to be offended at beach volleyball outfits

[Cheria]

I have nothing against women wearing bikinis, or even wearing nothing if that's their thing. But beach volleyball is considered a serious enough sport to merit a place in the Olympics and I think that it can't be taken seriously when the players are required to wear skimpy little outfits.

Articles like this one seem to prove my point.

There is the argument that clothes don't make the sport, and I agree. But AIBU to think that this is degrading and more treated as eye candy by randy old men (and journalists)? My sister, who is much more feminist than me, disagrees, and thinks the outfits are a celebration of women's bodies.

whatmeworry - have you no concept of choice

I expect so, the 6cm rule doesn't to my mind make any sense in athletic terms. The more the sport is watched, the more likely sponsors will invest. To keep it a spectator sport, they want it sexy.

Whatmeworry - it isn't us telling the women what to wear. It is the governing body of the sport!

In the article I cited the words sex/sexy appear 13 times. Do you think that would happen in an article about any male sport (or most other female sports)?

"I do akshully. Chauvinist just means someone with a very strong belief in the superiority of their own kind, in this context the unkind catsbumface women who hate to see other women looking good."

That doesn't make any sense at all, "akshully". What kind would we be then? You're not falling into the tired old cliche of "it must be ugly fat old women hating younger pretty ones showing their lovely bodies" are you? Tsk Tsk.

HandDived those words appear a lot nowadays in articles about women tennis players, but those individulas choose to wear those outfits to a certain extent, so it really doesn't bother me as much (though, again, reducing a professional athlete to a sex object does make my teeth go on edge - in this case it's the journalists and not the sporting federation that are in the wrong).

Me too Cheria. There is plenty to celebrate about women athletes without resorting to how they look/what they wear.

do you mean the choice element is there in that the competitors actively choose this particular sport knowing what clothing is involved? (sorry forgot who was saying that about it being a choice now)

JustFiveMinutesHAHAHA <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=1.bp.blogspot.com/_J5KONx1-3Ks/S_lW-Wl0GHI/AAAAAAAAAMg/Dl1zEGnXLw0/s1600/paula%2Bradcliffe%2Bdos.jpg&imgrefurl=barrettsfitness.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html&h=420&w=300&sz=30&tbnid=15Jm8VEnY0GCBM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=64&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dpaula%2Bradcliffe%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=paula+radcliffe&docid=HhfMUUOIMjKi_M&sa=X&ei=xmJCToWXH8-whAfYxP2xCQ&ved=0CEkQ9QEwBA&dur=282" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">not much difference

YANBU at all

I am amazed that people are not more about this actually.

The rules say you have to wear a bikini of not more than X size in order to take part.

That means anyone who wants to be a little bit more covered up, or simply doesn't find tiny pants comfortable or helpful for their sporting performance, cannot take part.

I think this is pretty . Other sports do not have rules about the size of the clothing required - especially that it has to be teeny tiny. Why on earth does beach volleyball need this rule?

"Those pants do look ridiculously small. I wonder how much of their choice is influenced by sponsorships deals."

I think the turquoise costumes (with sponsor name difficult to make out) are the cheerleaders. The players (whether the Spanish woman, or the four British women in last photo) don't have enough material for sponsor names to go on them as they are skimpy in the extreme!

Oooops - I'm wrong - by using white bottoms, the USA team do have sponsor names (see photo "Brittany Hochevar of USA serves...") though unless they have a close up shot on TV, verging towards the prurient, you'd probably have difficulty seeing what is written there!

also sponsoring banners round the volleyball court etc, not just on the clothing. Sponsors want a sport people are looking at before they are willing to spend money on it and make it worth their while printing their logo on things and having them plastered up all over the place where the camera might alight on them.

yes, but I'd bet the ones tat get the best sponsorship deals have plenty of sex appeal about them. A bikini goes with that image better then baggy shorts and top. What about athletes from more conservative countries, what if woman from islamic countries wanted to cover up more - would they still be exluded?

Quenelle - <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=womens+beach+volleyball+photos&hl=en&sa=X&rlz=1T4HPEB_en-GBGB247GB247&tbm=isch&prmd=ivns&tbnid=BsZi-afQpPxmEM:&imgrefurl=www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-161769.0.html&docid=yy6ciMlF81NssM&w=666&h=450&ei=oWRCTrK1EITWsgbVtIHmBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=320&vpy=105&dur=1057&hovh=184&hovw=273&tx=193&ty=85&page=1&tbnh=155&tbnw=207&start=0&ndsp=17&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0&biw=1250&bih=649" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">significant difference

The main difference being the runners have the choice - and that is all I ask for the volley ball players - and that is individual choice, not choice as a team. No one should be forced to wear such a skimpy outfit to play a sport.

it is a silly rule.
at the very least really

I agree with you OP.

I was also a bit at the cheerleaders (on the v short clip that I saw). Generally hate the idea of cheerleaders, but had to wonder what the point of them in this particular context was. AFAIK, cheerleaders are a troupe of women who come onto the field of play between points and, through their attractiveness and dancing skills, encourage the male sports team to play better, right? So why do we have female cheerleaders, in sexy outfits, cheering on female athletes?

Solely to increase the 'sex appeal' of the sport, as far as I can see. Which means to increase the appeal of the sport to men - clearly women as a group aren't worth courting as potential spectators.

There are some sports that play up to their slightly cheesy reputation and the outfits and the cheerleaders are all part of the experience. But an Olympic sport should take itself seriously. I will be really disappointed if there are cheerleaders in the real event next year.

can't imagine there would be cheerleaders at the olympics

no, I take that back, possibly cheer-leading would find a way into the olympics at some stage as a sport but I don't see cheerleaders for other sport arts becoming an olympic fixture

And agree with begonya - the stupid uniform rule effectively excludes teams from countries that are culturally more conservative in the way their women dress from taking part. Which shouldn't be part of the Olympic ideal.

Female track athletes have been able to participate wearing specially adapted Islamic clothing in past Olympics. There's a whole other debate there - it didn't do a huge amount for their performance IIRC, therefore prioritising their cultural compliance over their competitiveness - but the point is that they could participate.

ZZZenAgain - so why have them at the test event?

you know why, it's like scantily dressed women at car races I think , same idea for the same reason IMO

Hang, on, according to the article posted by the OP, "the bikini is entirely [the competitors'] choice"...so what is the "rule" everyone is banging on about ?

But it's an Olympic event - not a car rally. Sports should only be in the Olympics if they're intrinsically interesting enough on their own merits - they shouldn't need extraneous cheesy fluff to attract an audience.

And nor should they be using women in sexy outfits as bait to attract an audience - it sends a message that women audience members are unwelcome.

Networkguy-sponsorship isn't just printed names. The players will be attending events which will use the companies logo on and if the company pays for advertising they will expect some appearances by the players. As well as merchindise deals. Even for professional footballers they can earn as much in deals than they can playing.