fantasy
7:01 PM
I love fantasy sports, especially football and hockey. I am the only girl in both leagues where I am currently battling in the championship round for football and holding a respectable 4th place in hockey.
My friends call it pointless; I tell them to let me create my own happiness. I take a weird amount of pride in how many points my team gets every week and when I chose the right running back to start in a given week. It indulges my secret dream of becoming the first female GM of a an NHL team.
But I constantly worry about potential messages or threats I might get from the men in my leagues. Masculinity is a fragile thing and it probably is damaged by a girl beating them on a consistent basis in a traditionally masculine arena.
And looking at the infographic I made below, you can see why. I am in the minority in many categories and more than 20 years younger than the average player.
That being said, it is still a primarily white, working-age male based industry. You can see it in the way commercials show white men and the way “fantasy analysts” subtly mock female owners. There was that surprisingly long lived TV show called “The League” in which five white men participate in a league. I had to stop watching after four episodes because of blatant sexists jokes and vague homophobic jokes.
Be critical of the flaws, be an advocate for change, but don’t go overboard. Hyper masculinity surrounds the world of sports. There is no way in hell it is possible to completely remove yourself from America’s sports culture (this guy tried and failed). So enjoy the upsides - crushing men twice your age. But protect and stand up for yourself if anyone ever tries to be a dick about it.
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