AL.com Editor Insults Women's Football IQ in 'Fashion and Football' Article

Football season is nearly upon us and with its impending arrival comes the usual human interest pieces: How to Throw the Perfect Tailgate, How to Sneak Beer into Stadiums and other pigskin-related fare. 

While most of these seasonal sports articles are harmless, a recent piece published by AL.com food editor David Holloway has churned up a whirlwind of backlash on social media.

Titled Girls of Fall: A Night of Food, Fashion and Football, Holloway’s piece was written with the purpose of highlighting an upcoming tailgating clinic in Mobile, Ala. This distinction, however, was lost on many readers who couldn’t get past the controversial first sentence of the piece.

In his lede, Holloway wrote that football “can be a confusing and often vexing concept, especially for women.”

The face-palming introduction was noticed by Laken Litman of For The Win, and naturally, female readers weren’t too jazzed to have their football IQs spoken for in such broad strokes.

Holloway and AL.com have since issued apologies for the article. Holloway stated the article wasn’t meant for women who are “experts” in football. 

AL.com has since edited his article to “remove incorrect and offensive assumptions.”

As this story shows, it’s never safe to assume anything when you’re writing about half of the human population.

If you are going to start making assumptions, however, it’s probably safe to assume that most of your southern female readers have heard of this football thing you speak of and aren’t going to dig that lede.

If you've figured out that women don't have cooties, you can join me on Twitter.

Follow @Dr__Carson