For this week I looked into the second chapter of Futbolera and the
first chapter of the Donoghue piece. These two pieces are rather simple to tie
together, one details the values of femininity in the nation of Brazil and the
other details the values of masculinity in Panama.
Donoghue’s piece about masculinity opens up with how there was a seeming
deficit among the male population of Panama, with many selections labelling
them as childish and a drain upon society. I find the most interesting detail
that exists in Donoghue’s discussion to be the lack of a wartime mythos among
the population due to the bloodless nature of the revolution that gave them
their independence. Even though there is that aforementioned deficit there is an
idea of what men in that society should be with an idea that men should be
macho, tough and violent, there was some room for compassion but only in the
aspect of defending their families so long as those families conformed to what
they should be. The lack of a wartime mythos makes it all the more important
when the sport of boxing found its way to the island and boxers found their way
to the mainstream consciousness of the island.
The nationalism that was lost due to a lack of wartime heroes was built upon
the international exploits of certain boxers with Panamanian people coming forward
in full support of the Panamanian boxer who stood up to American boxers who
oftentimes were not even fully educated on the significance of the interaction
for the Panamanian people.
On the flip side we can see how Brazil values femininity in such a way that
does not, at least historically, coincide with the existence of women in sports
such as football. Futbolera shows that via the lack of historical accounts
of women in the sport with their even being some confusion over whether athletes
that were recorded were women or men dressed like women. That conversation
brings up the value of feminine traits right to the forefold. Futbolera takes
a short moment to wonder what that means for the sociality of the men exuding
these traits, though the moment is short it does focus on the point that it
means there was an allure to feminine traits even in a sport such as football.
