philly fans wanted LA to win the Western Title this year to have a chance at avenging last year’s Lingerie Bowl loss. Replace “sports” with “LFL” in Clark’s following quote, and the statement still runs true: “In this way, sports provide an alternative to a mainstream society that proscribes an even, polite, modestly intellectual temperament at all times. I want to live in a world of many-colored moods. I want to live in a world where the places I come from matter. I want to live in a world where I can love champions and underdogs both. Sports provides a vision where it can be so. The athletic realm can act as a sort of rehearsal space that we can ultimately stage ‘in real life.’”
These are just a few of the points that Clark brings up that the LFL meets. If someone so desires, I can write another piece on how the LFL meets the others, but these are the most important, I think. The other articles can be found here:
7. Sports Are Inherently Optimistic
4. Sports Carry the Power of Stories and Storytelling
3. Sports Are a Venue to Connect with People Very Different Than You
To wrap things up (I know, finally): Look, there’s a decent case to be made that the Lingerie Bowl started out as a place for guys to check out half naked chicks running around with a football. But, the League has developed into so much more, and I encourage everyone to give it a shot. You’ll be amazed. At this point, the criticisms answer to little more than the name of the league. Like I said before, though, the sexiness may be the hook, but it’s the sport that retains, no, commands, the attention.
