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MFW
@mfwitches

11,740 followers

Here’s a story about being a sporty woman in Australia today. It started when I was 2 years old and my grandpa signed my younger brother for a footy membership after birth … but not me or my older sister. When I was 7, my other grandparents won a raffle and saved the new basketball in it to give to my brother *in front of my sister and I* as he was the oldest grandSON. When I was 12, my school banned girls from playing footy on the oval since sometimes when we played our knickers showed (and we weren’t allowed to wear shorts). When I was in Year 12 and won the Open Cross Country Run at school, my dad asked my younger brother how he went yet didn’t ask me till my mother made him. (My father was a kind, decent man, but very much a product of his time.) When my son played Under 10’s Aussie Rules and I ran water for them all year but at end-of-year photos the coach wouldn’t allow women helpers in it (but all the male helpers were fine). This is an incomplete list. And it’s minor in the scheme of discrimination people face. But almost every woman has these stories. Men do face unfairness, but they don’t face systemic oppression just for being male. Yet for women it’s normal, and we’ve been psychologically braced for the hurt since we were girls. There are media stories out about the harm Matildas players faced, too. One said she had to play for boy’s teams all her youth. Others have said how often they’ve played to crowds of a few hundred. So their current achievements were gained despite the male derision running like a poisoned stream alongside everything they did. And the guts displayed is even more remarkable as they all had to overcome these painful barriers and still win. They’re heroes in ways male sporting stars rarely are, which is why women are so proud. We recognise the slog just to survive in a world dominated by men’s power. So it feels like a victory for all women, and an even bigger one for girls who’ll suffer less in future because of this win. There are no words for how wonderful they are, what we owe them, and how much we wish them well this coming week. Forever and ever, let’s play like GIRLS. #PlayLikeAGirl