To think beach volleyball is just an excuse for folk to perv at athletes in skimpy gear

[voluptuagoodshag]

I don't understand why it is even a distinct sport from normal volleyball. Surely it came about just because some folk were playing it on a beach? Why not then have beach gymnastics, or beach football or beach archery?

I don't think golf should be in the olympics. I don't think football should be really, or tennis. Beach volleyball seems to me to be much closer to the founding ideals of the Olympics than these highly popular sports with well (over) paid professional participants.

VPVBM - I never said that. I merely asked why it was and have thus been educated. And through the duration of many posts I have also highlighted the clothing of other sports too.
I have no caps or medals but wtf has that got to do with anything? I do have opinions, you probably guessed. And it's ok for these to differ.

VPVBM - what makes you assume that I'm not 'that' parent?

I was in the beach near me when a beach volleyball competition was going on. It did instinctively feel like perving to watch as they were wearing so little and we did question the motivations of some of the male onlookers. (We just parked and wanted to sit on the beach for a bit without realising it was on.)

I hadn't seen it before and must admit I was rather surprised!!

That's not to question the skill of anyone - but just to state how it felt having not encountered it before. It did feel odd to me.

volleyballmum - I think what we need to do is to disentangle questions about the seriousness of VB as a sport (and I agree with glinda that we should have respect for these athletes and should be reclaiming it!) from questions about the possible sexism of the way it is presented and covered.

I've been really enjoying tweets by Leslie Jones about the US Volleyball team. It's fair to say that she's a BIG supporter of Kerri Walsh Jones, and let's face it, she is seriously good so you can see why. But the way she phrases it isn't gendered. She says 'You got to understand who you are dealin' with... Kerri Walsh Jones is a M*F*G WAAAAARRRRRIIIIIOOOOOOORRRRRR". I like the way she associates the sport with power and skill, not with bikinis and male perving.

Totally agree with op. DP and his friends make the beach volleyball jokes every four years like clockwork. The clothing clearly isn't just practical, it's about how the athletes look while playing. They're stronger and fitter than I could ever dream of being but that's not the point of this thread.

Well I've read all this thread. No one is disparaging the efforts of female athletes. No one is making it all about the clothes.

It is an interesting debate about appropriate sporting clothing.

And actually, if one of my DDs was a top beach volley baller, yes of course I'd be proud. But I'd also be encouraging her to question the rather objectifying nature of the kit. Asumming that is that she hadn't picked up on it anyway, which many young women would have.

VPVBM you are having a real go at me personally because I have a different opinion.

For the record, no my kids are not elite athletes but, like most other parents, I taxi them here and there and watch what they do to cheer them on. I don't care if their chosen activity or sport isn't to everyone's liking, as long as they like doing it great. For those who are the parents of elite athletes and have to put in the extra effort, I applaud you. Have a medal yourself since you seem so bent on them. You are doing a great job. I'm not dissing the effort or the sport but I am allowed to have a difference of opinion. I have been educated on this thread to realise that beach volleyball is hard work and yes perhaps it is a sport in it's own right but I still think the clothes are inappropriate and do the sport a disservice.

veryproud, your reactions on this thread appear to be to things that people are not saying, or that they have already admitted they were wrong about.

It is not disparaging anyone's efforts to question why the uniform of a particular sport is very gendered, and apparently very sexualised. I am slightly confused about why you seem to be conflating criticism of the uniforms with criticism of the sport.

Not one single person has belittled the efforts of female athletes or of your daughter in particular

Quite the reverse in fact. What people are querying is the choice of costume which plays into the hands of people who think this sport doesn't count as sport.

As someone pointed out upthread it's not just volleyball, it's the vast majority of sports.

Someone mentioned running - look at the images.

Women run skin tight knickers and crop.tops, men wear baggy shorts/long Lycra shorts and baggy vests.

It seems to be that women's sport is more about admiring the physique, than admiring the performance and this can only be to the detriment of women's sport.

See also the huge amount of coverage about how.the media is covering women in the Olympics eg www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/the-most-depressingly-sexist-moments-of-the-olympics-so-far/

To be fair Linford Christie used to wear skin tight shorts and all people used to talk about was his tackle.

VPVBM you keep repeating the same stuff saying how much effort is involved at that level and no-one is disagreeing with you so what's eating you? You go on about support and encouragement like no-one is giving you any. What exactly are we supposed to do? Drive over en masse to Port Rush and take turns.
This was a thread about why some sports are Olympic and some are not and the over sexualisation and inappropriateness of some outfits but you keep going on about how much effort your daughter puts in and how much it costs and how much effort you put in to help her. It sounds like you're struggling under the strain of it all and are lashing out where it's misplaced.

What vuluptua said.