The book “Women Football Fans: Society, Identity, and Gender Discrimination” is written by Kerry Dunn, a researcher and professor at Metropolitan University of Manchester, who is known as a sports journalist, especially in the field of women and football. This book does not delve into the history of football and fandom, and Ms. Dunn has used less of her academic language in its writing, which makes it more appealing to read.

Many consider England to be the birthplace of football in the world, and fans of sports clubs, especially the Premier League, are always on everyone’s lips in this country. However, before this book, little attention had been paid to the phenomenon of “female football fans” in England. Of course, there have been several historical and sociological studies on women and football, but the experience of women who love football had not been analyzed. In fact, existing writings on the world of football fans generally focus on male fans and cover various aspects, from the reasons behind their violent behavior, which is condemned by society, to the indescribable love of a fan for their favorite club.

In the first section of the book, by utilizing the results of interviews conducted with a group of past and present fans of various English and Scottish football clubs, a non-stereotypical image of female football fans is presented and proven that female fans of this sport are “existing” rather than “emerging”.

The author has also tried to answer questions such as “Can women be both mothers and go to the stadium to watch football?” and discusses different aspects of being a fan, including the excitement of buying jerseys, following team schedules and matches, and how they interpret football news coverage. He proves that female football fans are no different from male fans, although the question of how women watch football and how they support their teams in fan clubs remains unclear and it is not clear to the reader whether it is possible for female football fans to behave in the same way as male fans, engaging in unacceptable and common behaviors before and after games. The answer to this question, of course, can be guessed based on the book’s goal of addressing male-dominated microcultures.

Another interesting point is that these interviews show that female football fans, despite being stereotyped as being wives or mothers of football fans and therefore dependent on men, generally go to the stadium with their husbands or life partners. However, it also emphasizes that these women are not interested in football through them and have not been introduced to the stadium, and previously had a strong interest in football.

Reading the mentioned book provides valuable and unique information about the experiences of female football fans and also challenges the reader to think about the fluid nature of identity, behavior, and action.

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Book Title: Women Football Fans: Society, Identity, and Gender Discrimination

Author: Kari Dan

Publication date: 2014

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Explanation: In introducing this book, the critique of Susan Gardner, which was published on the English website The Two Unfortunates, has been used.