‘I do worry that football will become over-feminized’ : ambiguities in fan reflections on the gender order in men’s professional football in the United Kingdom

Cleland, Jamie; Pope, Stacey; Williams, John

doi:10.1123/ssj.2019-0060

‘I do worry that football will become over-feminized’ : ambiguities in fan reflections on the gender order in men’s professional football in the United Kingdom

Cleland, Jamie; Pope, Stacey; Williams, John

Authors

Jamie Cleland

Professor Stacey Pope stacey.pope@durham.ac.uk
Professor

John Williams

Abstract

This article draws on the responses of 2,347 football fans (male = 83.4%; female = 16.6%) collected via an online survey from September 2015 to January 2016 regarding the position of women (as fans, coaches, referees, journalists, board members, and administrators) in the gender order in men’s professional association football in the United Kingdom. Engaging with the theoretical framework of hegemonic masculinity, the authors addressed two recurring themes emerging from the results: the exclusionary practices of sexism and subordination aimed at women in men’s football and the extent to which women are regarded as “authentic” fans, given the gender inequalities and power imbalances they face in their practice of fandom in men’s football. The article concludes by suggesting that, although there are emerging “progressive” male attitudes toward women in men’s football, hegemonic and complicit masculinities remain a significant feature in the culture of fandom in men’s professional football in the United Kingdom.

Citation

Cleland, J., Pope, S., & Williams, J. (2020). ‘I do worry that football will become over-feminized’ : ambiguities in fan reflections on the gender order in men’s professional football in the United Kingdom. Sociology of Sport Journal, 37(4), 366-375. https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2019-0060

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Feb 4, 2020
Publication Date	2020-12
Deposit Date	Apr 15, 2020
Publicly Available Date	Apr 15, 2020
Journal	Sociology of Sport Journal
Print ISSN	0741-1235
Electronic ISSN	1543-2785
Publisher	Human Kinetics
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	37
Issue	4
Pages	366-375
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2019-0060

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Copyright Statement
Accepted author manuscript version reprinted, by permission, from Cleland, Jamie, Pope, Stacey & Williams, John (2020). ‘I do worry that football will become over-feminized’ ambiguities in fan reflections on the gender order in men’s professional football in the United Kingdom. Sociology of Sport Journal 37(4): 366-375. https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2019-0060 © Human Kinetics, Inc.