Olympic gymnastics humiliates and infantilises grown adult women

[Thebellofstclements]

The ridiculous leotards, the twee hairstyles. Having to do the ridiculous flicky "dance" moves (artistic expression, ha!) and grinning inanely (insanely) in between moves and when presenting...
Arguably the best athletes in the world but these grown adult women have to present themselves in a ridiculous, almost grotesquely infantile manner, looking fairy cheap and tacky.
The men do not.
My family argues that the gymnasts choose to do this.
We know that historically female gymnasts have been abused with no voice, so I'm not convinced this is all what they would necessarily choose given the option. AIBU?

And you think strangers policing women's appearance and telling them to cover up and stop dancing is going to solve abuse? Gee, if only the world had tried that approach earlier.

Wait.

None of us have insider info on these girls. We've only ever seen them on a screen.

I'm just confused about you taking issue with the pose. What's wrong with that pose?

My cousin was an ex squad gymnast. She was weighed every session and berated if she had put on weight. Told what to eat and nearly went through a full scale eating disorder. Smacked around the leg. Stretched to the point of tears or where she could even walk. I witnessed this once before a competition I watched her in, I was really upset to see her crying and struggling while she was being stretched way beyond her comfortable limit. It still distresses me to think of it now.

What are you objecting to? The fact they're flesh coloured?

And please tell me what is "twee" about any of their hairstyles?

I saw far more "girly" styles on the female rugby players! Including hair bows

What I have said about these Japanese girls is that they seem appropriately dressed without excessive makeup.

I am waiting to see the examples of tackiness and sexualisation cited by others, and posted pictures of these two youngest teams to post that question.

I very much hope that the work older women are doing in gymnastics (while wearing sparkles and makeup) will bear fruit in a healthier culture across all nations concerned. Meanwhile, I see no problem in this clothing (and can add that Japanese gymnasts pioneered the unitard, shorts version).

Well yes. Makes her look like she’s revealing more than she is.

Oh look, relaxed young women gymnasts, just like the photo of the men upthread.

But she isn't. So ...

This attitude has been a huge problem in gymnastics, and older athletes like Ellie and Becky Downie, Simone Biles, Rebeca Andrade have been challenging it in recent years. Weigh ins are now prohibited by most national federations. Strength and conditioning are rewarded. Artistry has been defined and quantified to stop subjective rewarding of skinny gymnasts.

These problems matter. Hair, makeup and sparkly leotards are not the problem, and the same gymnasts who challenge toxic cultures often take pleasure in choosing glamorous styles that make them feel powerful.

I experienced plenty of this as a gymnast and spent time at the now infamous Karolyi ranch. It took a lot of work to undo.

Absolutely none of that is because of crystals on leotards or makeup or "arm waving." I take serious exception to a forum of women insulting these athletes' appearances because any implication that girls and women can't be trusted to make decisions about their own bodies and attire or need to cover up or change their behavior to appear more worthy of respect just supports abusive environments, not to mention rape culture.

There are serious conversations to be had about abuse, especially in women's sports. None of them involve telling women they look cheap, tacky, inane, or childish.

I really don't want to draw attention to this but look how high cut those leotards are on some of those girls. There really is no need. Just because a young gymnast has chosen it doesn't make it right.

Oh look! Strong young women gymnasts!

stop
policing
women's
bodies

Read some Dworkin
Good night

Here is Rifda Irfanaluthfi in a training leotard and bright makeup. She is Indonesia's first female gymnastics Olympian, aged 24. She was injured and could not perform her full routine yesterday. That's the saddest part of the Olympics so far for me.

This is a photo she released for media use. She received death threats for appearing in "pornographic" style.

So we had to close the comments on the account, said her mother.

Please think before denigrating these women for making choices about their sportswear. You may not like to see high cut leotards. That does not make them morally wrong. These boundaries are cultural norms, and they vary with time and place.

Rifda Irfanaluthfi chose to wear this leotard and release this photo. Gymnastics is barely known in her country. Her coach is another woman. She wasn't pandering to men or giving in to their pressure. She was asserting her right to appear as a world class sportswoman in the attire she had chosen for her sport.

She looked fantastic yesterday, and terribly sad.

But where are their pigtails?!

They have legs. On every beach, in every swimming pool, you see equally exposed legs. You can see from the side on profiles that these are well cut leotards that drop off immediately around the back to cover the buttocks.

Women and girls should be able to wear this sort of sportswear without criticism. Like male divers, for example.

Pretty sure this thread has now been invaded by bad actors, MRAs and assorted incels. I really can’t believe that these horrible posts about women athletes are really by women. It’s the same old “women’s sport is useless, you’re just a shit imitation of men”. Fucking bastards. 😡😡😡

I haven’t read the whole thread sorry but I used to be a competitive gymnast obviously not Olympics standards and I am aware that there has been cases of abuse that has come out as with a lot of sports but in my experience there was nothing sexualised about wearing a leotard it was just your sports kit and when wearing them daily it was nice to wear one with a bit of bling when representing your team it gave you confidence and you felt proud to be part of that team

hair needed to be tied back for safety reasons I did something gel mine as I have fine hair Simone biles didn’t in this year’s Olympics nor did she wear make up or glitter

gymnastics is not just tumbling there is an element of dance and performance in it leaps and spins which also need skill and balance and moves the gymnast to the corner ready for the next tumbling session

dont watch rhythmic gymnastics if you don’t like the dance element unfortunately tumbling isn’t and Olympic sport on its own I am all for woman’s rights but think you are overthinking this

Really sorry to hear this. Unfortunately I think this sort of thing is still rife in some countries.

Exactly, it is ridiculous to say they can wear what they like, they obviously can't.

@Oftenaddled "Women and girls should be able to wear this sort of sportswear without criticism. Like male divers, for example."

The point is that women should not, in order to compete in their sport, have to wear clothes that require the removal of their pubic hair. The point is that this is not a choice. The point is that male divers can, if they wish, wear more covering trunks.The point is that the German gymnastics team wear unitards and Sarah Voss has spoken out about the sexualization of women's gymnastics and the worry about the participation of girls because they don't want to wear the more revealing kit. So it's not about "policing women's clothing". Rather the opposite.

Yes, she could!

Gymnasts do not have to remove their pubic hair, and they may wear leotards with legs of any length. As Sarah Voss does.

Rifda Irfanaluthfi, whose photo I added above, has acknowledged that she could wear the unitard. She has received death threats for wearing the leotard. But she asserts her right to wear it.

People glancing at Olympic gymnastics and declaring it tacky and sexualised based on their particular rules about what women should and shouldn't show are not speaking for women in general.

It is okay for women to be uncomfortable with leotards and choose something else. It is not okay to use this fact to try to stop all women from wearing leotards or sexualise the wearing of leotards.