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Sexualization of Women’s Sports
Like many people, I have grown up watching gymnastics on TV, and I’ve always admired the strength and agility of the girls and young women. My attention was especially triggered by the latest controversy regarding the sexual abuse of the American Women’s Olympic team. Most of them were teenagers, not even through puberty, and I didn’t give any thought to their uniforms. It didn’t cross my mind that their choice of uniforms had anything to do with the abuse, and it still doesn’t.
But about a year ago, I saw a floor performance that made me very uncomfortable. The gymnast was a full-blown, mature-bodied woman, and her routine was sexy and (I thought) provocative. I watched the whole routine with a level of perplexity and discomfort, not understanding my reaction. Ever since then, I have questioned the appropriateness of woman’s gymnastic uniforms, and still don’t feel resolved about it.
A couple of years ago, some women from the German gymnastics team decided to make a change in their uniforms to a full body suit:
Per reports, the German Gymnastics Association (DTB) said the outfit change — which Sarah Voss started, followed by her teammates Kim Bui and Elisabeth Seitz — was done to take a stand against sexualization in the sport.
‘We hope gymnasts uncomfortable in the usual outfits will feel emboldened to follow our example,’ Voss told the BBC.
According to BBC, Bui, 32, initially performed in a leotard on Wednesday for the qualifying round. But after seeing Voss, 21, debut a full-body suit, both Bui and Seitz, 27, swapped outfits for the women’s all-around final on Friday.
Of course, the outfits still show nearly every nook, curve, and cranny, but the women are almost fully covered.
But not everyone is happy with changing women’s uniforms:
It’s 2021, but the policing of female athletes’ bodies is a practice that continues to thrive.
The Norwegian women’s beach handball team is in a battle with the sport’s governing bodies to wear less-revealing uniforms. After the team’s repeated complaints about the required bikini bottoms were reportedly ignored, they wore shorts during a recent game in protest and were fined 150 euros (around $175) per player.
Other women’s sports are having these conversations, too.
I realize that opinions about the exposure of women’s bodies depends on the setting: is she in a full bathing suit on the beach? A bikini thong at the pool? Does it matter how old or young she is? Does it matter if she’s appearing as a performer, or a movie star at a movie premiere?
I was intrigued by a candid and well-written article composed by a teenager for her school newspaper:
In the 20th century, efforts were made towards the feminist movement that highlighted how differently women are viewed and treated in the sporting community compared to men. Some athletes claim they were rejected from certain sporting opportunities because their bodies didn’t look ‘efficient enough.’ Doing so goes against Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which states, ‘No person in the United States shall, based on sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.’
Sports should be open to and equal for everyone. All genders should be viewed based on their athletic ability, not appearance or a strict dress code like the one females are obligated to follow. These dress codes currently being enforced should be optional; females should be able to compete in what they feel most comfortable in.
A woman should have the opportunity to choose what coverage and modesty that she wants to adhere to. These decisions should be made by the athlete.
Now there’s a word that has most definitely gone out of fashion: modesty. Does anyone care about dressing modestly anymore?
Or am I too old-fashioned and must accept that just about “anything goes”?
Published in Sports
I see the reason, but women’s track and field uniforms, especially the runners, are basically bikinis now.
My daughter-in-law is very concerned about modesty. She is amazed how even among her friends (mostly orthodox Catholics) there is a real blind spot about dressing and acting modestly.
The entire culture has been corrupted by the desire to get attention and be noticed. Clothes are just another means to do that.
I’m sorry but the whole bum shots on beach volleyball is just so obvious. I’m sure it’s ONLY to show all the great strategy (wink, wink). I thought it was great when the beach volleyball team would not wear the bikinis to play. More power to them. I’ve basically stopped watching most sports and I think part of the reason is it feels exploitative. More for women than men but it even feels that way with the guys. Track, gymnastics, swimming, etc.
My younger brother used to do bicycle racing, all the racers would shave their arms and legs; not to lower wind resistance, but to reduce damage if they fell onto pavement. Hairy arms and legs makes it a lot worse.
I’ve heard different kinds of “theories” on the shaving thing. I heard with swimmers it was analogous to swinging several bats before stepping up to the plate in baseball. One bats just feels a whole lot lighter than three, so the swing feels faster. Similar in swimming–if a person has let his/her hair grow all season, only to completely shave prior to a big meet, the swimmer feels sleeker in the water. I’m pretty sure in that case it’s all mental.
There might actually be some friction advantage to being hairless for swimming, even if it is mostly psychological. But the benefits for bicycle racing are much more definite.
I grew up around gymnastics because of my older sister. Well, really, I was dragged to meets all over the state up to my early mid-teens. I ran scores, stuff like that, even had a team shirt. BUT….
After my sister graduated I went to a meet and felt like a creep. It had been a couple years and the girls were my age. I must have been desensitized to it, but there on my own…well, I was no longer a little brother and had no connection to the team other than longtime support. It was weird, but in a “I’m here alone and what are these parents thinking of me?” sort of way. I guess that’s tacit acknowledgement of your point, Susan.
The gymnasts had nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s what the performance-oriented attire happened to be and had been for decades. I don’t recall thinking anything about it. When I think of it now, well, those outfits are thicker material than they used to be, but they also seem to be cut higher. It just seems a tool of the trade. Sure, add legs to it.
Besides I was a soccer player in the 1980’s and our shorts weren’t much when it came to modesty. It wasn’t a body suit, mind you, but not much imagination required, especially after a slide tackle.
Terry Butcher gets stuck in against Platini.
Actually, the suits are LOWER drag than bare skin. It is impressive.
Next the military will be wanting to do that.
But they probably aren’t “going commando.”
In olden days, a glimpse of stocking
Was looked on as something shocking
But now, God knows
Anything goes
This is what you really wanted:
I have many thoughts on this, but no useful ‘take’.
So . . . gymnasts and ice skaters and dancers in a burkha?
It doesn’t really work to leave it up to the athletes, either. In an artistic-type sport, where attractiveness matters, the outfits may make a difference. There is an element of eroticism that it is difficult to completely eliminate.
In my experience, the athletes or dancers who push the envelope get rewarded, which tends to cause the activity to decline into something that looks more like pole dancing.
What do volleyballs wear now?
And to the office… Yoga pants? Really?
Well they can’t be fired for it, they’ll claim it’s racism, sexism…
Have you seen a high school, or middle school dance team?
Even at my son’s Catholic high school, I could not watch the dance teams. And he chose not to watch them if at all possible for the sexualization you point out. “But it’s what everyone is doing.” Bah.
Three Dog!
Three of my kids were involved in serious dance, though at studios and not at school. I have a lot of experience watching teenagers dance, for about 20 years now.
They ended up at a studio that doesn’t do competitions. We were involved in some competitions in the early years, and the tendency was for the audience to “whoop” most loudly for the worst stuff.
My impression is that it was not the bulk of the audience. Rather, there would be one or two studios that seemed, to the rest of us, to be training the teenaged girls to be strippers — and their parents and families were the loudest.
It Happened One Night (1934). Claudette Colbert & Clark Gable. Claudette is the one with the gams.
There’s at least 2 reasons why she was a star!
Too thin. But I suppose back then, even exposed toothpicks was VA VA VOOM!!!
Compared to today’s stick actresses, I bet Claudette had some curves.
Stick? I dunno, Twiggy was a long time ago. Have you seen Margot Robbie, for example?
Too thin? Toothpicks? Really?
Still kinda thin, but what years were those photos taken?