I don’t follow football much, but I love the Super Bowl. It’s an excuse for me to hang out with my friends and consume disgusting amounts of guacamole, mozzarella sticks and mini hotdogs. Don’t lie to me and say your mouth didn’t just start watering.
I always look forward to the ridiculous commercials, and sometimes I even watch the actual game. But my favorite part of the Super Bowl is hands down the halftime performance.
The 2016 Super Bowl took place Sunday at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, California. My queen, Beyoncé, joined Bruno Mars to accompany the headliner, Coldplay, during the halftime performance. The last time Beyoncé performed, her set was so intense that people were convinced she caused a power outage in the stadium. This time was no less spectacular.
She performed her newest song, “Formation,” on the field, competed against Bruno Mars in an iconic dance-off, paid tribute to Michael Jackson and casually dropped the news that she was going on a world tour via the best marketing strategy of all time. And her dancers paid homage to one of the most important political parties of the civil rights movement, the Black Panthers.
After my heartbeat lowered to a normal, healthy rate and I wiped the sweat from my brow, I started thinking about feminism, because what else would a sane person’s mind drift to while watching the Super Bowl?
Hear me out though.
In my mind, Beyoncé is the epitome of what we think of as femininity. She has long, flowing hair and glowing skin. She wears impeccable and glamorous clothing and is a wife and a mother. She’s incredibly talented and has the dedication of masses of fans, affectionately known as the “BeyHive.” And, she’s a feminist.
The Super Bowl, on the other hand, represents masculinity. But I’m definitely not saying that women don’t play an important role in the NFL. In fact, in 2014, The Washington Post reported that women make up about 45 percent of the NFL’s fan base. Plus, there are countless female NFL reporters who have become household names for football fans.
However, we have been conditioned to correlate football, and arguably sports in general, with masculinity. In my experience, men are weirdly defensive of their sports. I have quite a lot of memories of my dad escaping to the TV room with my uncles and male cousins during family parties to watch whatever big game was on, as if he were retreating back to his natural habitat.
When I worked in my town’s local coffee shop, my boss would hold annual Super Bowl bets in which suburban dads would come in and hand me hundreds of dollars in cash to store in a manila envelope in the register. They would joke around with each other about how their wives thought they were being silly, but just didn’t get the dedication.
Pop culture likes to play on this weird segregation of men and women in sports. We joke about so-called “man caves” where men watch sports without women, and how women don’t know the difference between a touchdown and a basket. We are made to believe that the only women who enjoy sports are those who are completely turned off by traditionally feminine pastimes.
Thus, Beyoncé’s importance becomes clear. She’s not a perfect feminist, but she proclaims her feminism — and more noticeably, her femininity — loudly and proudly in an arena that isn’t typically welcoming to women.
As a typically “pop” artist, she also is a victim of the nasty sexism that self-proclaimed “real music” fans fling at female musicians. We all have that one old male relative who likes to go on lengthy rants about how our favorite performers are contributing to the downfall of music and don’t have any talent.
Obviously, this makes perfect sense. Beyoncé flawlessly performing intricate choreography in the highest of heels while singing her songs in a full face of makeup exemplifies talentless trash. Give me a break.
Sexism in sports is clearly alive and well, and ideas like these are only sustaining it more. I think that’s why people get so excited about Beyoncé and her performances.
She is one musician, but her continued impact at events such as the Super Bowl promotes the inclusion of women in sports as fans, as reporters and photographers. Or as performers.
The Super Bowl has progressed a great deal in its 50 years, but like the rest of society, it has a long way to go. Hopefully, as the games go on and halftime performers continue to be booked, the NFL and its male fans will accept the fact that different genders with different interests enjoy watching their programming. It’s 2016. The Super Bowl is not just entertainment for men looking for refuge from their wives.
