{"id":30527,"date":"2020-10-27T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2020-10-27T16:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/?p=30527"},"modified":"2020-10-27T02:10:02","modified_gmt":"2020-10-27T06:10:02","slug":"sit-with-the-plastics-sg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/2020\/10\/27\/sit-with-the-plastics-sg\/","title":{"rendered":"Sit With The Plastics \u2013 U.S. Soccer\u2019s Newest Inclusive Supporters Group"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>EDITORIAL<\/strong> &#8211; If you\u2019re ever at a soccer game in the U.S. and feel out of place or don\u2019t know where to go, you can always sit with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sitwiththeplastics.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Plastics SG<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Sit With The Plastics \u2013 U.S. Soccer\u2019s Newest Inclusive Supporters Group<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/\" target=\"_self\">Last Word On Soccer<\/a> sat down with <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/moriad\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Moria<\/a> (she\/her) and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/thesoccerdomme_\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Meredith<\/a> (she\/her\/them\/they\/theirs) of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThePlastics_SG\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Plastics<\/a> to hear about their mission and how their progressive, inclusive supporters group got started.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"qme\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NewProfilePic?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#NewProfilePic<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cO51LYfiLI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/cO51LYfiLI<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; The Plastics SG (@ThePlastics_SG) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThePlastics_SG\/status\/1294314361637548034?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 14, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Women, Trans, Nonbinary, Queer: Come Sit With The Plastics<\/h3>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sitwiththeplastics.com\/about\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">mission statement on The Plastics SG\u2019s website<\/a> says they exist to create space for supporters of all MLS\/NWSL\/USL teams who are women, trans, non-binary, and\/or identify as queer. They try to do this through organizing, fundraising, and activism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Plastics is a radically inclusive space within supporters culture, which is something that was missing,\u201d Moria said in the interview. \u201cI think it\u2019s very clear from the response that people were looking for a group like The Plastics and so I\u2019m overjoyed to see that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the early spring of 2020, a picture of femme LAFC supporters went viral. Among the praise the photo received, there was also a lot of hate and accusations of the pictured fans being fake, or \u201cplastic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This led to a post on Twitter by Meredith, who joked that she was going to start her own supporter\u2019s group and the only requirement was that you had to take at least 45 minutes to get ready in order to join. That idea soon took off and The Plastics SG was born.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Remember these fans? The ones you called plastic? The ones who plan their outfits like you wish your manager planned his lineups? These are the kinds of fans we are. We\u2019ll cut you with our stiletto nails and look perfect doing it. \ud83d\udc85\ud83c\udffc <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/theplasticsSG?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#theplasticsSG<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9QLe7CqH7U\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/9QLe7CqH7U<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; The Plastics SG (@ThePlastics_SG) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThePlastics_SG\/status\/1235732864576020481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 6, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomething I found to be true in a lot of aspects of life but especially in supporters culture is women in pretty dresses with red lipstick are so often underestimated. And that is such a mistake,\u201d Moria said.<\/p>\n<p>The Plastics SG embodies that spirit. Don\u2019t underestimate a pretty face, or discount a fan that takes 45 minutes or more to get ready.<\/p>\n<h3>&#8220;As long as you identify with our mission of kind of being on the outskirts of soccer society and actively anti-racism, anti-facism, anti-homophobia, then you\u2019re a Plastic.&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"text-align: center;\">That 45 minutes to get ready is not a hard and fast rule, though, as Meredith explained.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe believe that you can support however you want to support. If you don\u2019t wear makeup and you\u2019re most comfortable in hoodies and blue jeans you can still be a plastic. If you want to wear a custom-made ball gown like those amazing LAFC supporters: Do that. It\u2019s basically just however you feel comfortable to support your team. However you feel comfortable presenting, even though that may vary on some days, depending. As long as you identify with our mission of kind of being on the outskirts of soccer society and actively anti-racism, anti-fascism, anti-homophobia, then you\u2019re a Plastic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The name \u201cThe Plastics\u201d is a reference to the movie Mean Girls. Their motto, \u201cSit with the Plastics\u201d and \u201cYou can sit with us\u201d is a reference to a line in that movie where someone says \u201cYou can\u2019t sit with us.\u201d This phrase was chosen to highlight inclusivity and the concept that anyone is welcome to sit with The Plastics Supporters Group.<\/p>\n<h3>Who Is Not Invited To Sit With The Plastics?<\/h3>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Because DLH is a white supremacist and anyone arguing against that&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/uyfMmSBsZh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/uyfMmSBsZh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; The Plastics SG (@ThePlastics_SG) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThePlastics_SG\/status\/1299573271927681025?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 29, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>While their message is one of \u201caggressive inclusivity,\u201d not everyone is invited to sit with the Plastics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only people that aren\u2019t welcome are people that are filled with hate,\u201d Moria said. \u201cAnyone can sit with us, everyone can sit with us, but not if you\u2019re a racist, not if you\u2019re homophobic, not if you\u2019re transphobic, not if you perpetuate any kind of hatred.