I Fear This Will Sound Sexist and Shallow, but I'll Give It a Shot

A few nights ago I was watching the US Women's Soccer Team playing Russia in a friendly on the internet because it was not being shown on TV. I am a big fan of the US Women's Soccer team, because they represent my country and because they are the best in the world. I am also a big fan of our men's team, but they are not the best in the world (although they're getting closer every day). Especially as a soccer coach myself, I appreciate the true mastery of the game shown by our women's team. They dominate in every aspect of soccer. (Okay, maybe our back line has shown a little weakness.) Alex Morgan has pure speed. Abby Wambach dominates the box with her imposing physical presence and underestimated ball skills. Megan Rapinoe is a sniper from the wing and can serve up the ball in the tiny spot where only our forwards can reach it. Tobin Heath has the best foot skills in the game - better than anyone on our men's team. Carli Lloyd will muscle you off the ball and then send a laser of a shot into the top corner. Hope Solo is unquestionably the most talented goalkeeper in women's soccer, and possibly in all of soccer. I'll stop there, although this team is so good that anybody reading this blog who has any knowledge of the US women's soccer team will probably be offended that I didn't mention their favorite player. This team has so much talent top-to-bottom, it's incredible. I feel like watching this team play makes me a better coach. 

So, back to the US-Russia game on the internet. This was the first time I had watched a game completely online, so I was not accustomed to the constant stream of comments on the side of the screen. I was ignoring them for the most part until one happened to catch my eye. The comment was, "Will you all stop talking about who's hottest? These are professional athletes!" My first thought was, "Yeah! That just demeans their soccer ability! Appreciate them for that!" But then I thought about it a little more. The implication was that men are being sexist about women in sports, and I will not argue against that at all. I will make a couple of arguments defending the misogynist comments of the internet trolls, though. The first is that this is in no way a problem that only applies to men. Do you think women don't make comments about hot soccer players? If you think that's true, then please take your next opportunity to type "Cristiano Rinaldo hot" or "David Beckham hot" into google. (I'll make it easy for you: https://www.google.com/search?q=cristiano+ronaldo+hot&espv=210&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=3vQCU9GELIykyAG04oCwBQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=659 and https://www.google.com/search?q=cristiano+ronaldo+hot&espv=210&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=3vQCU9GELIykyAG04oCwBQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=659#q=david+beckham+hot&tbm=isch. (You're welcome, Deb. :)   )

So hopefully now we can agree that this is not an isolated issue of men objectifying women. So let's move on to the part that I fear will sound sexist and shallow. If people find professional soccer players attractive, men or women, that's awesome! We live in a world where we are constantly surrounded by images of "beauty" which are terribly unhealthy. Thanks to the internet and social media, we are becoming more and more aware of the lengths marketers go to in order to present us with impossibly unhealthy images of the human body in order to make us think that we are unworthy and need their products to measure up. Part of the backlash is going to the opposite extreme and saying that we should celebrate all body types, no matter how large (hypocritically not including "no matter how small"). That's not healthy either, though. We need to find a balance where we don't make non-emaciated people feel fat, but where we also encourage unhealthily large people (like me) to work on getting more healthy. These soccer players we are objectifying fall right into that sweet spot. They are strong and muscular in order to stand up to a physically demanding game, but they are also thin enough to be able to run intervals for 90 minutes without losing a step. Compare any member of the US women's soccer team that was being called "hot" on the internet to our societal standard of beauty, and they don't quite make it. None of them would ever be offered a modeling contract. So when people say they are "hot", in some ways I think that is a very good sign. What makes them "hot" is that they are strong and confident and ready to take on any challenge, that they are the best in the world at what they do, and go out there and prove it as a team every time they step on the field. If society is changing to the point where men find strength, confidence, teamwork, and success more attractive than large breasts and subservient weakness, then that is awesome in a lot of ways. So let's not be so quick to condemn the internet trolls arguing about which US women's soccer player is hottest, instead let's work on getting them to phrase their opinions in a less misogynistic way. If they refuse to express their opinions in a respectful way, then line them up along the goal line and let Carli Lloyd fire balls at them from the 18. They will definitely regret their words!