concerning boobies
The NFL is recognizing Breast Cancer Awareness month by dappling in bits of pink all over stadiums and player uniforms. Aaron Rodgers wore a pink sweatband tonight, and Brett Favre wore pink shoes. It’s an interesting item of consideration. Football is typically thought of as the ultimate man’s sport (well, at least here, in a country that’s never heard of rugby), where big manful guys rage around on a full-contact chessboard. Seeing them in pink is, well, it’s funny.
But why breast cancer specifically? And is there a correlation between the advertisements one could see at the Metrodome tonight touting the newly released Cheerleader Swimsuit Calendar? I don’t want to claim that the NFL is insensitive, but why breast cancer and not, I dunno, brain cancer, or leukemia? Well, because American culture loves boobies, holds them in esteem over all other female body parts, and, perhaps, the thought of the mammaries riddled with cancer is fearsome enough for the male population that it warrants these superficial displays of concern. Because no guy ever fantasized about a woman with really, really good bone marrow.
It just seems incongruous that an organization that so objectifies and exploits the female form (gotta sell those swimsuit calendars, so, bounce titties, bounce) would so boldly and with no self-awareness promote breast health. As if there’s anything healthy about the kinds of breasts that perhaps the men who watch NFL football so rabidly would prefer. Nonetheless, big, mountainous boobies filled with saline are great, but, never, no, never, we never want our boobies filled with cancer.
Here at least, fourth grade feminine wisdom hold true: Boys are weird.
Actually, when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. As you pointed out, much of the NFL’s periphery is predicated on the objectification of the female form (in Dallas the cheerleaders seem to get more camera time than the players). So what would be more appropriate than for them to seek to defend their bread and butter. A recent “Save the Boobs” TV spot sparked a deal of controversy due to its risque nature, but the fact is, it was doing exactly what the NFL is doing, acknowledging mankind’s love of those orbs of flesh and using that for their cause. It would be a far odder juxtaposition if the league decided to support Epilepsy Awareness or something that cannot, through any reasonable means, be made relevant to the sport. But what could be more relevant to football than breasts?
I think it more has to do with the fact that of the various cancers, breast cancer is (in my mind) probably the most well known or present, at least in the social conscious. I mean there’s breast cancer walks like every month in Louisville, nine million different charitable foundations with TV ads, etc. etc.
This is also the first year the NFL has done this; the MLB has been doing it for a much longer time. This isn’t even the NFL’s most publicized charity either; the NFL has for years had TV ads for the UNited Way, Boys and Girls Club, and more recently their “Play60″ ads for childhood obesity.
Also, throw in the fact that one of THE most high profile athletes in the NFL, Brett Favre, has a wife who is a breast cancer survivor and who both have been extremely active in various cancer charities, and it’s getting harder and harder to argue that the NFL decided to support breast cancer awareness just for “teh b00bz.”
I’m not saying there’s not an audience of objectification in the NFL; check out Peyton Manning’s latest DirecTV commercial that is nothing but slow-pans of HD cheerleader boobs. But again, I think to say that the basis for the NFL adopting a breast-cancer awareness thing for one week just based on “OMG BOOBS” is a little short-sighted.