Editor, the Times:

As we approach 85 years of recognizing women as "persons" under Canadian law, Abbotsford announces the formation of its own lingerie football team.

Lingerie football, a "sport" exported from the United States, is apparently growing at a rate that outstrips (pardon the pun) even Ultimate Fighting. League founder, Mitchell Montanza, calls it a "compelling opportunity" for women athletes after university "as there aren't many lucrative options for women's sports." (CTV News, Feb. 14, 2012).

I wonder how Canada's other women athletes might respond, the ones who wear clothing, but then no one's interested in what they have to say.

However, from my own experience, I have yet to hear a woman yearn to play sports in her underwear to gain attention from the good ol' boys; I have, however, met several who (even with their clothes on) would like less attention from the good ol' boys, so they can feel safe, say, running in a park, hiking alone, or walking to the car after a night class.

Though Mayor Bruce Banman and Jason Blumenfeld, manager of the publiclyfunded Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre, admit it isn't for everyone, they predict there will be a ready audience here in the Bible Belt, that city which prides itself as the bastion of Conservative family values.

And they may be right.

Abbotsford has a choice to make. UFV instructor Darren Blakeborough opines that "[w]ith the debate going on in Abbotsford about having to subsidize (the AESC) through community funds and taxpayers . . . there's probably a large group of people that would be on the fence and willing to be quiet if it was generating revenue, meaning they had to pay less taxes to support it."

I can only say that, should his prediction prove true, I'll be very glad I don't live, teach, or raise daughters in Abbotsford.

Andrea Wirrell Chilliwack