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor me personally [The Plastics] means having a place that\u2019s accepting and open no matter how you want to support, how you want to look while you support, what you identify as, it doesn\u2019t matter, Meredith said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of giving a place to everyone who\u2019s felt alienated by hyper-masculine soccer culture \u2026 Just finally making our own space where we can be ourselves and support our own teams how we want.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Organizing, Fundraising, And Activism Of The Plastics SG<\/h3>\n<p>If you sit with The Plastics, you\u2019ll also have a front row seat to all of the causes they support and activism they do. This includes creating merchandise, affiliations with teams and supporters groups, and hosting live streams \u2013 all of which is done to benefit charitable causes. Recently, they collaborated with Motorik FC to create this unique kit:<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/MotorikFC\/status\/1319732231200493574?s=20<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur jersey itself is a charity endeavor as well. Fifty percent of the proceeds are going to an organization called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nccjtriad.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NCCJ of the Piedmont Triad<\/a> which is an organization based in North Carolina that provides anti-bias and anti-racism trainings,&#8221; Moria explained. \u201cBut they also host a really incredible program every year for their students and participants called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nccj.org\/nccj-anytown\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ANYTOWN<\/a>, which is kind of an inclusive safe space for these students to explore a variety of topics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All of The Plastics&#8217; affiliations and merchandise have that same message of aggressive inclusivity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that summarizes us up really well and summarizes \u2018you can sit with us\u2019 thing. Aggressively inclusive, aggressively diverse, aggressively anti-fascist and anti anything that\u2019s bigoted,\u201d Meredith said.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">One hell of a good day to check the mailbox. Gracias <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThePlastics_SG?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@ThePlastics_SG<\/a> for the wonderful collaboration. Gracias <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LosVerdesATX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@LosVerdesATX<\/a> members who each and everyday bring their ideas and amazing art to be the best soccer community Austin can ask for. &amp; gracias <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CapCitySC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@CapCitySC<\/a> for the stickers. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3rod1tAkf3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/3rod1tAkf3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Gabriela Navarro (@gabynavarro24) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gabynavarro24\/status\/1316448600482865153?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 14, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>#OperationFierceLove Raises Over $1,500 To Sponsor Kits<\/h3>\n<p>#OperationFierceLove is another project that Plastics community members are working on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[#OperationFierceLove] started as a desire to sponsor a Motorik FC for a queer black supporter and send that to them with a handwritten letter,\u201d Moria said. \u201cSince then has turned into a giant project. Last I checked they\u2019d raised over $1,500 in order to sponsor Motorik Plastics kits for queer, black, indigenous, or people of color.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheAuracl3\/status\/1316063349545852929?s=20<\/p>\n<p>Follow the hashtag <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/OperationFierceLove?src=hashtag_click\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#OperationFierceLove<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n<h3>The Plastics Wouldn&#8217;t Be Possible Without The Help Of Its Community<\/h3>\n<p>While the leaders of The Plastics are frequently in the spotlight, Moria and Meredith are quick to heap praise on their community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe generosity of our community continually shines through \u2026 We genuinely have generous, caring, loving people that have built up the Plastics Community,&#8221; Meredith said. &#8220;We do a lot of work but we don\u2019t do as much work as our community does. So shout out to them for always coming through with like every fundraiser.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If you want to join The Plastics, become an affiliate, or create your own Plastics SG for your local club, reach out to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThePlastics_SG\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@ThePlastics_SG<\/a> or email them at <a href=\"mailto:admin@sitwiththeplastics.com\">admin@sitwiththeplastics.com.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>As they say, anybody and everybody is welcome to sit with The Plastics.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Do you like wearing pink? (Be honest!)<\/p>\n<p>Do you like wearing pink on Wednesdays? (It\u2019s what we do \ud83d\udc95)<\/p>\n<p>Do you consider yourself a member of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThePlastics_SG?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@ThePlastics_SG<\/a>?<\/p>\n<p>Do you want to be a part of something special and fabulous? \ud83d\udc96<\/p>\n<p>Slide into our DMs if this applies to you! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/zmxaCK1PX6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/zmxaCK1PX6<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; The Plastics SG (@ThePlastics_SG) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThePlastics_SG\/status\/1320149854274965511?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 24, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"FBmdadfwT8BF9GbeLLNazg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1163753329\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'FBmdadfwT8BF9GbeLLNazg',sig:'PE4Zp66vi-YnAYjOaHbgTsqJpp65Rs888-4qi702VJ8=',w:'594px',h:'395px',items:'1163753329',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EDITORIAL &#8211; If you\u2019re ever at a soccer game in the U.S. and feel out of place or don\u2019t know where to go, you can always sit with The Plastics SG. Sit With The Plastics \u2013 U.S. Soccer\u2019s Newest Inclusive Supporters Group Last Word On Soccer sat down with Moria (she\/her) and Meredith (she\/her\/them\/they\/theirs) of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3609,"featured_media":30550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3984,3874,3985],"class_list":["post-30527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-supporters-group","tag-the-plastics-sg","tag-the-plastics-supporters-group"],"modified_by":"Matt Pollard","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3609"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}