Re: Soccer Moms?

[Jim Burnes <jvb@ssds.com>]

On Tue, 13 Oct 1998, Brown, R Ken wrote:

> In the middle of an interesting article about digital cash, forwarded
> here by Bob Hettinga, there was the line:
> 
> > After all, the kind of soccer moms who elected Bill Clinton
> 
> "Divided by a common language" as I am  I genuinly don't know what that
> means. And I can't even guess from context. I'd have expected a dig at
> liberals or feminists or welfare recipients at that point; and I can't
> work out what soccer has to do with it.
> 
> Do mothers play soccer much in the USA?
> 

etc...

The answer you search for is:

In US primary schools (mostly in affluent suburbs), soccer (football)
is a very popular fall/winter sport for ages 7-14.

Soccer moms are the mothers that haul their sons and daughters around
after school and on Saturday mornings in minivans to these games.

"Soccer moms" connotes a particular kind of woman.  Its difficult to
give you an exact definition although its usually slightly deragatory.
Lets try to describe her:

Middle to Upper Middle class
White
Mid-thirties
Average Intelligence
Thinks Bill Clinton is a Stud
Probably a Career Mom and thinks working 9-5 in a big corporate
arcology is a pretty neat thing
(not relative to unemployment, but relative to others who think its a
trap)
Probably religious, either WASP, Catholic or Statist.

This, at least, is the stereotype.  YMMV.

Jim