Powder Puff Is Truly Misogynistic At Its Core
Powder Puff is a beloved game to MBHS students, with people prepping weeks prior for the big game of flag football, but truly it supports underlying themes of sexism, misogyny, and gender norms. According to the Cambridge dictionary, “Powder Puff” is defined as, “An insulting way of describing someone who plays a sport in a way that is considered weak and typical of women or girls.” This statement reinforces the stereotype that women are too “delicate” for football, so instead they should be playing something more “girly” & “weak” such as flag football. The name Powder Puff itself is in no way intended to make women feel powerful and ready to play, instead it diminishes them to being too weak.
Powder Puff feeds into gender norms, saying that women don't deserve to play football, rather they wear pink and run around playing flag football - advertising it to be a way for them to play football, while men are the cheerleaders. This just exemplifies that women aren’t meant to play football, rather, they should just cheer on the men. Within society, women have always been associated with the color pink. Trying to grow, people have been attempting to move away from this idea, saying that boys can wear pink too, and that colors have no gender. But when you designate women and subject them to pink, it keeps them in that box, saying that if they want to play football as women, it needs to be feminine.
The cheerleaders being men brings in the idea that only women can be cheerleaders, since Powder Puff as a sport is supposed to be a reversal of gender roles. The more that the idea that women shouldn’t be the only ones cheerleading comes up as the world evolves, the more outdated that idea of gender roles in sports gets. Cheerleading should be an expression of support and excitement for the sport, not an expression of gender.
Powder Puff is a fun sport for the people playing, don’t misunderstand that. It just doesn’t help the fact that as a society we are constantly trying to evolve from men being above women, and women never having equal opportunity.Schools have this opportunity to create something good, but they bring in a game with a name that supports its sexist backstory.
