Photo from Wikipedia
So here’s one more reason to lose faith in humanity: the LFL or “Legends Football League” (truly, I regret linking to this and showing you any of it, so I’m just sending you to Wikipedia because I know these jackasses really enjoy the publicity from irate people like me writing about them). The LFL was rebranded from it’s original, more accurate name, the “Lingerie Football League,” which I assume they changed because coming straight out and saying they’d created a football league where women wore barely anything was just too obviously offensive. Although I’m frankly not sure why the guy who came up with this would even care what the rest of us think of him.
So, yes, the LFL. A professional football league for women where the players wear the equivalent of bathing suits. It all makes sense. I mean, what NFL player wouldn’t feel comfortable about falling on AstroTurf in a Speedo…
I don’t know if anyone else remembers A League of Their Own, a movie about the American Girls’ Baseball League. It was established during WWII to fill the void left when all the men were off fighting in the war. It’s one of my favorite movies of all time. It’s the story of women taking a huge leap forward, but it also recognizes all the hurdles they had to deal with — including having to play in skirts so they could look “pretty.”
From Pictureville.com
I’ve looked forward to showing my kids this movie since they were born, for one so I could say, “Wasn’t that just crazy? That women were expected to play really great baseball and look beautiful and be lady-like and pour tea, all at the same time? Women play professional sports now and are admired for their abilities, not just their appearances. Can you believe how stupid people were?”
I showed them the movie today and practically wanted to burst out crying when they honestly couldn’t understand the part about the recruiter turning down the really good player because she was “ugly.” They get it. They see people for their worth — even more than I do sometimes…
So to think that someday they’ll come across the LFL and I’ll have to explain to them that, no, this isn’t from 1940. It’s from 2013. I’m sorry it hasn’t gotten better. I’m sorry it’s gotten worse. I’m sorry we’re all still so stupid.
Hopefully you guys will be able to do a better job.
Tammy Soong is a writer, wife, and mom from Reno, Nevada. She takes an absurd amount of pain medication, but not enough to have actually named her children "Newt" and "Elfie." She spends most days stressing out over clutter, writing stuff for this place, and working on podcasts with her gal pals, the Blogging Betties.
I agree. So sad. So what the hell did we fight so
hard and burn our bras and all that shit for? Like bikini baristas.
On a related note, did you see the racially segregated prom in Georgia that is still going on???
It’s like we’ve entered the twilight zone. The time-traveling from hell twilight zone.
My instinct is to blame men for this stupidity, until I peel back my blinders and realize that women are the ones agreeing to this nonsense.
I. don’t. get. it.
Amen to the last line: Please, kids. Do better than this.
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I know. You just want to smack them. Unfortunately, we live in a society to that promotes, encourages, and enables this kind of behavior and employment for women. But until we all start saying, no, that’s not okay, it’s going to continue.