Bypassing the gatekeepers

Spectacle, social media and women’s sport

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  • Published 20250506
  • ISBN: 978-1-923213-07-4
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IN THE OPENING scene of the Copa 71 documentary, we see US women’s soccer great Brandi Chastain watch archival football footage on an iPad. 

(Chastain is about as famous as they get in women’s football, having scored the winning, pressure-cooker penalty in the 1999 Women’s World Cup in front of what was considered a record crowd of 91,185 people. Her spontaneous post-penalty celebration saw her rip off her shirt and celebrate with a knee slide in her shorts and sports bra. The celebration catapulted her to fame and infamy, with the celebration either seen as iconic and worthy of being on the cover of Sports Illustrated or, in the eyes of conservatives, inappropriate. Either way, it attracted more attention than it should have –
so much so that Chastain ended up penning an autobiography titled It’s Not About the Bra.)

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About the author

Fiona Crawford

Fiona Crawford is the author of The Matilda Effect and The Rise of the Matildas: Inside the Women’s World Cup Campaign, and co-author of Never Say Die:...

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