I came across a post today on the Smart Like Me blog about the double standards of women’s sports uniforms in which she made a brief comment about the WNBA:
Without further editorializing on the seeming requirement that female athlete’s garb be “sexy” (save for those nasty lesbian WNBA players, snark), I read these 2 posts today..The brief comment highlights an issue that Patricia Nell Warren wrote about in a previous article for the Women’s Sports Foundation:
Different sports have responded in different ways to LGBT athletes and coaches coming out. In the sports based on individual performance, there has been less resistance to change and less open homophobia. But many team sports have a long way to go before we will be happy with their attitudes and practices!But while the "garb" of female basketball players isn’t expected to be sexy, more and more the women are. As one of the quoted blogs (Uncensored Feminista) writes:
It’s as if they need to show their sexiness and their femininity in order to be recognized for the players that they are. This sounds a lot to me like what’s happening with the WNBA and how the women are being sent to charm school. I also wanted to mention that we don’t see male athletes in their tighty whities to promote themselves. Granted Michael Jordon has the Hanes endorsements but have you ever seen an ad of him in underware or half naked? Have you ever seen him wearing less clothing than what he would wear on the court? Why do women have to expose themselves in bikinis and lingerie, which is NOT something they should be seen in public in period, not like the article suggests.Although some people may complain that continuing to point this stuff out is just getting “old”, the fact that it continues to happen despite repeated claims of “progress” make it worth calling attention to.
Great food for thought in all of those posts.
Relevant Links:
Link to Warren's previous article can be found here:
http://rethinkbball.blogspot.com/2008/07/cultures-paranoia-about-female-athletes.html
Logging you in...
Helen · 872 weeks ago
Starting with the off topic, I'm old enough to remember Jim Palmer in briefs: http://www.freaknoodles.com/images/jimpalmerunder...
IIRC it was pretty daring back then... A quick google produced this link to an article/blog entry?: Sexing Up the Male Athlete:
http://www.afterelton.com/archive/elton/people/20...... which reminded me of the Beckham adverts..
Speaking of Beckham and tighty-whiteys -- I'm guessing it's not the audience who would object to, say, the male beach volleyball players wearing something speedo-esque as they fling their oh, so masculine bodies into the sand... it would be the players because... well... everyone could see and measure their... endowment. And that could be SO damaging to their self image!!! Imagine if the web was full of photos of their.. volleyballs... if interview cameras drifted from their face towards their southern parts.... oh, what would the poor boys do?!?! :-)
And I'm not going to even touch the boys of WWF and Ultimate Fighting...
Getting back to the W and basetkball, Pat Griffin spoke up in a recent interview:
I was disappointed to read about the make-up and fashion workshop conducted for the WNBA rookie players this year as part of their orientation—particularly hearing league officials saying that the players are "women first," as if to be a real woman you have to wear make-up and Gucci stiletto heels. It reminded me that women athletes, or at least the people running the WNBA, are still defensive about the perceived "femininity" and heterosexuality of the players. Not all the players are fashion models or married to men. Everyone knows that. I think fans are becoming more comfortable with this diversity. I just hope the WNBA can catch up.
http://www.beaconbroadside.com/broadside/2008/06/...
And off-baskeball -- i caught a little of Judy Rankin and some other guy talking during a LPGA broadcast (Creamer's win) and they were focusing on the return of the golf skirt, how happy the women were that clothes were being designed for them and how attractive it looked.
I'm sure they'd say exactly the same thing about the new Nike shirt that makes Tiger's eyes shine and the daring shorts that really show off Phil's leg. <g>
Q McCall 58p · 872 weeks ago
The possibility of a disconnect between the league and fans on this issue is definitely a strange situation to navigate. Part of it is probably that the WNBA is equally concerned with appealing to potential fans in addition to the ones they already have...
Difficult to strike a balance between business and politics I suppose...
Helen · 872 weeks ago
There are many reasons people aren't fans of the W -- they haven't seen it, they don't have a local team, they've never thought of becoming a season subscriber, they simply don't like the style of the game, etc. etc. etc.
"Difficult to strike a balance between business and politics I suppose..."
Just wondering -- what's the politics here? Athletes are athletes or society fears strong women so we need to make them seem unthreatening? I'd suggest that dolling up women is more of a "political" act -- retro political.
*Tongue in Cheek Side bar* Speaking of heterosexual and homosexual -- How much attention have the ads with Sir Charles and Dwayne gotten? Does anyone see them the way I see them?
"Hey everyone, we're a couple and this is our way of outing ourselves. Dwayne thinks I'm "sexy" and I make him shop for my socks."
I'm just saying -- acknowledging/implying that there are gay players in the NBA doesn't hurt the men, why should it hurt the women.
*extracts tongue from cheek -- even though she doesn't deny she sees an underlying homosexual thread throughout the adverts.*
rush my papers · 426 weeks ago