to be grateful to John Inverdale......

[curlew]

... For singlehandedly making feminism's point.

If you want to retweet that quote I'm @nameequality on twitter.

I'm just so angry that the BBC's coverage of Bartoli now focuses on this stupid comment and not on her fantastic achievement. What a way to undermine her victory.

Everyday Sexism's Twitter screencaps -- this is what's bubbling under the surface of attitudes like Inverdale's. Now, I'm going to do him the credit of assuming that he'd be properly shocked and appalled by those tweets, but he needs to understand that it's all part of judging women on their looks and he's just reinforcing that.

Yes. This made my blood boil over breakfast.

How dare he say that and how dare he be allowed to get away with describing it as merely "insensitive" too!

I'm sure her father never said anything so stupid either.

Who the hell is he to suggest she needs to "compensate" for her looks?!

Not that it's anywhere near the point of things, but she's a perfectly attractive woman anyway!

I hope he gets pelted with flaming tennis balls. Or comes down with a case of flaming tennis balls..

Agree with grumpyskater and soverylucky, I think he should be sacked for this.

He has insulted Bartoli, her father, her family, women, all sports fans, and even France in my opinion. We are hosting Wimbledon and this is what a representative of our state broadcaster says about a foreign winner of Wimbledon. I think he would never have said it if she was English.

I think he has shamed us as a nation and the BBC should sack him to make up for it. Why should the taxpayer pay the salary of someone who says such things about the winner of the biggest tennis tournament in the world held in our own country?

It is a horrible, horrible thing to say and I hope he is squriming about. However, and I risk getting flamed here, does anyone remember when Clare Balding made that awful comment to that poor jockey about getting his teeth fixed? That sparked outrage too, but I don't recall it leading to calls for her to be sacked...

You're right about him insulting France, Claig.
It hasn't gone down well in the French papers.

I complained at the beginning of the coverage when one of R4's sports commentators gave a run down of one of the men's early matches (fine) and then one of the women's, in which most of what was said related to Laura Robson's 'outfit'. I remember similar issues last year. Tis very depressing

I agree re. Embarrassing Wimbledon. We are the host nation and have insulted a competitor about her appearance.

Read in the Guardian this morning that she's got an IQ of 175.
She is an impressive woman.

JI is a dumb knob.

"You're right about him insulting France, Claig.
It hasn't gone down well in the French papers."

Thanks for letting us know about that, ConferencePear.
It is an absolute insult and I can't understand why he hasn't been sacked yet.

Clare Balding's comment was outrageous. However, it was not followed by thousands of supporting tweets, and does not reflect the currently held view of men in society.

I have also complained to BBC by telephone on number provided above and encourage everyone to do so.

Bloody hell, that's unbelieveable.

Not sure he could have been more insulting, or shown himself and Britain in a worse light.

What a knob. Nasty horrible little man.

Hideous creature... Any chance of someone writing a pro forms complaint and posting an email address?

Basically am feeling v ill but still want to complain, sorry bit cheeky to ask

This sort of thing is not just limited to sport. There were loads of articles about Christine Lagarde's style and appearance when she became head of the IMF, and in 'proper' newspapers not fashion mags.

It also ties in with the baby wigs thing - the most important thing for a girl is to be seen to be pretty

Despairing

Makes me sad that this is the works my 2 year old DD will grow up in. Luckily DH hasn't got the mindset of the obviously ignorant JI & was commenting on the player's form, not looks (ex PE teacher - lurves all sports!).

I've complained too. Disgusting.

The BBC has an underlying problem with sexism and it's about time they sorted it out. Sack John Inverdale and anyone else who wants to make such outrageous comments. Parents all over the country are trying to steer their children away from this stereo idea that all women should look a particular way. Celebrity culture is rife on our TV screens, the BBC should not encourage it.
I thought it was bad enough when Clare Balding commented on a jockeys teeth but it seems the BBC staff are totally insensitive to anything outside their own particular vision. Time for a change

He also said She is an incredible role model for people who aren't born with all the attributes of natural athletes.

Odd comment. Clearly she has, like all successful tennis players, been born with all the natural attributes of athletes, and like all successful tennis players, has worked to nurture and train those.

There is no requirement for athletes to also look like models. Successful athletes come in all shapes and forms, and leg length is just one of those many attributes. Being too tall and spindly can be just as much a hindrance.

"The attributes of natural athletes" like long blonde hair and perfect teeth?

And why does the more than half of the population have to put up with the views of a rather dim middle aged man? I'm not particularly interested in what said dim middle aged man's preference in fancying women he'd be too scared to speak to is.

I've complained, about this and the shitey standard of coverage generally (crappy 'whimsical' features being shown instead of, I don't know, SOME TENNIS).

Time to put John Inverdale out to grass. And stop sending Sue Fucking Barker in to try to make them all cry. Bloody vampire.

Fucking crass no doubt, but is it any worse than what Claire 'national treasure' balding said to the winning jockey after the Grand National about affording to get his teeth done?

stick someone in front of a tv camera with no script for hours at a time and odds are they'll say something idiotic.

I was just going to mention the Claire Balding teeth thing. That was even worse IMO.

This was worse than the Claire Balding thing, because this was sexist and because we are hosting Wimbledon and the world is watching and he insulted a champion with a sexist statement that embarrasses the BBC and the nation for employing him in that role.