Positives and negatives of the Olympics.

[kickassangel]

Hopefully a fairly light hearted thread but thought we could keep a tally of the plus and minus sides of the Olympics.

Plus
Women from Saudi, and more women from other Middle Eastern States.
Women included in the military flag bearers
Future sports people fairly even m/f balance (and their sponsors)

Minus
Still more events for men than women
Still more men taking part, and given better status/accommodations etc
Women carrying the country names, and the bowl things during the parade.
Mainly women nurses with the children on beds.
Paul McCartney getting the 'men' to sing first and the 'girls' to have a go second.

I was hoping that I'd noticed some more positives, but apparently not.

What did other people notice?

Aww, just caught up on Nicola Adams, what a lovely interview. I think gary lineker nearly set her off crying right at the end there.

Just saw that interview too - she is lovely (and her accent makes me so homesick).

Lovely piece of Olympic inspiration going on in my local park. I arrived on Tuesday with DS (going on the bmx course), and there were two women with their daughters (aged about 10) and a son (about 7). They'd just finished a couple of laps of the park and one of the women was explaining that Olympic athletes did loads of training. We went to the park again tonight (paddling pool/bmx double - maybe DS will end up as a triathlete), and the same group were there again, running laps. So lovely to see.

Just watching the highlights of the football - we went to see Japan in the quarter finals on Friday, great game. I'm rather sad to see Japan lose, they were so good against Brazil (who were a bit dirty as usual - I remember seeing them back in the 2007 world cup and they kicked Australia off the park in the semi-finals, disgraceful). But well done USA, always a class act (shame the ref didn't spot the hand-ball though, that would have made for an exciting turn of events).

Big positive: Blatter the Twatter getting booed by the crowd. in the football victory ceremony

Ooh, hooray. I fucking hate blatter - skimpy shorts my arse (no pun intended). Encountered a few misogynist arseholes in my (decidedly inglorious) footballing career, but he really takes teh biscuit Sadly that bit didn't make the highlights show.

Well done Jo Pavey for getting into the top 8 in the 5,000m final at the age of 38.

Jo Pavey is amazing.The way she has plugged away for years with not much recognition is worthy of utmost respect.

Well done Jo.

I watched the synchronised swimming final this afternoon - very impressive, and looked like very hard work.

But it got me wondering whether men's synchronised swimming existed. Especially given claims I've seen on TV that London 2012 is the first "gender equal" games.

After looking on Google, I've found this article in the Independant, talking to some British male synchronised swimmers who are upset about being barred from the games on account of being male:

Wrath of the Waterboys

Absolutely no reason why it couldn't be a mixed sport.

I think there's actually an argument to not count anything which can't be measured objectively but goes by judges giving points as a sport, which applies to synchronised swimming, too.

That's a whole different issue to the gender equality one though, WidowWadman

And I'd be biased against you on that argument simply because I love watching the gymnastics and diving so much

This is a good article.

Bbc world news has a female anchor for their sport programme.

Great article Ariel .

I SO hope this Olympics results in more female sport being shown on TV. It really has given me so much hope, seeing all these people cheering on women. Yes there have been the odd dodgy comments on body size/attractiveness, but on the whole, people have been really good in a way that I didn't expect.

i dont think it would be such a bad thing is female athletes became glamourous or dare i say it, sexy. if that means they become role models for girls , that has to be better than the size zero catwalk role-models that are in the media.

Chairman, do you make comments like this just to antagonise? It seems on every feminist thread you're on you make a comment you must know will get people's hackles up.

why on earth would that antagonise? sportswomen replacing fashion models as role models.

it would encorage sporting activity and healthy eating, rather that flash diets and cosmetic surgury.

i'm not trying to antagonise anyone, disagree with me by all means but dont say i'm just trowing a cat among the pidgeons, thats needlessly objectionable.

I disagree completely. Did you see the late night Olympic programme last night? Kath Grainger was on with Gabby Logan, alongside David Beckham, Ben Ainslie and Michael Johnson. Apart from being overwhelmed with envy that she was sitting on a sofa with those three, I was struck by how natural, for want of a better word, Grainger looked - sporty top, hardly any make up and normal hair. But there she was chatting and engaging with Beckham, smiling and being lovely and even being slightly tactile. And SHOCK HORROR - did the man held up as being an utter sex symbol the world over shun her, scorn her or ignore her because she wasn't dolled up and trying to look "sexy"? No of course he wasn't he was treating her with the equality and respect she was entitled to, and being friendly and chatty and, goodness me, even a little bit touchy feely back.

That sent out a lot of messages I thought. A woman can be noticed and admired by men even if she hasn't gone out of her way to atttract them.

well thats exactly what i mean ariel, when i say sexy or glamourous i dont mean plasterd in make up.

Actually I think it was a fair question. It's been stated many times throughout this thread how wonderful it is women are being noticed for something other than their looks, your comment was 'they should look sexy to be role models.' So asking if you were being purposely antagonistic seemed a fair question.

I can't be bothered explaining why, but I disagree with you. Completely. And utterly.

So, what Ariel said.

I don't know about sexy - that's so subjective - but I thought all of these women and the men were glamourous in the sense that they are competing in a really high-level event, and it's exciting.

It seems odd to say 'if they became', to me.

This thread had dropped off my Threads I'm On and it's good to have it back.

I love the Laura Trott and Jason Kenny romance. They are so cute together. Nice to see 2 sporty people together, rather than athlete + wife (that is cool too, but it is a bit of a change.)

well thats exactly what i mean ariel, when i say sexy or glamourous i dont mean plasterd in make up.

What do you mean then? I'm puzzled.

i'm talking about role models. the one young girls have at present arnt very good, and maybe infact damaging , anorexia springs to mind.

fit, well toned, healthy sports people may well be attractive because they are fit, healty etc.

reaching that perfection doesnt require nips/tuks/silicone/shaving/plukking/crash dieting/bleaching. so i rekon they would make better role modles. thats all.

One of the things I have enjoyed about this thread is finding that, for lots of us, we know girls who have taken these sportswomen as role models already.

They are excellent role models. No need for a future conditional.

The biggest +ve for UK women out of these games IMO is the huge nuimber of UK women athletes who have won or done well, and who can serve as role models rather than celebs on X factor or Big Brother.