Female football fans on the rise (and in great outfits)

While football is generally seen as the epitome of American masculinity, it looks like women football fans are increasing like a mofo.
While this article by USA Today had to focus on clothing in order to make this increase in female football fans interesting, we find that women’s gear made about 15% of the NFL’s total merchandise sales for the 2005 season compared with 3% in 2004.
The reason for the increase in sales may not even be due to the increase of female fans, but due to a larger production of women’s gear in general. “We’ve finally listened to the cries of women who wanted NFL product,” said Eddie White, vice president of sports marketing.
Nevertheless, women account for 43% of NFL fans, according to Shannon O’Toole, author of the book Wedded to the Game: The Real Lives of NFL Women. The article failed to mention that the book is not about female NFL fans, but is actually about the lives of football players’ wives.
While it’s great that women are being recognized as fans of football, it bothers me that they’re feminized as much as possible in the process, whether it’s discussing their football fashion habits or “wedding” them to the game. After all, we wouldn’t want the “manliness” of the game turning them butch or anything.