Female fans of men’s football – a case study in Denmark

Abstract

Football is an invention by men for men, and today, the majority of players and fans are men. There is an abundance of literature on football and fandom; however, gender is mostly not an issue in these publications. Research about female football supporters and fans is very limited. This is also true for Denmark, the country, which is the focus of this article. Based on gender and socialization theories, this contribution addresses women and their (lack of) interest in men's football. The main questions refer to the numbers of female supporters and their patterns of football consumption. The sources of information are reader and user data of mass media, results of surveys about the habits of the Danish population and the results of an interview study with female fans. A specific focus of this article is on the minority of female supporters who attend football games. How do they adapt to a 'man's world' and what are their roles in this 'male environment'? The statements of interviewees revealed that female fans have to cope with a measure of sexism, but that they can adopt the men's perspectives in order to be accepted as 'authentic fans'. Other women reacted on men's domination in the football stadium by founding a women only fan group that allows them to find their own way to be women and fans. IntroductionFootball was invented by men, and from the nineteenth century right up to today, the large majority of players and consumers are boys and men. In many countries football -men's football -has developed into the most popular sport, which attracts large crowds of fans and triggers a high degree of dedication to and identification with their clubs and teams. In the last two decades, football has developed into a 'global cultural reference point and a mega business involving media and corporate ownership structures'. 1 Consumers and fans are an essential part of this culture and the driving force behind the football business.In some European countries, women had already played football at the turn of the twentieth century; however, a strong and continuing women's football movement was not able to develop. 2 Being a woman and playing (real) football were, and perhaps still are, considered contradictions. Only after official recognition by football federations in 1970 did women's football experience a continuous growth worldwide. In Denmark, girls and women already started to play the game in the 1960s, and in 1972, women's football was integrated into the Danish Football Federation. 3 Currently, football is quite popular among Danish children and adolescents, with roughly a quarter of all girls (26%) and more than half of all boys

“You’re Underestimating Me and You Shouldn’t”

“…Like previous research on gender in sport (see, e.g., Esmonde, Cooky, and Andrews 2015;Messner 2009;Pfister, Lenneis, and Mintert 2013), we find that men's dominance and women's marginalization is frequently presumed and actively asserted by male participants. As such, they offer the potential for transformations in the gendered order of traditionally highly masculinized athletic environments.…”

One of the boys: female fans’ responses to the masculine and phallocentric nature of football stadiums in Zimbabwe

“…In Pfister, Lenneis, and Mintert's (2013) study, women reacted to men's domination in the football stadium by founding a women-only fan group that allows them to find a way to be both women and fans. This is a radical move which ensures that women redefine fandom on their own terms.…”

“…Moreira (2013) blames this stereotyping of women as 'fake fans', on sex typing of sports within Western culture in which sport is constructed as a masculinised activity. Pfister, Lenneis, and Mintert (2013) argue that female football fans who go to stadiums will suffer a measure of sexism. Women can use a variety of ways to cope with the sexism.…”

“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

“…In Zimbabwe, Chiweshe (2014) found that football songs and chants routinely expressed misogynistic messages that celebrated men's sexual domination and degraded women, leading to some women avoiding parts of the stadium or refraining from going to matches altogether. Likewise, in their analysis of men's football in Denmark, Pfister et al (2013) discuss how the number of women in fan groups decreases in the face of expressed misogyny and violence and that all female fans have to cope with some level of sexism in their practice as fans.…”