According to the Sirens of Soccer website, they're an "all girl soccer team chalk [sic] full of beautiful, talented athletes." Last year in the Portland Tribune, the team's founder said this:
“We want to send the message that you can play sport and be glamorous,” says team captain Beate Antares, who began the HU women’s program two years ago.
“It all happened because of a broken heart,” she says. “At the time, I needed female camaraderie and wanted some strong women around me.”
And apparently those strong women should also objectify themselves by whatever means necessary.
A women's soccer team that objectifies itself is a potential problem because of the negative consequences of objectification, and because the primary attraction of the team is no longer soccer. Indeed, the heat has been turned up with the change in name:
As the originator of the team, formerly known as H.U.G.S. or Hollywood United Girls Soccer, Beate has taken the heart and soul of the original concept and transformed them into S.O.S., The Sirens of Soccer, a more sophisticated, robust, and dedicated team. It is her mission to take the international success she achieved for H.U.G.S, and double it in stature for S.O.S.
While the topic of objectification is far from settled, it's just about the de facto setting for women that happen to be part of the production of a professional men's soccer match.
What do you think, readers? Is S.O.S.'s super-sexiness a bad thing?
4 comments:
Unfortunately, you forgot to mention the most important part about the S.O.S organization, which is that our main focus is to involve ourselves with charity work. We encourage the girls to volunteer and help out the community. In addition, we try to raise funds and gear for kids in underdeveloped countries that don't have the financial means to purchase cleats or soccer balls. GFI is a charity we are currently collaborating with.
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Global Futbol Initiative is a non-profit charitable organization that supplies soccer balls to underprivileged communities throughout the world. We believe futbol is the heartbeat of the world and should be fully accessible to everyone.
Mission Statement:
"To provide enjoyment and activity to underprivileged areas throughout the world by providing futbol equipment"
http://www.globalfutbol.org/
We are actually delivering gear we have collected over the past couple of months to several regions in Mexico. With that said, GFI is an amazing charitable organization and we hope it will inspire you to get involved.
As far as the instructional video is concerned, we put together a few comedic skits for our friends to giggle at - and that is all there's to it.
Now as far as our playing abilities, we are holding the first place again in our league. Below are the scores -
http://www.eteamz.com/SantaMonicaAdultSoccer/standings/index.cfm?season=463108&division=4580615
We invite you to come and watch one of our games, and meet each girl face to face.
The ladies of S.O.S are just a group of goofy girls who love playing soccer while staying involved with charity work.
Kind Regards,
Sirens
Thanks for your comments. My apologies for leaving out the GFI affiliation, I will learn some more about it.
What do you think about a young girl who might look at your team and think either that 1) She's not pretty enough or 2) she *needs* to dress in an overtly feminine or provocative manner no matter what she's doing? Also, do you think that what you're doing promotes a healthy sense of self?
I suspected that your team might be in the vicinity of first place. Have opponents or fans ever underestimated the team because of it's image?
Next time I'm in Manhattan Beach while you have a game I'll be sure to stop by.
-Fake Sigi
If you look at our roster, we have girls of all shapes and sizes. In addition we are a multicultural group, and we have never turned any player down because of the way they look. Some girls on the team are more feminine then others, and we celebrate them all for their uniqueness.
We don't even turn girls down if they lack the skills, instead we train them to become better.
We don't knock each other down, we lift each others spirits.
Trust me when I say those thirteen year old girls you are worried about are exposed to much worse things in the world than our team. (However, the video wasn't indented for thirteen year old's period.) I myself have to look at magazines and know that I will never be a size zero six foot tall specimen. To be fair, my gut is flopping around in the video.
Plus, they wear much less clothing in Volleyball and Tennis than our red tank tops and black shorts. Or is this a question of body size and curves. Would it be less offensive if we were build like Gabriel Reese, and some of us didn't have wider hips or bigger cup sizes?
"Also, do you think that what you're doing promotes a healthy sense of self? " --- Internally within our group we promote making ourselves the best that we can be.
I want every girl on the S.O.S squad to feel like a million bucks, because she herself is exposed to a world that tells her otherwise on a daily basis. After being beaten down by society, I want the girls of S.O.S to get in the game and win.
I want the girls of S.O.S to feel good about themselves on every level, and too feel adequate about their own looks.
In the end of the day, it's all about having a great time on the soccer field.
Please forgive us if we want to look pretty, as well.
We look forward to seeing you at our next game.
Let me be clear that I don't find your team offensive, nor am I bothered by women who have hips and curves and show them off. Women with all kinds of bodies are beautiful.
To me, though, it seemed like the response of most men in the blogosphere to your team was simply "slobber, drool." I felt like that raised some issues and questions that could be discussed.
I think it's great that your team is inclusive and charity minded, and I appreciate your willingness to discuss things.
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