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I recently stumbled across a sales pitch on a website that made me do a double-take. Someone was promoting artwork celebrating the US Women’s Soccer Team, who just won the World Cup. Buying this artwork, they claimed, was a great way to show my feminist credentials.

Say what? I can only be supportive of women’s soccer if I’m a feminist? (It’s possible they printed this tongue-in-cheek, of course.)

Can’t I just be proud of their accomplishment? Women’s soccer in the US, as I understand it, is much farther along than Men’s soccer, and that’s even with a professional soccer league helping develop male talent. So…go US women! You rock! If I was inclined to watch soccer at all, I’d be happy to watch you!

But why on earth would I have to identify as a feminist in order to support them? It makes no sense. Or am I getting it backward? Does my supporting them make me a feminist? If that’s the case, I guess I’m a feminist. I’ve not particularly cared whether it’s male or female atheletes I’m watching–on those rare occasions I watch any sports at all. When I watch the Olympics I’ll watch whichever event they’re showing, and I’ll cheer just as hard for the women as for the men. So if that makes me a feminist, I guess I’m okay with that.

Or do I have to buy artwork celebrating women’s teams’ success to be a feminist?

If that’s the case, I’m not a feminist. Sorry about that. But at least I believe in equal opportunity. I don’t buy artwork celebrating male sports success, either. So I’m not a masculinist, either.

What I probably am is someone who doesn’t care that much about sports, male OR female. What would that be, a non-athleticist?

Is that okay, or am I adopting a risky label here?