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?

Ah, shite. raheem. Sorry, I must've got confused by the 'sideshow' bit or something.

Minipie cited "the fact that for once, magazines and newspapers are full of pictures of healthy athletic women's bodies rather than underweight models and actresses."

That's right, and there's more--women are shown out there really performing physical activity requiring incredible strength and skill. None of that lying around simpering under the male gaze, waiting for "the viewer to step into the picture and take her".

Stuff like this, which is such Great Art:
www.uffizi.org/img/artworks/tiziano-venere-urbino.jpg

at LRD.

Just caught up on this thread, glad that so many of you are enjoying it as much as I am! Sat and watched both cycling time trials beside Tower Bridge in the sunshine. Lovely - equal mix of male and female spectators I'd say, and much wooping from all when Wiggo won.

It's great to feel represented in sport. I haven't really got so into sport as I have this Olympics and part of that is definitely the sheer number of women.

Nice to see lots of female commentators. And good point above that Matt Baker etc at the gymnastics have been very equal opportunities in their commentary.

Gymnastics for women is very sparkly and they do all that dancing between moves which I find a bit silly. I can't see why they need to do it, it doesn't look good or impressive or require any particular skill - I think I could pull off some of the moves. The men don't do it.

I'm loving all the different body shapes and sizes.

namechangeguy you seem to turn up on almost every thread to tell us women how silly we are. It gets very tedious. Maybe you could just read, think about the point that's being made, check your privilege and then comment, rather than just jumping on in. Most of us have spent our entire LIVES being immersed in these issues. You haven't. It's frankly insulting to me that you are so convinced of your rightness when you don't even seem to think before you post.

Oh also wanted to say it's great that Clare Balding, an out lesbian, has such a big part in the whole thing.

Some of the dancing between moves is to give themselves time to control their breathing or their momentum, I think?

Yellow, I am sorry you feel that way. I was talking about facts before, some of which people had got wrong. Not because they are women, but...well because they had incorrect information. Just like I do sometimes.

I'd be interested to know how you have been 'immersed' in the UK football associations though. I have followed football since childhood, and have attended football matches for over 20 years, as well as following it in the press. I knew the relative positions of the domestic FA's, and supplied the information for discussion. That was the specific issue I was addressing. I would love to hear your opinion, and where privilege intrudes, on this matter.

But the men don't do it LRD.

namechange, I'm not talking about the football. I'm talking about the Olympics in general and your attitude towards the Saudi women.

A small positive: in the coverage of Phelps' record breaking medal haul, there was also at least some coverage of the previous holder of most bemedalled: Larissa Latynina the Russian woman gymnast whose record had stood for so long.

yellow - yes, and the men also have to land very much more still, and hold their bodies much more straight - I noticed a lot on the vault, that a good vault looks different from a man and a woman, even though they are the most similar activity IMO.

Is it possible the different styles are to do with different strength distribution? I don't know, but it looks as if the women carry a lot of strength in their thighs, and I doubt any of them have the upper-body strength of them men (I feel a bit rude saying any of this, mind, cos they are all soooo much stronger than me!).

Maybe someone will know?

The men's and women's gymnastics are different one has more emphasis on grace the other on power. On the floor the men do 'Japanese' handstands and splits which I think is similar to the ladies dancing allowing them to catch their breath and compose themselves before another flurry of flips.

I didn't know that about the Japanese handstands - that's interesting.

I didn't think about the grace vs. power thing as the women looked so strong! But I suppose the fact they don't do two of the men's apparatus (that came out wrong, sorry) and also have rhythmic as a category, makes it very different.

One thing I noticed - it used to be the case that the eastern block countries seemed to show very little sympathy for an athlete who messed up (from vague memories of my childhood) - they had coaches berate them and tell them off. I noticed last night that the Russian girl who had a terrible time on the beam got a huge hug from her coach as she came off the floor. Also, you can hear the athletes standing around and they are all being supportive/kind etc. to their team mates, whether they do well or not.

The athletes themselves do all seem to be very positive - so pleased to be there, so supportive of each other etc.

Don't get me wrong both men's and women's have elements of grace and power it's just that men's leans more towards power The rings and pommel horse are great examples of that. Whilst women's leans more towards grace. But they are both equally enjoyable to watch I have always loved watching the men's and women's gymnastics.

It was beautiful to watch, yes.

And yes, I can see what you mean about the differences.

Do you know, do women compete at the other apparatuses in other competitions, and do men every do the rhythmic one? I'm just ignorant and curious.

The disciplines are gender split, because the training required for artistic and ryhymic gymnastics are different you can see by the difference in body shapes and also the ages. I think there is a male version of rhymic for men in some Asian countries but I think their dance styles are more martial arts based I am not sure.

Loving this thread. It's an essential part of my Olympic day. Also caught the fantastic black and white footage of the Russian woman gymnast (named below - on phone so can't see) who held the medal record until today. So many years!

This is brilliant!!

[http://www.metro.us/newyork/sports/article/1148979--what-if-every-olympic-sport-was-photographed-like-beach-volleyball what if all sports were photographed like beach volleyball]]

link fail!
what if all sports were photographed like beach volleyball

Great link, Ennis

Ooh! I came right on here to link to that!

Very funny.

Love the bumshot madness! Thanks for the link.

There was an interesting documentary about Victoria Pendleton (racing today) on the BBC a couple of weeks back. Certainly not perfect from a feminist perspective, but nice to see something exclusively about a female athlete.

Oooh Gemma Gibbons through to judo finals! Bless the male commentator for saying how well GB women are doing across the board.

Plus: Kayla Harrison - what a woman, what a victory!

• And yes, I was cheering on Gemma - course I was, I'm a Brit - but Kayla's personal story is incredible. What an Olympian!

Wow, just read Kayla Harrison, getting over abuse and continuing to compete must have been incredibly hard. Good on her.

Watching the cycling now, the British women look incredibly cool in their get-up, like sci-fi insects.