I would like to begin this article by qualifying everything that I am about to say with the following statement: I genuinely harbor a deep personal hatred for Caleb Williams. As a former diehard Notre Dame Football fan who knew the lyrics to the fight song by heart and had been raised to vehemently loathe any person wearing a University of Southern California (USC) uniform, nothing quite enraged me like watching Williams play football. He was simply an irritant—a small, annoying blur of crimson and yellow that somehow always found its way into the endzone. Yet, despite all this personal animosity that I feel towards Williams, I nevertheless feel the need to defend him in the present moment, the backlash that he has recently received for presenting himself as more feminine going directly against my basic moral precepts.
Elaborating on this, Williams, the presumptive first pick in this year’s rapidly upcoming NFL Draft, has recently seen the conservative side of the sports world release hell upon him for the nontraditional changes that he made in relation to the presentation of his gender identity—namely, the painting of his nails and the wearing of a red dress for the cover of GQ Magazine. Moreover, the vast majority of this conservative backlash has actually come in the form of the parroting of the intellectually bankrupt criticism that ultimately amounts to the idea that, following Williams’ efforts to degender himself, he is now simply too effeminate to play in a “man’s game” like football. Some have even gone so far as to say that, despite his transcendent talent, they would simply not want him on their football team, his more feminine presence having the potential to fundamentally soften a team’s ethos.
Thus, what the sporting world essentially has on its hands with the Williams situation is largely what has occurred again and again across the broader American socio-political landscape: conservatives making bad faith, illogical arguments in reaction to their precious gender norms being undercut or subverted in some ultimately inconsequential way.
For instance, what is being said about him not being able to play football due to his recent degendering efforts makes no sense, considering that cosmetic changes have no real connection to the game of football. What does his having his nails painted have to do with his ability to read a defense before the snap? Nothing. Quite literally nothing. Or, better yet, does his choice to wear a dress have anything to do with his chances of escaping an incoming edge rusher? I would venture to say no, considering the fact that (and this is just pure speculation on my part) he will likely be wearing pads and a uniform during games.
And even if for a moment we do actually take seriously the ridiculous statement that his choice to ultimately subvert gender norms does somehow harbor the potential to detract from his toughness, one simply cannot deny the fact that his degendering has done no such thing in the past. Williams has inarguably been one of, if not the most, productive players in college football across the past few seasons despite his more gender-fluid manner of presenting himself. His stat line is utterly ridiculous: Williams has thrown for over 10,000 yards and 93 touchdowns and has run for an additional 966 yards and 13 touchdowns more while donning thick coats of nail polish. Even more, he has consistently proven himself to be a leader in more than just statistics, with those successful teams that he played for at USC and the University of Oklahoma having rallied behind him time and time again despite his refusal to conform to hyper-masculine standards.
Take, for instance, what his former teammate Tahj Washington had to say about the experience of playing alongside him: “It was an exceptional experience … [Caleb’s] a phenomenal player as we all know, but [an] even better person… Just being able to see him every day be the person he is with so many distractions around him and still be able to perform. Just take notes from him.”
I think the irony of this whole situation is that there truly are flaws with Williams’s manner of playing football that can be genuinely critiqued in good faith. Yet, many are simply ignoring them in favor of ugly and hateful rhetoric that ultimately has no connection to reality. For instance, instead of complaining about that time when he wore a dress, one could actually add something productive to football discourse by pointing out that Williams played under a bizarre, wholly unstructured offense while at USC: one that will be nothing like anything that he will eventually play under in the NFL. Moreover, his tape often shows him holding onto the ball for too long and consistently refusing to take the easy throws. Yet, instead of potentially pointing out this very valid concern, we see many in the sports community rambling about his atypical gender presentation that ultimately has no bearing on the game of football. What a sad time to be alive.
