Varsity Blues is a movie about men who struggle to prove their manhood in the face of their coach. The conflict is that the coach only cares about winning, not the well-being of the players and the players are unhappy with the situation. Althought the conflict may be relevant to the story; it does little to emphasize the ignorance of their society towards gender conflicts. The attitude of the film is that women’s lives revolve around men. Although the women are well treated, their identity is dependant on another person. The cheerleader, Darcy, confesses to John ‘Mox’ Moxon (The main character) that she only wanted to go out with him and Lance (The previous starter quarterback) because that gave her a guaranteed opportunity to get out of their small town. Belonging to the school hero also helped Darcy feel like she was better than other women were.
The way Darcy gets both of the men to go out with her is by giving them the opportunity to prove to themselves that they are men, which is by letting them have sex with her. This reasserts the notion that women respect a real man, and how they show their respect to that man is by having sex with him. Mox’s girlfriend, Jules, is very similar to Darcy in the sense that she shows him how to be a real man. However, Jules’s case is different because with her, masculinity and femininity are not as black and white; Jules’s brand of masculinity involves loyalty, taking charge, being sensitive, appreciating others, and being a winner. Until Mox can handle all of those things, she will not go out with him. Jules shows women what it means to be a good woman, first, that a good woman appreciates the things listed above in a man and second, that a good woman loves her man selflessly without any ulterior motives, unlike Darcy.
The two other women in this movie are Mox’s mother and his sex education teacher. Mox’s mother, Mo Moxon,