Critical feminism and football pundits: calm down… it's just a woman talking football

Bowes, A ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5635-106X, Matthews, M ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1216-5307 and Long, J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1216-5307, 2023. Critical feminism and football pundits: calm down… it's just a woman talking football. In: Roberts, W, Whigham, S, Culvin, A and Parnell, D, eds., Critical issues in football: a sociological analysis of the beautiful game. Routledge, pp. 124-136. ISBN 9781003253990

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Abstract

As the biggest sport in the UK, football pundits often are easy targets for ridicule (Hurrey, 2014), and for women intruding into this male domain, their involvement most definitely comes with difficulties. Birrell (2000: 61) highlights that critical feminist analyses have focused on the reproduction of gender relations, valorisation of male characteristics and evidence of male privilege through sport and sports media. From this perspective, it has been said that women breaking into the sport media are exposing themselves to unsavoury treatment (Etling & Young, 2007; Schultz & Sheffer, 2007), and are often considered less credible and less competent than men (Grubb & Billiot, 2010).

Using discourses on female pundits from both print and social media, this chapter will first outline a critical feminist approach to researching women in football. To then consider the narratives around the increasing visibility of women as football pundits, and their continuing presence in a male dominated profession, two case studies will be presented. These case studies present: a) discussions about women’s involvement as football pundits on social media, and b) the media representations of women football pundits, before concluding on how critical feminist theory can be useful in research of this type.

Item Type:	Chapter in book
Alternative Title:	Calm down... it's just a woman talking football: critical feminism and football pundits
Creators:	Bowes, A., Matthews, M. and Long, J.
Publisher:	Routledge
Date:	2023
ISBN:	9781003253990
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.4324/9781003253990-13 DOI 1642144 Other
Rights:	© 2023 Informa UK Limited.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	31 May 2023 09:22
Last Modified:	02 Jun 2024 03:00
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/49089

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