Sporty Sexism!: On Uniforms and Negotiations

A couple of days ago a friend of mine forwarded me this blog post from MomGrind regarding female athletes' uniforms. (That's right, people are now intentionally fueling my feminist rage for their own amusement! Or perhaps because I'm a lazy, lazy blogger.) The gist of the argument is that it may, perhaps, be sexist that professional women athletes wear bikinis (volleyball, running) or tank tops (tennis), while male athletes wear... actual clothes.

Now, this is not a new observation. What is interesting, however, is that this blogger emailed female athletes to ask them how they felt about the issue - and three volleyball players and one runner answered! (How she selected her sample is unclear, but to be fair, it's a blog post, not a research study.) What they said actually surprised me, as a non-athlete: less material is just more comfortable and practical. That is, easier movement, less places for sand to get stuck. I can buy that claim; it makes sense.

MomGrind, on the other hand, seems to be leaning towards a second-wave-esque false consciousness argument when she states:

Do you think these women are refusing to acknowledge they’re being exploited? Are they, as Computer Addict said, willing participants? When they choose skimpy outfits, is it a real choice, or do they feel they’re expected to look a certain way? Am I totally off base here and it’s all about comfort and performance?

Personally, I think it's more complicated than the dichotomy that she sets up. Several of the athletes say that they know these outfits may lead to men objectifying them, or only watching their sport for the sex appeal, but point out that they are going to choose what's the most comfortable to wear, regardless. It seems to me as if, far from being victims of false consciousness, they've accepted sexism as a part of their sports, and have made a conscious decision that they're going to wear what is most comfortable for them anyway. That is, they're not going to be afraid to do what they want because we live in a sexist society. I have trouble faulting them for this.

Now, this doesn't mean that we should stop fighting against sexism in media coverage and objectification of female athletes. Certainly, it is sexist for a legitimate news source to pretend that photos of women like this one are the best way to cover a sporting event:


However, I also don't think that it's very feminist to present these athletes as dupes of a system, unaware or uncaring of the issues that are going around them. There's a negotiation taking place here. As I see it, these uniforms are both fueling objectification of women's bodies and represent a sort of rebellion--a refusal to be afraid of wearing what's most comfortable because sexist assholes may enjoy in a way that was not initally intended.

That said, this argument fails to address my personal pet peeve: jewelry and skirts on women's tennis players. I fail to see the utility of this, and in fact, it seems like it would be a hinderance. I can't see a counter-reading to the obvious here--that these women feel forced to conform to the trappings of feminity even when playing their sport. But if anyone has another take, I'd love to hear it.