Why do women athletes compete in clothing so skimpy it could be underwear?

[FortiesCromarty]

This occurred to me whilst watching some of the athletics on TV, the women are in small pants and crop tops, yet the men wear vests and shorts, their bodies totally covered.
It can't be a question of that's what clothing gives the fastest time, else the men would be running about in their skimpies.
My DH says he thinks it's fashion, the women have chosen to wear these clothes as they are proud of their bodies and want to fit in with the other female athletes. Yet I do not agree and feel profoundly uncomfortable at the sight of adult women competing in an international event as if they'd forgotten their PE kit and their coaches had made them do the race in their bra and knickers.
What do you feel about it?

Plenty of male athletes in skimpy kit around

example

Aye CARUMBA to the man second from the left! And yikes

you could take an eye out with that!

NoLogo I was a bit foxed by that reply to my post and have no complaints about SGM reporting. it seems that lots of that posters stuff has gone so maybe each report added up.

Nah, I've only posted twice in the last 2 or 3 months, just on this thread, so nothing else to be deleted that I can remember. Must read these guidelines they are talking about one day . I'll give this post 10 mins...

hmm, is going "aye CARUMBA" at Mr 2nd on the left actually any different to a guy going phwoar at a skimpily clothed female athlete?

I guess he won't be overly happy that people can't look at his picture with a gold medal without inadvertently staring at his penis. I wouldn't be.

Skirts, for boxing? WTAF?!?!

WW it's hard to ignore it, isn't it! And I think you'll find I was laughing rather than leering, which is slightly different

LadyClarice, a poster called FakePlasticTrees posted at the bottom of page 2. Her sister-in-law is an ex-Team GB athlete, and answered your question about what the athletes think;

'She said that there are longer vest options, but they tend to not be as supportive, and boobs need control! Apparently minimum clothing is a good thing as it doesn't get in the way/can make a difference with airflow round you. She pointed out that male sprinters tend to be in outfits that leave very little to the imagination for similar reasons, and longer distance/endurance sports woman tend to be more covered up as it's not as important (not counting triathalon as they have to wear something they can swim in without having to get changed before the other events)'

So I guess if the athletes themselves are comfortable about it, it isn't anyone else's business. Some of this discomfort about the female form - well, isn't this what the Saudi Imam's are spouting too? I am a bit confused to be honest about the OP. We all know that the Olympics is about supreme skill and achievement, not about pervery.

That quote from the athletes makes me suspicious. It's when logic is ignored that you really start to think there's something underhand at work.

If they want the best bra that engineering science can supply, they could wear a bra with a vest over it, or it could be built into a vest. It wouldn't have to be worn alone, unless the objective is to show some skin. Yet it is worn alone.

And the male sprinters may be wearing short shorts, but they aren't running in knickers. So is there something about the way women run that says even minimal shorts are too much, when they do suit men? Or can it be that part of the performance is to display the body (as long as it's a female one) to the max? Of course the greatest extreme is with the volleyball players--it's strange how similar activity demands such different costumes for women and men!

I did see two American women runners on the course in full-length suits (long arms and legs) a few days ago but I'm pretty sure that they did it because it was cool weather--they certainly don't dress that way all the time.

When I run on the treadmill in private I wear sports bra and knickers. I definitely prefer it to the lycra shorts plus vest top I wear when running in public. If I didn't think it would make me look like a bit of a twat I would wear the skimpy athlete outfits.

I think the athletes must have a say in what they wear otherwise women from the same country wouldn't have different styles of clothes.

Female gymnasts wear what female gymnasts and ballet dancers have always worn.

Their costumes are designed to interrupt the elegance of the body shape.

I believe girls didn't used to be allowed knickers under ballet leotards. It's recently they have rebelled.

Likewise, I think it's new that girls have taken to putting shorts over their leotards for training.

Sadly nonsense like this thread is making them self conscious in a way they never were before.

Just as we would have done handstands and cartwheels at school and never for one moment have worried about showing our knickers.

Gymnastics and dancing is about the elegance of the whole body and remember that is what the audience and the judges see.

Yes on a TV close up we might see a nipple or be very aware how high cut the legs are, but that is not what the costumes are about. Nor should they change them to accommodate a few perverts.

Oh and teasndhugs, do you know any 16 year old girls who don't trim their pubic hair. They do it anyway to change for PE or go swimming. Nothing to do with gymnastic costumes. Just as they shave their legs and their underarms and wear make up.

Their costumes are far less sexual than the tops and hot pants that even my 11y favours.

They are quite deliberately cut with high necks such that from 15-26+ ( there is a german Vaulter with children ) they look young and elegant.

Yes the tight modern lycra shows their maturing curves. That is how it should be, the older ones shouldn't feel the pressure they did in the past to stay children.

