Women FIFA World Cup

Kholosa Biyana, midfielder South African squad at the 2023 Women's World Cup.

The goalkeeper is a lady. The term lady, is the last thing on our mind, as we watch the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. It reminds me of nice girls. Nice girls don’t do that. Nice girls do this. There are countries that do not allow girls to wear pants, let alone summer shorts. That is minor, some don’t allow women to show their faces in public, period.

The goalkeeper is not a lady because the term doesn’t exist anymore. Men used to determine who was a nice or bad girl. It was a functional term, determined by how they used them, depending on the sun and moon. In Victorian England, Lady Astor danced with her husband at royal weddings, all stiff and uncomfortable because of the corset and petticoats the chamber maid fastened on her. At midnight, the chamber maid was not a nice girl, because the lord and master of the manor fastened himself on her. 

The chamber maid was not a nice girl therefore, if she got pregnant, her child was sent to the orphanage. Worse still, Lady Astor fired her because nice girls don’t get pregnant out of wedlock. What Lady Astor did not admit was that her husband was responsible. Wives know these things.

Soccer players at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup have more important things on their mind, than corsets and petticoats. They want to qualify for round 16. Unfortunately, after the World Cup, society will go back to defining them as either nice or bad girls. This time it will be us, women, doing the name calling. Why? Because of husbands and boyfriends, entities that are elusive like the wind. They cannot be contained or made exclusive. Don't believe a word Hollywood says about romance. 

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

 

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