Quote:
Originally Posted by crash_override
Why are you portraying these women as victims? They are football players, they get paid to play a sport they obviously like playing. They get paid to have fun, let it go. I'm jealous too.
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Crash, I agree with you that the Lingerie League players aren't victims in the traditional sense. They've read their contract and agreed to it. They had a choice not to join. Plus, the women who participate because they love the sport could, probably, find or start their own chapter of the real football Independent Women's Football League, where women get the same protection men get...but no money.
However, I do feel that the Lingerie League women are, in a wider sense, victims of a society that emphasizes women’s physical beauty over ability in certain professions, and encourages women to be willing to be sex objects to get ahead, which I feel is sad.
Also, Crash, just because someone isn’t a victim doesn’t mean the person isn’t being exploited.
An example that you might relate to is soldiers in the U.S. military who have been more likely to enlist during these poorer economic times and tough job market. Are soldiers being exploited of a war-mongering society that fails to provide economic security for its members through non-violent means, or are the soldiers merely taking advantage of an opportunity that the military “graciously” offers them? I feel U.S. soldiers are both being exploited while also taking advantage of an opportunity. Similarly, I feel the Lingerie League exploits women while also giving them an opportunity they wouldn’t otherwise have.
I agree with a Baltimore Sun editorialist, who wrote:
If you are still jealous of the Lingerie League players, Crash, then by all means join...gentlemen first
...because I'm not jealous at all, and here’s why:
(1) I've read up on the Lingerie League, and it turns out each woman makes only about $500 (£ 311.71) per game, which I feel isn't worth the risk of injuries due to having sub-par protective equipment and uniforms. Apparently, though, they feel the chance to have “exposure” and increased future job opportunities is worth the risks and the unfairness of having to strip down in order to become a female American football celebrity.
(2) Having to play a full contact, tough sport in which players get concussions, broken bones, torn ligaments, and turf burns without proper uniforms *is* a sacrifice, and some Lingerie League players actually see their uniforms as the sacrifice a woman is forced to pay in order to play football semi-professionally.
One Lingerie League player says, "We don’t live in an ideal world. Sometimes you make a sacrifice to play your sport. I do realize the exploitation that goes on to promote attendance, but I do believe there is exploitation on both sides. Yes, we are going to wear our bathing suits, but you are also going to buy the tickets, and we are enabled to become professional athletes where otherwise we wouldn’t even be able to afford to play in the arena."
Down, set, strip: The Lingerie Football League | American Observer
(3) The contract that Lingerie League players sign sounds awful. Players aren’t allowed to criticize the Lingerie League, or quit without owing money, and so their claims of “love for playing” the game are suspect. See below:
Quote:
The Lingerie League players are warned against saying anything bad about the team or league. And they can't quit. "If you stop playing, you owe them money," Daddona says. It's true. Each player signs a thick contract that includes a $5,000 "termination fine," a $500 fine for wearing "additional garments under wardrobe" without written permission from the league, and a clause noting that the player has no objection to "accidental nudity."
So asked why they still play lingerie football — given the drama, the injuries, and the lack of money — the women glance at one another. They answer like synchronized robots, their eyes hinting at sarcasm.
"We love it."
The Caliente's Inaugural Season Had Blood, Sweat, Broken Bones, and a Lot of Lace - Page 3 - News - Broward/Palm Beach - Broward-Palm Beach New Times
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(4) Finally, I'm not envious of the Lingerie League players receive very few health benefits, and ex-players who have requested that the Lingerie League help pay for ongoing physical problems due to injuries were refused. The Lingerie League is like the NFL but without the good salary and fully protective uniforms!
Here's a good article about the Lingerie League: "Some complain that contracts offered by Lingerie Football League don’t treat players fairly"
Orlandoweekly.com - NEWS+FEATURES: Fumble
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dirty
You are taking the whole injury aspect of this way too far... So basically the lack of material leads to worse wounds... Jesus Christ, they are cuts and bruises. They are being asked to play football here. Actually, I'll rephrase that, they are getting PAID to play football here. They get paid a good chunk of money to do hardly anything. Give me a job where I risk getting a bruise or some scrapes and get paid tons.
Your thoughts, like your thoughts about football, always come back to injuries. People are not like you. They will risk injury for the reward. People have different priorities. Some of these girls probably enjoy playing the football, and some of them just enjoy being out there to be hott and collect a check. The quotes about "they are serious athletes and very good!" are useless. There are a lot of serious athletes out there. There's a lot of really good athletes out there. Not everyone can play professionally.
Now I realize there's no pro football league for women (Not a nationally recognized or covered one)... Which poses this question: Since these women are playing football, are they really serious athletes, considering they realize there is no WNFL? Not really. I think you said a lot of them also model. So they are making money off of their bodies. Why is that a big deal? They take great care of themselves, and they are making a living off of it.
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Dirty, the Lingerie League women face more than just cuts and bruises...they face injuries like any contact football team, but without protective pads for their breasts, or covering for their legs and torsos...so they may actually risk more injuries than the men who play American football professionally. And like I said to Crash, the Lingerie League women are getting paid MUCH less than men in the NFL. They aren’t able to make a living by being in the Lingerie League.
"People are not like you"--that may be true, Dirty, though there are a few people out there like me...one or two, maybe...who wouldn’t risk their health for money or fame. I don’t think that risking your body in the Lingerie League is “taking great care of themselves." When one goal of many players is to get noticed or pad their modeling resume, risking the very body whose beauty is their selling point in their future jobs is a pretty big risk.
In answer to your question, some of the Lingerie League women actually
are athletes who wanted to play American football professionally, but couldn’t because they are women. I think you are right, though, that most of the women hope to use the LL to further their modeling or other careers. I feel it is sad that women are encouraged to show off their bodies to get ahead in their professions.
And now I'll conclude with some videos about the
INDEPENDENT WOMEN'S FOOTBALL LEAGUE...where women get to be athletes *and* protect themselves like male athletes:
http://www.youtube.com/IWFL#p/a/f/1/_AGO9VkUuMg
http://www.youtube.com/IWFL#p/a/f/0/IaSUxodryd0
and here is a video featuring the
IWFL Philadelphia Firebirds:
And I just found out there IS a
National Woman's Football Association, the NWFA:
http://www.womensfootballassociation.com/