Strong Opinions Loosely Held Refinery29

College football has everything: devoted female fans, camaraderie and game day rituals. But the players aren’t paid, the coaches make millions and there’s a pattern of disregard for sexual assault allegations. Why do young women gravitate to college football and what feelings are they negotiating in order to stay fans? I talk to Burn It All Down co-host and investigative reporter, Jessica Luther and 3 female fans of college football to find out.   
Hey BTW: Welcome to Season 4 of Strong Opinions Loosely Held! This season is dedicated to professional female athletes and how they've survived and thrived in a sports-loving country that doesn't always love them back. 
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Despite bringing in more money and winning more games (including four Olympics and 3 World Cups), the U.S. women's national soccer team was paid nearly four times less than the men’s team. But two years ago, the team made headlines when they started a very public fight for equal pay. Since then, they’ve emerged as a role model and a valuable resource for other women’s teams like US Hockey and the WNBA. Why are female athletes paid less, even when they perform better? And how much better could they be if they had basic accommodations like extra leg room on flights to games (especially for players over 6 feet tall?). I asked sports writer Britni de la Cretaz and WNBA icon, Swin Cash.
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Hashtag: #SOLHpod #StrongOpinionsLooselyHeld

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Here's my conversation with soccer legend Abby Wambach on how the US Women's National Soccer Team became fair-pay role models and the unique terror female athletes face when they retire. 
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Instagram: @popculturepirate
Twitter: @popcultpirate
Hashtag: #SOLHpod #StrongOpinionsLooselyHeld

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There was one event this year in particular that put the topic of what it means to be a "good sport" into the cultural conversation: the women's singles final at the US Open between Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka. The match put the question of women’s anger and specifically, black women’s anger, on the national stage. I talk to Louisa Thomas, New Yorker sports contributor, to unwrap what happened and how the story of Serena and Naomi impacts all female athletes. 
Have strong opinions? Lay 'em on me:
Instagram: @popculturepirate
Twitter: @popcultpirate
Hashtag: #SOLHpod #StrongOpinionsLooselyHeld

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Ballet, figure skating and gymnastics are sports with some of the most vigorous physical and psychological training regimes and yet they’re often dismissed because the star athletes are young women in leotards with big smiles and sparkles, striving for perfection. What does our lack of respect for these athletes say about how our culture treats young women? To get some answers, I talk to award winning sports journalist, Joan Ryan, and American Ballet Theater principal dancer, Isabella Boylston.
Have strong opinions? Let's hear 'em!
Instagram: @popculturepirate
Twitter: @popcultpirate
Hashtag: #SOLHpod #StrongOpinionsLooselyHeld

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Even though Tiffany Pollard's appearance on VH1's Rock Of Love was 12 years ago, GIFs of her grandiose reactions are still used to respond to everything from an email about the broken copy machine at work to a group text about bad Tinder dates. GIFs that feature the reactions of black women from reality TV shows seem to be especially popular with white and non-black users. Elisa talks with cultural critic Lauren Michelle Jackson and UC Berkeley Center for Technology Fellow, Kate Miltner about why that might be.
What are your Strong Opinions? Let me know! 
Instagram: @popculturepirate
Twitter: @popcultpirate
Hashtag: #SOLHpod #StrongOpinionsLooselyHeld


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