GENDER ROLE IN SPORT AND CHEERING IN KOSOVAR SOCIETY

According to my point of view, cheering groups are often impacted and try to have access in other fields, even in those fields tied to the gender aspect.This is made evident by the fact that the Mitrovica fan club “Torcida” is openly against the LGBTI community, proving the fact that Kosovar society is homophobic, and this happened exactly on the day of the parade (2018), where in their official page they posted a photograph with an offensive homophobic caption- that was referring to the LGBTI community members.

Illustration: Argjira Kukaj

Sport as an activity exists for as long as humans have existed. But not every layer, class or even gender has had access to it. So, even in sport, social differentiation has and still exists on a social local, regional and global environment. In Kosovar society, such as in any other field of life, also including the sport field and that of cheering the male gender dominates, whether it be in numbers, or in their presence in stadiums to watch a game, or as actors in organizations, and such things. This has all to do with the patriarchal mentality in society and the late social emancipation. A situation that is translated to the fact that we (Kosovar society) give priority to the sports in which the masculine gender dominates such as in football, basketball, handball, tennis etc., and the sports in which the female gender is dominant, we (Kosovar society) are indifferent and we don’t show an interest or empathy towards them. And in cases where we are prideful of women in sports, our mind immediately goes to the “golden” Majlinda Kelmendi, and we continue to remain indifferent in other cases.

Even in the aspect of cheering in stadiums and gyms of Kosovo we can say that there is a visible difference in gender participation in comparison with previous years (for example 10 years ago) where it was unimaginable to see girls and women in stadiums and gyms. To explain this social phenomenon, we talked with Albert Mecini- sociologist, who said that “participation of men in cheering is maybe 70% and 30% of women. The reasons why this vulgarity, hooliganism, swearing, banality that is used create a bad feeling in girls, for the fact that our culture is somehow differently constructed, but realistically there are positive signs”, he said.

“Especially in cases where the Kosovo National Team plays, there’s a big attendance of girls in the stadium, because of the fact that when Kosovo plays there’s a sort of collective unification and awareness, and on the other side also another kind of self-control”, noted Mecini. So, in the lack of presence of women in stadiums and gyms, of course that bad behaviour of men has a big impact, where there are lots of cases where a performative kind of masculinity exists in their songs and inscriptions.

According to my point of view, fan clubs are often impacted and try to have access in other fields, even in those fields tied to the gender aspect.

This is made evident by the fact that the Mitrovica fan club “Torcida” is openly against the LGBTI community, proving the fact that Kosovar society is homophobic, and this happened exactly on the day of the parade (2018), where in their official page they posted a photograph with an offensive homophobic caption- that was referring to the LGBTI community members.

The group “Plisat” in the night of 14 December 2012 when the presentation of an edition of a magazine called “Sex” was foreseen, the cheering group “Plisat” have attacked and harmed some, the crowd yelled out homophobic and sexist slurs, calling for their exile. So in our society, cheering groups forget their goal and in this way, except for sports they’re also involved in other fields whether it be and maintain stereotyped and prejudices for certain social groups. Also in every cheering group during the singing of their songs there are offensive expressions used for the other cheering group and women are also included in understanding the verses, and this makes the action even tenser and touching, something that makes the girls and women present bad. And exactly on the basis of these verses the lack of women in these environments also has an impact, because of the fact that it’s comprised of swearing and offensive language and this naturally created a bad state in society, by blurring the image of society in general.

About the author: Safet Halili, 23 years old from Vushtrri, is finishing his masters in sociology.