In North American social, cultural and political discourse, soccer mom broadly refers to a middle- or upper-middle class woman who spends a significant amount of her time transporting her school-age children to activities such as soccer practice. The male equivalent, soccer dad, is less-used.
Defining the soccer mom
The term has been traced to Ludlow, Massachusetts, where a report came out that a man absconded with $3,150 raised for the benefit of a local soccer league. It is unclear whether a newspaper story or a television news report was the first to use the term.[1] The term came into widespread use in the 1990s, notably during the 1992 and 1996 presidential campaigns and has been in use ever since.citation needed
In a literal definition, soccer moms have children who play soccer. The term has been extended in popular culture to include mothers anxiously running their children errands in oversized SUV vehicles while chatting on their cell phone. To some extent the phrase has begun taken on a negative stigma. Nissan, who had for several years courted the "soccer-mom" image, repositioned its Quest minivan as "stylish, sexy and desirable" [2].
In Australia
The phrase "soccer mum" has recently started to be used in Australia in the context of Australian national politics. In May 2007, the conservative Liberal Party government announced that families will receive up to $8,000 per child in a one-off election-year bonus to reduce the cost of childcare. It was reported that the payments were aimed at the group known politically as "the soccer mums".[3]
In popular culture
These are books, films and other media relating to this cultural concept.
- "Soccer Moms," a poem by Paul Muldoon, was originally published in The New Yorker, and it appears in Horse Latitudes (2006).
- "Volvo Driving Soccer Mom" by Everclear is a humorous take on soccer moms and how they were out of control teens.
- Many members of the United States women's national soccer team are, in fact, mothers who play soccer.
- As an adult film genre: there are a few series of MILF oriented adult films that play on the soccer mom cultural concept. This is strictly a US Adult Film Industry title phenomenon that has not spread outside the U.S.citation needed
- Popular American Punk Band The Vandals recorded a song 'Soccer Mom' on the album Internet Dating Superstuds.
- In the "Mind Over Murder" episode of the American animated television series Family Guy, Peter is at a soccer game and asks: "Quagmire, what are you doing here?" Quagmire then responds "Oh, you know, soccer moms" then points at a group of attractive women and says, "Hehe, allllright!"
- In Hannah Montana, when Miley tells her friends to run, Jake says "why?" and Miley yells "Soccer mom with a taser!!"
See also
References
External links
|