There are E Germans who will never have children because of what was done in the past

Today we have learnt to appreciate them for their athletic skill and realise that skill is done by highly trained women.

It's all a bit sad really. Someone poses the question, someone else says 'here's what an elite athlete I know thinks about all this', and still there has to be suspicion and innuendo. It is all about choice. Unless someone forces a woman to wear something that she objects to, then who are we to question her? Why do people insist on forcing their sensibilities onto others?

And as far as beach volleyball players are concerned, I have not seen one participant showing off her huge surgically enhanced buttocks or tits. They look like what they are - hard-bodied athletes, not page 3 girls. There is nothing to perve over. And they have a choice (there's that awful word again). This is all getting a bit Taleban-ish.

if you go along to park run (free 5k races around the country) on any saturday morning you'll notice that the front runners who are quite serious club runners will wear VERY short shorts and vests, always, men and women.
some women will show their tummies, some not, but both sexes will show a LOT of skin... i can only believe this is more comfortable, certainly nobody is making these amateurs do this, and many are in their 40s, 50s and older so it's not a modern or new-fashion thing.

at the back of the pack where i am we tend to cover up our thighs and stomachs but then my thighs would chafe in short shorts whereas the 6% bodyfat whippets at the front won't have that problem.

Thanks, namechange and FakePlasticTrees!

Overweight older men wearing overpriced cycling gear on a sunday morning are the worst - bodies totally covered, nothing left to the imagination - silly old farts :o

There is so much strange about your post namechangeguy I don't know where to start!

Do you really think men only like looking at women who have had surgical enhancements? That the women playing beach volleyball are not attractive enough for men to look at in that way? Have you actually ever met any men? Fit strong women in bikinis = nothing to see here.... Really? Or do you just mean that you don't think there is anything to "perve over" in the women's beach volleyball.

Also you should read the links about women having to fight so as not to have ridiculous garb dictated by the sporting bodies responsible for the rules.

Maybe she HAS a teenage daughter! Females know this stuff about each other, you know! They talk about it!

And yes of course it's about fashion. The higher leg line on women's gymnastics gear over the years, the knee high socks.

Men's fashion in sporting attire changes over the years too - look at men's football shorts over the years. Sportspeople are not immune to fashion etc.

My take - it's very obviously about fashion. I don't think arguments otherwise make any sense, really. I mean, erm, we don't grow bald naturally down there!

It does seem to be a big issue with teens. Like SGM (or, presumably, most of us?) I have actual real family members who also manage to be teenage girls, so I've heard the same things.

Sadly, though, in my case it's my little cousin and I am having to see her getting sucked deeper and deeper into this horrible world of being judged on how she looks, how primped she is, and - yes - how carefully she's removed all hair. This has become so normal that they talk about booking waxes on facebook as a standard part of 'grooming' and something you 'have' to do.

That's a very unsavoury implication to be making, acelt. Trust me, there are some posters in this section who are frankly creepy. But none of them are feminists.

The worst thing about this waxing malarkey is it fucking hurts. Well I've only ever had my eyebrows done so my best guess is that having pubes pulled out with wax would absolutely kill like a total bastard!

Why on earth do we have a society where having excrutiating pain inflicted on your genital region is considered necessary - from puberty in some cases? It's really disturbing when you stop to think about it.

"I believe girls didn't used to be allowed knickers under ballet leotards. It's recently they have rebelled.

Likewise, I think it's new that girls have taken to putting shorts over their leotards for training."

And yet, the top athletes are out there in "clothing so skimpy it could be underwear". Kind of a disconnect between ordinary people and the ones on TV! My explanation is that nobody can be innocent any more. Little girls didn't worry about showing their knickers, and now they do worry or their mothers worry for them. Athletes can do as they please, but they know perfectly well what the audience is seeing. Recall those managers who decreed that women should do boxing and badminton in skirts, though those efforts failed--sex it all up and you'll pull in the audience.

Of course "fashion" is very important. And for young women at least, it's a slow steady move to more sexualized display. Even at the Olympics! But at the same time, making us all think about the show we're putting on, like the kids in leotards.

Oh, I sound like Mary Whitehouse. But it's true.

SQ, the few comments I have heard about the beach volleyball have not referred to the women's overt sexiness or desirability. Sorry to disappoint. I heard far more nudge-nudge comments prior to the start of the competition, but now that it is happening we simply are not masturbating ourselves to a standstill over the players. Sorry to disappoint again. What would you ask a player if you had the chance to interview her, and she had chosen a bikini over shorts and shirt? Would you listen to what she had to say? If you could insist that she wears shorts and shirt, would you? Genuine question, not rhetorical.