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?

I object more to the women’s beach volleyball outfits (anyone remember the team that was fined for wanting to wear shorts like the men rather than bikinis up their arses?) . I also object to the number of injuries I saw for the gymnastics- many of these are young kids in their teens who won’t be aware of the possible long term damage they are doing to their bodies, and have been pushed all their young lives by the adults in their lives who they trust.

The dance is part of it.

If you want to do just the gymnastics elements with no dance, there are other sports available: trampoline, power tumbling, double mini tramp… the second two aren’t in the olympics but they are still competed at an international level.

Glitter, gems in outfits, bows in - it’s all a bit lame and demeaning.

Labeling traditionally feminine things demeaning is misogyny. Being girly is not humiliating or demeaning or inane.

The leotards are becoming more sparkly on average because technology and improved sponsorship funds allow them to be, and many of the gymnasts like sparkles.

If I could jump and leap and tumble and spin like these girls can, I'd do it in fucking neon with twinkly lights so everyone could see me.
They're absolutely amazing.

I think most people are spectacularly missing OP point.

She isn’t pulling the sport she is pulling on the uniform and the performance they have to do to show case their ability.

I agree with her. The men are not expected to do this.

Gymnastics is a very tough sport. That should be the focus NOT how high the leotard is cut and if she is smiling enough. The men are not expected to do this. That is the OP point

The leotard i have no issue with, they are no worse than a swimsuit and actually has a pp has said, plenty of gymnasts WANT sparkle etc, and its not required.

The dance/artistry bits irritate me tho as a lot of girls i know doing gymnastics don't like that element and get frustrated by the fact that it's not required of boys. I'd like to see an option for women where that isnt a requirement.

You would have hated the diving yesterday. Women demeaning themselves in swimming costumes all over the place. It was grotesque and so humiliating for them.

When they dance, the gymnasts show incredible control and skill. To move in time with their music, exactly to the spot they need to be in for their next skill, with expression and flow, is amazing to me.

They can wear suits with legs if they prefer and make up is optional. Equally the men can wear full length leggings for the events they typically wear short shorts too. Women can wear a hijab is they want so the hair style is their choice.

If you want to talk about hair removal, the male swimmers are waxed to the point of shining! Sports people these days are mostly adults, gone are the days of fairly young teens in most sports, in fact many have a 16 limit

Yes. But if the best gymnast
In the world wanted to just wear a black leotard and no make up or sparkles, would they still win their competitions?

Do men have to contend with that fact? No. That's sexism. It's a fair point.

Yes they choose to do this.

They can wear all in ones now. It's a choice not to.

Yes, absolutely. Simone Biles could show up on Thursday in a heather gray unitard and a bare face and win gold.

Plenty of gymnasts at the elite level don’t wear makeup or sparkles.

@Chrsytalchondalier "Yet another thread kicking women because they "don't know what's best for them" "

Yet another poster spectacularly missing the point.....

I'm with you OP. So many replies saying if they don't like it (the sparkle and flicky bits) they can choose another sport.
The point OP is making is that the sport, as in the physical performance of strength and grace and beauty, has all these requirements for frills on top, which the men's sport does not.
No reason these bits can't be optional surely? Rather then send women into tumbling or whatever different sport?
I expect it will change eventually as it does seem outdated.

Did you find the thesaurus for the first time today?

The men do have rules on what they wear: leggings are mandatory on some apparatus, whilst VERY short shorts are mandatory others.

Its interesting watching young gymnasts train at our club. The boys wear ordinary shorts and tshirts. The girls are split between those wearing just leotards (majority), leotards and shorts/leggings, and the occasional girl with ordinary shorts and tshirt.

Part of the problem is that the artistry side of gymnastics is done really badly by a lot of teams. Look to the Russians for properly fluid movements and well done artistry.

YABU. Have you watched the Simone Biles documentary on Netflix? She’s tiny but strong and so feisty. She came back fighting after what happened in Tokyo and she’s mesmerising to watch. Think what you want but I don’t agree with you.

Removing pubic hair is a choice.

My ds is a swimmer. They wear what are essentially granny pants to train in. When they do camps they are provided with proper speedos.

The men choose to remove their leg hair and around their outer pubic hair area - for exactly the same reason the woman choose.

The woman can wear a unitard.

Next .....

I don't understand why the women diver's swimming costumes have to be SO high cut though. The women swimmer's costumes have cycle short type legs. (There is a similar difference in the men's costumes, but the male divers don't have their arses hanging out or look at risk of being cut in half as they enter the pool).

Their hair isn't twee it's just tied out the way!

Because in swimming its the speed that counts. In diving its the leg position that they want seen

Men’s and women’s gymnastics are two separate sports, they don’t share the same history.

These women want to wear the leos, they are a huge deal to them. As others have said, they have the option to wear unitards, but most don’t. Unitards make tumbling harder as you can’t grip your legs with your hands in the same way.

I enjoy men’s gymnastics and the display of strength, but I love the women’s with the combination of artistry, strength and flexibility needed.

Gymnastics has a lot of issues, but this isn’t one of them. The sport is trying to improve its culture, for example the average age of team members is higher, it’s more accepted to not complete on an injury and the federations seem to understand that good nutrition equals more strength and more strength equals better gymnastics. I don’t think that China is on board with this though and it shows through this quad with a lack of floor and vault power.

After watching a couple of documentaries regarding widespread abuse of the athletes in gymnastics I've never really got back into watching it, sadly.