FIFA Women's World Cup 2015

[Regia]

If the England reach the semi final of the 2018 world cup, play better than the German team for 85% of the game and then one of the guys scores a late own goal that knocks them out, I'll feel bad for him.

People feel genuinely gutted because no one expected them to make it out of the group, let alone seem like genuine contenders for the final for most of the game. I think it also has to do with the fact that the women showed actual passion for wearing the shirt and representing their country.

[Cymbols]

I'm sure the sympathy would be matched in the men's game in the right circumstances. Like, after the FA Cup semi final, loads of people were tweeting sympathy to Adam Federici after he fucked up, just less people because more people are invested in an England national team than Reading.

[SeanDMan]

I sort of agree though. I mean if this were the men's cup I highly doubt you would see tweets saying Gary Englishguy needs all our hugs

The article goes on to mention a male soccer player who missed a penalty and was then shot six times in the back. Is that the better alternative we want?

[Gazz]

I sort of agree though. I mean if this were the men's cup I highly doubt you would see tweets saying Gary Englishguy needs all our hugs

I always need a hug.

[Your Mom]

I sort of agree though. I mean if this were the men's cup I highly doubt you would see tweets saying Gary Englishguy needs all our hugs

The article goes on to mention a male soccer player who missed a penalty and was then shot six times in the back. Is that the better alternative we want?

No? That's a pretty ridiculous thing to say.

[unitedツ]

I think if that happened to the men's football team, there would be a lot more abuse than sympathy. But I don't think that has to do with sexism. I think it's because the fans still have the club mentality and if an England player they don't like makes a mistake it just adds to the reason to not like them. We have no reason to not like Laura Bassett (as I assume 99% of fans have only seen her in the World Cup), we only have reason to feel sympathy for her.

[Moses Julep]

Plus a lot of the men's team are just ridiculously unlikable, I for one still get a semi from thinking about John Terry crying in the rain after missing that penalty.

[RPS]

2015: where if you feel bad for a woman, it's sexist, if you don't feel bad for her, it's sexist, paying attention to her is sexist, ignoring her is sexist, in general you're just sexist. You're also probably a rapist. Die in a fire.

That isn't what the article is saying at all. The article isn't telling you not to feel bad for the women. The article is saying the way in which people express it is done in a clearly gendered way.

[badotori]

I think most of it comes down to expectations rather than blatant sexism. In every world cup I can remember in my lifetime, the England men go into it with this upsurge of expectation, "the nation expects". These expectations are very rarely met in tournaments and either the entire team underperforms (World Cup 2014) or one player does something stupid and becomes the scapegoat (David Beckham, World Cup 98).

The expectations were much lower for England's women as they've never won a knockout game before in a World Cup. The fact they almost got to the final (and played decent football while they were at it) is a pleasant surprise instead of some delusional requirement.

The fact that Wayne Rooney earns the entire women's team yearly salary in two weeks makes it easier to empathize with them too.

[Matt]

I hug some of my female friends when I say goodbye, I pretty much never do that to male friends. So next time I see my female best friend and she goes to give me a hug goodbye, I'll have to decline as I wouldn't want to be sexist towards her.

Honestly, this is the most pathetic argument on sexism that we've ever had on this board and that's a fucking achievement.

[Meacon Keaton]

Why don't you hug your man-friends? :/

[Matt]

I'm scared of catching gay.

[Meacon Keaton]

I'm pretty sure that only happens when you touch hands or butts.

[Lineker]

Crossing swords is fine though.

Or at least that's what Rich assures me.

[Meacon Keaton]

Of course it's fine. It happens on accident way too much to count.

[RPS]

I hug some of my female friends when I say goodbye, I pretty much never do that to male friends. So next time I see my female best friend and she goes to give me a hug goodbye, I'll have to decline as I wouldn't want to be sexist towards her.

Honestly, this is the most pathetic argument on sexism that we've ever had on this board and that's a fucking achievement.

I don't think it is really all that much of an argument. Two or three people disagreed over the span of 5-6 posts. I think you may be projecting onto it, but hey that is a topic for another thread.

[SeanDMan]

2015: where if you feel bad for a woman, it's sexist, if you don't feel bad for her, it's sexist, paying attention to her is sexist, ignoring her is sexist, in general you're just sexist. You're also probably a rapist. Die in a fire.

That isn't what the article is saying at all. The article isn't telling you not to feel bad for the women. The article is saying the way in which people express it is done in a clearly gendered way.

and the evidence used for how we should treat men includes murder. Well okay, I think murdering someone is a much more absurd way to deal with a sportsball loss than a polite expression of sympathy but I don't want anyone complaining about soggy knees, so murder it is.

[Your Mom]

2015: where if you feel bad for a woman, it's sexist, if you don't feel bad for her, it's sexist, paying attention to her is sexist, ignoring her is sexist, in general you're just sexist. You're also probably a rapist. Die in a fire.

That isn't what the article is saying at all. The article isn't telling you not to feel bad for the women. The article is saying the way in which people express it is done in a clearly gendered way.

and the evidence used for how we should treat men includes murder. Well okay, I think murdering someone is a much more absurd way to deal with a sportsball loss than a polite expression of sympathy but I don't want anyone complaining about soggy knees, so murder it is.

I'm sorry but what the fuck are you talking about? Where did it say that guy should be murdered and all sports people who screw up should be murdered? You're being ridiculous

[SeanDMan]

the article says this is not how a man would be treated, and fair point, men are subject to more harsh words and harsh treatment. But how is it preferable that instead of being sympathetic, we need be more cruel? We should treat her like we treat the lads, and go on twitter and tell her to fuck off, call her a wanker, threaten to kill her and her family, like people do when guys fuck up at sports?

this is a bullshit clickbaity article. I guarantee that if twitter were full of people calling her out and calling her names, the article would be about how awful people on twitter are for attacking this woman in her moment of need. It's empty dreck, meaningless and full of personal bias, and it is what happens when we lay off the real journalists and replace them with bloggers.

[Gazz]

I think it's a 'tribalism' thing, on two levels.

1. It's based on the club the player plays for. Wayne Rooney is synonymous with Man Utd. If Rooney fucks up on an international level, the majority of the stick he is going to get will be from fans of other clubs whilst Man Utd fans defend him, because he's 'one of theirs'. This doesn't apply to the Women's game because the majority of people watching and commenting on it have no clue what club side any player represents.

2. There is a disconnent between the multimillionaire professional male footballer and the average fan who makes less in a year than the player does in a day. If someone gets falsely elevated onto a pedestal, we want to knock them down. Again, most female footballers are amateurs, they're not elevated to the same level as the men's game, so there's no interest in taking them down a peg.