Why don't men take women seriously when women say that they like sports that are predominantly followed by men?

Question

I am a woman who love football (soccer) and men always think that I don't understand football or that I follolw football only because I like the players from a phisical perspective. I have always loved football , I grew up supporting AC Milan and I still support this team, I always watch their matches and I try to watch all of them. Even if i support AC Milan I am a pretty huge football fan and I try to watch matches of other teams from the italian league, but also from English and Spanish leagues.

I know the sport, I know the rules, I know the different roles players have, but I am still seen as someone that doesn't understand football , why?

Do you think it is because of machismo? or there are other reason?

AC Milan champion of Italy for the 19th time, season 2021/2022

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

I'm a huge F1 fan. I remember reading some stat that said that women make up less then 15% of the fan base. Really and truly, I've never met another woman who actually follows F1, so it sucks sometimes to always be "the only one." I'm a part of many F1 groups and I follow a lot of the channels. My online avatar is something very neutral, so every time I make a comment, the assumption is always that I am a guy...every...single...time. I get that given that there are few female fans, but it is amazing with online anonymity how freely men speak to me about the sport. We've gotten in full on debates. I will have hundreds of likes and dozens of comments on posts, but offline, speaking to guys IRL, I get talked over or ignored a lot.

AddylynnNightingale · Accepted Answer

My friends cheered me on when I said that. Mine are more openminded maybe

YourFutureEx · Accepted Answer

Because there are a lot of fake female supporters in sports, especially in this generation where Instagram exists. Women take pictures and pretend that they support some club, even if they can't name three players, and gain a mass following from guys.

Girls also fake interest in sports to earn bonus points for attraction guys.

And there are way less female supporters than male supporters, so people generally believe that women don't like sports, and all those other stereotypes and jokes don't help either.

That's why.

But if someone tells me that she likes sports, I take it seriously. Not all men are same.

By the way, congrats for the title. Keep the dominance of Juventus in check and protect Serie A.

virginloserguy · Accepted Answer

That is because, in the sports industry, they expect a woman just to smile and interview players after games. I remember one time a woman sat on the broadcast, and this old guy said, "I don't want some woman telling me about sports." At the bar. Usually, older men say things like that.

ODC2112 · Answer

I am an Italian who does not follow football. Serie A is a boring league (no non è il campionato più bello del mondo, no). The same teams have always been winning for 20 years. No team from an average city has won it since 1984/85. A deadly bore is not that it was very different before it was boring before.

But let's get to the question. Women are ostracized because they usually cannot understand the most basic rules of the game. Take two a man and a woman at random ask questions about football and you have to what you get answered. Football cheering is basically considered to be natural for men. The expectation that we have towards women is that they are unreliable, unauthorized and not legitimate to talk about things they rarely know.
However, the vast majority of men talk about football only because they have a mouth. A tiny percentage of men understand something about football. In my life I've only known 3. The others yelled about "you saw the game on Sunday" but they understood nothing about tactics or strategy. Most women who talk about football are like the average man. They do not understand tactics and strategy other than the men who talk about football.

D_Bone_Steak · Answer

It's just unusual. I don't even like sports unless it's boxing or MMA type stuff... prefer to play myself rather than watch people play. Watching other people have all the fun has just never appealed to me. With that said I run into the same stereotype just on the other side of things. I'm a dude, so people are like, "how do you not like this?" It's like inconceivable that I just find it boring to watch other people play a game. Playing the sport is just so different from sitting there watching people play, but I try to understand why they like it. It is hard though... it's like those poker shows where you just watch people play poker... it's just ultra boring to me.

JustinTheGreat · Answer

I guess because majority of sports fans are men so it’s unusual for them to find a woman who’s so passionate for it.
but if you say that you’re a true fan and you prove that you know what you’re talking about, then at that point, they just don’t want to believe you cause of misogyny 😅

recently I was watching a video called “5 gamers vs 1 fake gamer” where 6 people had to guess which one wasn’t a true fan of video gaming. There were two women in the group. They voted out the first girl right away even though she seemed to know what she was talking about.
Then they voted out the second girl even though she literally was the one asking all the questions and taking charge of the conversation! It was pretty obvious she knew more about gaming than any of the dudes and you can’t convince me that they didn’t vote her out simply because she’s a woman. they assumed that women can’t be interested in a more male dominated activity. 😳

Anonymous · Answer

Because a lot of times women say that to make a man like her more when in reality she realm doesn’t like sports. Just the same as when men say shit they don’t really like just to get the female.

NathanDavis · Answer

let me try something.. number 3...

Bethany22 · Answer

Probably because they are cynical and assume you're just trying to be a man-izer

Aiko_E_Lara · Answer

Same reason why women don't take men seriously when men say they like [insert girly stuff here] that are predominantly followed by women

GoodGuyBreakingBad · Answer

I take women seriously if she likes sports, I believe in giving women a chance.

Yellovv · Answer

Because generally girls doesn't like football..

This_Is_My_Opinion8 · Answer

Because people believe in stereotypes.

Jamie05rhs · Answer

I believe you, Claryy.

Iron_Man · Answer

I do

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