That having a bikini wax shouldn't be a necessary part of any job?

[ThatsWotSheSaid]

I've been watching the amazing gymnastics at the olympics and every time I can't help but wonder if they are all happy to have such revealing gym costumes. I would hate to have a camera doing a slow mo when I'm legs akimbo in the air wearing so little even if the camera angles seem to be discrete.

I have tried to look up if there is a rule about the cut and if they wanted could they wear little shorts but I can't find anything. I did read if they remove a wedgie they get marked down?!

AIBU to think that in this day and age it seems a bit odd that these elite athletes need to be so scantily clad and that they probably have more to worry about than waxing, ingrowing hairs and itchiness in the run up to the games?

So your public hair is "part of the private area" but the skin it's growing on isn't?

The girls will have been wearing the 'kit' since they started gym at 3-5 years old, they wear less for training (the crops tops and sleeveless leotard mentioned). It won't come as some shock when they reach squad team selection age, or present them with some life defining 'choice' or dilemma to be presented with a long sleeved leotard.

At competition level, as you get higher level, the leotards are fitted individually, and they're very expensive and well designed. Did somebody ask, I thought they had

Well not really Bertrand you see, my hair, if left, will grow onto the top of my legs which isn't a "private area" per se, but but the hair there comes from it IYSWIM.

But Bert why do you want society to teach the lesson, why don't you? So when a young girl either your daughter or a pupil says "oh look they have no hair and make up!" The simple reply is "yes, but you don't have to if you don't want to" and the more people take the personal responsibility to educate young girls and women, and rallying on Tom Dick and Harry from the local pub to do it, then I suppose you will see change. I've never once told a pupil make up is compulsory, because it is not. I have also never told a pupil to shave any parts of their body, but you notice as they get older and start to hot puberty they become akward as their hips widen and their breasts grown and they begin to grow underarm hair, that one session they come in wearing a sports bra and have shaved, because their mother or father have probably also noticed the akwardness and asked them what they want to do.

I don't understand why you are singling out gymnasts in this argument, and as peer poll has stated 84% of a sample of Women remove body hair, so I would say its the norm.

1. I'm not singling out gymnastics. however, as far as I am aware, gymnastics is the only sport where there are such markedly different "dress codes" for men and women- and where women have no choice but to remove their pubic hair, or to wear something different to their team mates or to be subject to media scrutiny.

1. I could tell a teenage girl that whatever she wants to do is fine. But society's attitude is such that she either conforms or is on the front page of every gutter rag in the world. So the more society reinforces the norm women being hairless and painted, the less choice young women actually have.

Regarding 1. Diving, synchronised swimming, many athletics events where competitors wear crop tops and gym knocker shorts, beach volleyball, women's triathlon, ballet dancing, ice skating...... probably more but that's just off the top of my head.

1. Agree but I don't think being critical of professional gymnasts is the way to achieve that

To me a fair number of the gymnasts (at least in Rhythmic) looked like they were wearing nude footless tights.

When I competed Ina similar sport I trained in short shorts and crop tops, it's hot and sweaty training. As much as I loved my sparkly leotards and getting all done up in make up (only ever allowed for competitions so was special for me) the leotards were just too much material. The apparatus doesn't role over material on the arms and torso as easily as bare skin and I would have rather worn less. As for shaving I was under no pressure to do so, my mum doesn't remove hair but I prefer it, I prefer being silky smooth so removed the hair as I did for goin swimming.

The synchronised swimmers looked like they had very high legged swim suits on but a closer look many of them also had nude mesh and they were more a normal length.

Rhythmic nearly always wear the footless tights, and the skirted leotard.

The synchronised swimmers looked like they had very high legged swim suits on but a closer look many of them also had nude mesh and they were more a normal length

I didn't see the synchronised swimmers but the "nude mesh" features a lot in ballet and skating dresses- a costume which seems low cut in the cleavage isn't at all.

"don't think being critical of professional gymnasts is the way to achieve that grin"

Oh for fuck's sake- where have I been critical of professional gymnasts???

"Regarding 1. Diving, synchronised swimming, many athletics events where competitors wear crop tops and gym knocker shorts, beach volleyball, women's triathlon, ballet dancing, ice skating...... probably more but that's just off the top of my head."

Ballet dancers and skaters wear tights. Beach volleyball is deliberately intended to be sexually titilating. Both swimmers and runners can and do wear kit with legs. Not sure how to classify synchro......

Bertrand - I think you're getting quite a hard time on this thread and the point you make is correct - that if gymnasts do not want to bother with hair removal, it would cause an outrage if they wore the regulation costumes.

But I would not worry about the influence that these Olympians, in particular, have on young girls. The question I would ask would be - in what situation is female pubic hair EVER visible (unless it's your own obvs)? Have you ever seen it on the beach or in your local swimming pool? "Real life" gives far clearer messages than anything on TV.

