Just after female curiosity and enjoyment in watching the NFL this past season reached all time highs, the recent speech given by Kansas City Chiefs kicker, Harrison Butker, has reversed this trend and given women a reason to lose interest.
On May 11, Butker, the kicker of the superbowl champions, The Kansas City Chiefs, gave a commencement speech at Benedictine College, a Catholic liberal arts college in Kansas. In his speech, Butker encouraged the women in the audience, now that they have completed their college education, to return back to their homes, get married and start a family. Rather than be celebrated for their achievements and motivated to strive for a successful career after college, these women were told that their lives haven’t even started yet, for they will only start once they enter their roles as a wife and mother. His message immediately resulted in outrage from women all around the country, as these students were being told that their immense hard work and effort throughout their college careers will get them nowhere, except for back home.
A former NFL sideline reporter, Lisa Guerrero, shamed not only the kicker, but also the NFL for promoting such a degrading idea.
“Hey NFL — If you want to continue to grow your female fan base and any other marginalized group (straight white men are already watching your product), come get your boy,” Guerrero said.
To actually enforce his message, Butker quoted Taylor Swift, which was even more shocking to hear because her appearance at NFL games is a large part of what encouraged her female fanbase to start watching and learning football.
“‘As my teammate’s girlfriend says, ‘familiarity breeds contempt,’”’ Butker said.
Taylor Swift is known for her strong opinion on equality, and is especially outspoken on women’s rights, so choosing to quote Swift’s lyrics to add to the idea that women belong in the homes could have been taken as offensive by the songwriter.
The NFL should strive to be a welcoming community to males and females alike. Pushing women away through players giving speeches such as Butker’s is degrading and offensive to females.
