Things People Say To Female Footballers & Fans

Good evening, this is a slightly different post, in the football world there is unfortunately a lot of misogyny and homophobia, and a lot of people with outdated views towards women. Luckily women's football is a slightly more accepting and inclusive place. Twitter as an absolute gold mine for this sort of thing, just do a simple twitter search for 'women's football' if you fancy a good laugh, it's like a time machine to the 1970's. As a woman who plays football and is hugely passionate about the game, I have a lot to say on this subject, In this post I give my take some sexist arguments, enjoy xoxoxo (just a warning I'm extremely sarcastic)

"Women's football is boring"

People have watched a 2 minute video on twitter from a match and have now come to conclusion that the whole women's game is boring. You don't even pay any attention to it... It's far from boring to me, the Women's FA Cup final on Sunday literally gave me so much life more than any football game ever. Let's be real the first half wasn't great, but city getting those 3 goals in the second have was beautiful, made me realise how much I love football.

"You only say you like football for men's attention."

This is just hilarious, something I heard a lot of during the world cup last year. Believe it or not, women can have hobbies and interests that have nothing to do with men. I know, it's crazy! A lot of girls and women grew up with football, and another shocking revelation is that gay women exist, MIND BLOWN. It is very misogynistic to assume that because a woman likes what is traditionally considered a male sport, they are doing it to appease men, rather than just existing for themselves. 

"You're all lesbians."

And what about it? In all seriousness, I might be lesbian, there are a few lesbians on my team, but there are a lot of girls on my team that are straight. Plenty of professional female footballers have long term boyfriends or are married to men. Some are gay and have girlfriends. But that's not the point, sexuality is not in any way relevant when playing football, even if the whole team were raging lesbians that were dating each other that wouldn't matter, how they play is what we should be focusing on!

On another note, it seems as though same sex relationships are very accepted in women's football circles. A lot of gay players these days are very open about it, which I think is wonderful!

"Get back to the kitchen."

Genuinely find it hilarious that people still say this in the year of 2019, honestly laughable. Believe it or not women have been allowed to work and play sports for some time now, they even let us vote now! Can you believe that? 

Support women's sport, the Women's World Cup starts next month and also the netball world cup is this summer. Anyway enjoy this picture of Man City celebrating their FA Cup win because I love them very much.

20 Things I've Learnt In 20 Years

- Care less what other people think about you. You will find people who will accept your uniqueness and weird personality.

- Let people come to you. Don't waste time trying to attract other people it just doesn't work that way, you will meet someone amazing eventually. It's not worth putting in the effort for someone who isn't really interested.

- Work hard at what you're passionate about. I'm working hard at my fashion degree and trying my hand at blogging which I've always wanted to do. If you want to start a blog... go for it!

- Accept your body. You're not going to have the same figure you had when you were fifteen, and that's completely okay. Get rid of old smaller sized clothes, accept that your body has changed and you've moved to a different clothes size. Realise that being healthy, happy and having curves is really beautiful.

- If you want to dye your hair pink, do it. If you want to cut your hair, do it. Hair dye always washes out and hair grows back. For that matter, get that piercing, get that tattoo. Why not? Life is short.

- Sex is nothing to to be ashamed of, it's amazing and natural. Growing up sex related things were so taboo, but the older I get the more I realise that most people enjoy sex and talking about it (within an appropriate setting, obvs) is really good

- Create, create, create! Take pictures of all the beautiful things you see around you, sketch designs, write blog posts, learn new creative skills to expand your knowledge. I've found I'm happiest when I'm creating things.

- Always be kind and look out for people. Simply just texting someone asking how they are and saying your thinking of them can make a world of difference to their day as sometimes you have no idea what people are going through. If you would want people to check up on you, be sure to check up on them.

- Your family is so important, appreciate them and take time out of them as much as you can. Phone your Grandma and ask how she is.

- Seek help for your mental health issues. Honestly, there are people out there who will do anything to help you. You are not going through anything alone. Never feel like you are a burden on anyone because that is definitely not the case.

- Your queer as fuck, you like girls. Liking girls is 100% okay.

- As cheesy as it sounds, usually the best way to make a friend is to be a friend. Be nice to everyone. Smile-which is quite difficult because I generally smile as often as Victoria Beckham does.

- Wear whatever you want, growing I used to some really weird things, wearing a lot of vintage, clothes for charity shops. Now a lot of people dress like that, so don't be afraid to dress differently, you're probably starting a trend!

- Listen to your parents, they (often) know what they're talking about.

- Diets do not work in most circumstances and will just create a vicious cycle of restricting and bingeing. Lead a healthy lifestyle, eat veggies and exercise, but if you want that pizza- eat it.

- Be nice to your brother. He's quite nice really.

- Sexism is very much alive and well in 2018, there's people out there (men and women) who honestly believe that women are second class citizens and they are so wrong because this world would fall apart without women, and we have no where near equal rights!

- It's never too late to take up a sport, I joined a football team at 19 and it's the best thing that ever happened to me, both athletically and socially.

- Tampons > Sanitary pads. Pads are, in my opinion, horrid. It's fine if you prefer them though!

Thanks, for reading babes, I know it's a long post and I've definitely still got a lot to learn!