I'm 39 and I've been getting waxed "down there" since my early 20s (I think). I go swimming a lot and it's just easier, regardless of the style of the swimsuit. I don't know any women who don't remove hair. The trend is increasingly for men to do it as well, it seems.

yes, you do see occasional pubic hair on beaches or at pools. Not everyone wants to suffer waxing, chafing etc.

just been watching another real sport, triathlon - where there is a choice of cycle-short style costumes as well as the visible-lunch cut. Doesn't seem to make a difference to performance, but the shorts wearers don't have to adjust clothing as they cross the line, so evidently the high cut gets annoying rapidly.

the hockey women looked good and no-one was tugging knickers out of bums there. Another real sport, they haven't got time for that!

Exactly madinche - it is a reasonable point to make, and I take my hat off to Bertrand, who has been gamely engaging with the issue for many pages.

It's just odd, to my mind, that people can't or won't see that an event that puts such emphasis on appearance might conceivably be off - putting to some girls.

It's all very well to keep insisting that all the gymnasts love the revealing glitzy look - but what about all the young girls who might have been put off before they even started because they don't fit the image?

And, yes, there might be some leggings available - but what about some slightly more conservative leotards and, you know , less make-up, glitter etc? It's simply not every girl's cup of tea.

I am surprised, frankly, that people are so keen to argue against widening the sorts of styles that are used. There was a fairly high - profile survey recently about girls and sport/PE in the UK. It concludee that more girls would willingly participate in PE if thet could wear more loose-fitting, less skimpy clothing. This seems relevant here. I will try to find a link.

And, for the record, I think that any argument along the lines of 'there are worse things' should be banned on any topic.

Ditto 'men do it too'. I'm sorry - but because men start doing something, out of choice, it does not mean that any argument to stop coercing women into doing it becomes redundant.

But the leotards are conservative with the exception of the leg area (again many wear thick nude footless tights) the leotards are made of thick nude material so just because they look revealing doesn't mean they are.

Gymnastics covers the area of art so much like a circus act or show dancer the make up is part of the character and men that compete particularly in the rhythmic circuit will wear some too.

Ok - that makes sense, Princess cut I guess.

I think we're used to thinking of Olympic events as sports though, rather than something akin to a circus. It just seems a shame that girls who might actually be brilliant, strong gymnasts might be put off by this aesthetic aspect.

As a nation, we need to attract girls to sport, not put them off!

(no idea why the word 'cut' appeared there...)

Yes, the leotards are conservative, high at the front and not allowed to be low at the back. They're worn with made to measure nude underwear. There is a restriction on how high the leg can be. Usually long sleeves also.
Make up is supposed to be kept natural so as not to distract from the routine, and you can be marked down for that.

Again (head and wall anyone ), visit any gym club and they wear less for training, both men and women. It will not come as a shock to be required to wear a long sleeved leotard for comps (the cut varies, but is restricted) when they will have been wearing leos, crop tops in the gym from 3-5 years old.
Yes to men with sparkle and make up in rhythmic! I'm glad to hear of more men joining this discipline

I don't think many are put off joining gym. The waiting list for our gym is over five years. That is not uncommon. Most gyms will have waiting lists

clicknclack - no one said they weren't allowed to wear something different (although that's quite recent - it was mandatory for them to wear bikinis until fairly recently). As for the Hawaii argument, men have been wearing a vest and shorts in Rio. Do women get hotter than men? I watched the women's hockey final last night. The women were wearing shorts and vests which seemed very practical to me. I should imagine they get very hot. But their kit didn't affect their pubic hair choices

Of course it's bloody designed to be sexually titillating! Why on earth do you think they wear bikinis? You're not that naive, surely?

I'm not 'knotting my knickers' about anything, thank you (and that's a hideously misogynistic phrase fyi). And we're not talking about your daughter. I don't know your daughter. I'm not having a go at her. I'm criticising the mores of the sport.

Maybe her teammates don't want to shave? Oh, but they would have been told they weren't welcome a long time ago according to your post a couple of days ago. What a shame that a shape up or ship out attitude is taken. The sport could be missing out on a lot of brilliant athletes for all we know. Maybe our team could have done as well as our hockey team did if we were choosing women on skill rather than their willingness to wear fuck all in public?

To be fair itsmine - they do dive onto the sand and it can give you very nasty grazes (DS is an expert).

But I guess if the risk of injury was that serious, they wouldn't wear bikinis.

Incidentally, for the 'it's not titillation' argument, if you do a google image search for beach volleyball, 95% of the images on the first page are of women in bikinis. Often the photos are of their arses.

I suspect if you did a search for hockey or football or any other team game, most of the photos would be of men.