Iñako Díaz-Guerra
Updated Friday, February 9, 2024-23:49
Taylorceno Welcome to the era of optimism, empathy and emotion of Taylor Swift
Sara Carbonero 'The Times' blames the journalist for Spain's defeat
Edurne explodes in the face of sexist attacks received for De Gea's performance
"Yoko Ono is to blame for everything," Def Con Dos sang in 1995 about the dissolution of a musical group in 1970. And, although anyone who has seen the fabulous documentary Get
Back
intuits that the Japanese artist's role in the breakup of the Beatles was just watching with boredom how two alpha males butted heads until they burst, the phrase and the suspicion are still valid in 2024.
Today,
Taylor Swift
is Yoko Ono.
This Sunday the NFL
Super Bowl
takes place in Las Vegas between the
San Francisco 49ers
and the
Kansas City Chiefs,
current champions and one of whose stars,
Travis Kelce
(nine-time
all-star
and one of the three best in history in his position,
tight end
) got a girlfriend at the beginning of the season. The point is that the couple in question is the most powerful woman in America right now. Yes, she is Taylor Swift, the same one who just swept the Grammys, who could decide the elections if she openly supports Biden
and
whose
The Eras Tour
has raised a billion dollars during its first year. And she still has another one left...
The story is beautiful, the stars from different worlds meet, fall in love and eat partridges, but sports fans don't work like that with their heroes' partners. As soon as she appeared cheering him on in a box and giving him a kiss after a victory, she began the hate campaign. First they blamed Kelce's poor start to the league on Swift and not on the injury she was suffering from. Now that she is completing a sweeping
playoffs
, the complaint is that the singer appears too much on screen and
"doesn't matter in a stadium" because she is not a "real fan"
, despite being a declared fan of the Philadelphia Eagles long before everything. this.
Conspiracy theories
"We're sick of seeing it!", "it distracts from the game", "it seeks attention" (as if it needed it). These messages have not only come from Twitter users and fan websites, but also media of the caliber of ESPN,
Sports Illustrated
or
USA Today
have given rise to criticism of this type and even conspiracy theories such as that dating It is nothing more than an
advertising montage
, which is a Democratic political maneuver (Kelce, face of the Pfizer vaccines and one of the few white people who followed Kaepernick and kneeled against racism during the anthem, was already pointed out by
QAnon
) or that everything is rigged for the Chiefs to be champions. Even the presenter of the
Golden Globes
, comedian Jo Koy, made a joke about the subject that caused zero laughter and a cold look from the singer that Koy will not soon forget.
"Too many men continue to have a problem assuming that women are comparable to them and it bothers them especially when this power appears in spaces that they consider theirs, such as sport. This is where this perverse and harmful discourse of belittling them, refuting their merits and insulting them begins. "But
it is nothing more than insecurity in the face of a strong woman
capable of overshadowing a reference for them, incapable as they are of having a woman as a reference," explains Octavio Salazar, professor of Constitutional Law and author of
The Man We (No) Should. be
.
Swift is not the first nor will she be the last. Supermodel
Gisele Bündchen
was blamed by fans and journalists for her ex-husband,
Tom Brady
, the best quarterback ever, retiring. Dallas Cowboys fans boycotted actress
Jessica Simpson
for going on a trip with
Tony Romo
, the team's star, on the days off before a
playoff
game they lost. When
Aaron Rodgers
broke up his relationship with his parents and siblings, the media rushed to blame his then partner, actress
Olivia Munn
, even though they started dating when the four-time MVP had not spoken to her for a year. his family
Piqué and Shakira in 2019, when they were still a couple.AP
But we don't have to go that far, in Spanish football there is no shortage of examples. The initial spell of the kiss in South Africa did not prevent
Sara Carbonero
from being massacred from then on, both while carrying out her work as a journalist and as a result of the confrontation between
Iker Casillas
and Mourinho. Again, a clash between two men turned a woman evil.
Shakira
endured entire stands insulting her while she was with
Piqué
. The singer
Edurne
exploded when her networks were filled with sexist comments after the Europa League final between Villarreal and United, in which her husband,
David de Gea
, did not save any penalties in the shootout. The actress
Sara Sálamo
was the focus of the anger of many fans during the last years of
Isco
, his partner, at Real Madrid.
"If I played badly, it was my fault and the level of insults and machismo was terrible. My boy knew me through my career as an actress. I already made a good living, but I continued to receive belittlement every day, as if I were with him for being famous. And then they started saying that he was in decline because of me, as if I played. It was very unpleasant," Sálamo recalls. Isco has once again performed at a very high level at Betis but, surprise, now no one is holding his wife responsible for it: "Nothing, nothing, now I no longer influence," she laughs.
"If I played badly, it was my fault and the level of insults and machismo was terrible."
Sara Salamo
"It is much easier to hate women than to hold men responsible for their mistakes or failures. Misogyny in these social spheres motivates women to be seen as threats and as terrible seductresses. Pointing out the partners of these men as evil caricatures contributes to the dehumanization of women and reinforces the stereotype that a man is a fool capable of losing his mind over a girl and who lacks self-control," analyzes philosopher and sexologist Loola Pérez. And Salazar concludes: "
It is a fundamental myth of patriarchy. From Eve in Paradise to the femme fatale of film noir
, it is a stereotype that has been repeated a thousand times. It is a very infantile position and the arguments for these tantrums are very weak." .
And so flimsy. Do you know how much time the cameras focus on Taylor Swift during Chiefs games? According to a study by
The New York Times
, 25 seconds on average in broadcasts that last more than three hours. I repeat: 25 seconds. Now think about how many shots you have seen of
Jack Nicholson
on the Lakers court or how
Drake
became more of a protagonist than the players themselves in the 2019 NBA Finals between Toronto and Golden State. In Spain, any actor who is going to promote his latest series at a League match has more screen time. How many complaints did you hear? In any case, it won't matter.
"A very conservative league"
"The Taylor Swift effect exists and it's fantastic for us,"
NFL
chief
Roger Goodell
said this week. And so much... Since the artist's emergence, American football viewership in the US has increased by 53% among girls aged 12 to 17, 29% among adult women and 7% in total. The estimated impact for the NFL brand for appearing linked to the singer in different media is
330 million dollars
. Kelce's jersey has sold 400% more than last season.
"Although it is improving, the NFL is a very conservative league, both in terms of the owners and a large part of the fans, which is why I am not surprised by the reaction. It is unfortunate, but to be expected. However, the owners, above all, think in dollars. Taylor Swift doesn't need the NFL, but for the league it is a goldmine and it is going to exploit it to the fullest. If 10% of those young girls who are coming for her stay, it will already have been a blessing," reflects
Rubén Ibeas
, star commentator of the NFL in Spain.
Tomorrow is the
Super Bowl
and
Taylor Swift
will arrive on time after performing the night before in Tokyo. She will appear on screen and hatred and insecurity will once again plague the
machosphere
. "She wasn't aware of having pissed off a few parents. Well, they'll get over it," she laughed when asked about the topic. History tells us that it is unlikely that they will pass, but the
haters
have lost this battle.
Whether they like it or not, she is the powerful one.