Women's Soccer and Queer Sexuality in Japan
Though perceptions of gender norms were clearly expanding, the same could not be said for female sexuality. Female soccer players who exhibited "boyish behaviors and same-sex romances" were treated, accordingly, as "naive adolescents" engaging in "childish fantasies [and] immaturity." Same-sex relationships between women in Japan, even within the world of female soccer, were not just denigrated but were, rather, entirely ignored. The companies that sponsored female soccer teams and the coaches of these teams alike were consistent in their erasure of the concept that legitimate sexual and emotional relationships existed between women.
The world of female soccer gave women a space to exhibit their individuality in terms of their non-normative aggressive behavior and boyish "soccer style" but expressions of individuality clearly did not extend into all aspects of their lives and they were still very much controlled by the norms of Japanese society and Japan's limited views about queer sexuality.