gymnastics, floor

[PassiveAgressiveQueen]

I have been watching the gymnastics on telly. Last night was the mens, the floor routine was impressive, no element of choreography at all, just strong men bouncing around.
Whereas the women's is dancing,music and damn strong women bouncing around the floor.

Is this sexist?

You can't wear shorts or cat suits for bars. The girls work the two bars, and have circling elements that the boys don't on their single bar.

The fabric provides a layer of slip which is dangerous at that level.

Again, if the gymnasts are happy with their leotards, who are we to say they should cover up? all these suggestions on here, shorts, leggings, if you've ever done gymnastics a leotard is the best thing to wear. A bunch of women on the internet thinking they should wear different? Is that feminist?

Re. The Chinese girl. Changsong lived in poverty until she went to sports school at 7. She was severely malnourished, and her build is how she is. There's a good interview been published today.

Surely we should be talking about their builds positively. They are clearly built for a function.

Does gymnastic really stunt your growth? I've always been told it does and all the gymasts I've known have been short but I've never looked into it.

I've seen girls doing high level bars routines wearing close fitting shorts.

One hand- in practice, where there are coaches, pits and increased safety. Where the fabric rumpling on a single skill doesn't matter. A whole bar routine the fabric would move and rise up the leg. It's distracting, and gets in the way. And isn't as aesthetic for lines.

Why should they wear shorts in competition if they don't want to? In the uk it is allowed (at lower levels definitely), but very few do.

mide- no gymnastics doesn't stunt your growth. It is self-selecting for small people though, if you're too tall you simply don't have the strength or rotational speed.

Cool that was my other thought Micah.

16-233.tumblr.com/post/132196119794/delta1088-the-story-of-shang-chunsong-a-girls

Ooh I loved gymnastics, did it twice a week from the ages of 9 to 16 (plus still went in regularly to volunteer through sixth form)

Personally, I prefer watching the women's to the men's because I like the dance/graceful elements...both sexes can do a somersault of whatever but it takes an extra level of skill imo to make it look effortless and go straight into the swishy dancy bits.

I have no idea if gymnastics stunts your growth as none of the women in my extended family are taller than 5'4"(and at 5' 3" I'm one of the tallest- though wierdly I am a teensy bit shorter than my mum). But anyway, I think people tend to stick at/enjoy the sports they are more naturally suited for, in my case a low centre of gravity meant I always had excellent balance.

One more thing in gymnastics' defence - I spent my whole (what are meant to be the ackward) teen years prancing about in a leotard (ballet and gym) and I'm very confident about my body/the way it looks probably because I got to see a wide variety of body shapes (I was only ever at hobby/local competition level) on a regular basis being used to do really cool things. I was in an adult ballet class in my teens and I was in awe of the heavily pregnant lady who came and could do everything apart from the jumps and some of the bends.

Is this sexist?

Is this a rhetorical question?

Again, if the gymnasts are happy with their leotards, who are we to say they should cover up?

I know at least one who doesn't feel sufficiently covered. It is more to do with her insecurity about her looks, but it doesn't really matter why she would like to cover up. She should have the right.

I also heard that not fitting a certain body type makes you lose points.

It was not rhetorical, more feet finding if what i felt was sexist was agreed by other people.

Ah. To me it is blatantly obvious that it's sexist.

Same as the rules that require women be half naked for beach volleyball and all that stuff.

Women are expected to cater to the male gaze in sports, but ALSO paid less than men in sports. (And men are more interested in watching men's soccer, anyway. Even though that is not nearly as nice to look at as women's gymnastics.)

If gymnastics is supposed to be for the viewer, then I'd suggest they remodel the whole thing so that the mats look like a forest floor and the gymnasts would celebrate women's awesomeness by flic-flaccing over obstacles and gracefully balancing over what looks like logs bridging deep ravines. (All completely safe, of course!)

I would watch that.

No, seriously, they could make a different sport, called dance gymnastics or whatever (Isn't that already a thing?), where there's choreography for both sexes. Just deciding what one has to do to score based on one's sex ... is obviously sexist!

Women are expected to cater to the male gaze in sports,

Curiously not in soccer which you mention next, or darts or snooker many other sports*. If some sports can be non-sexualised for women, why not all of them?

*They do still have the lower pay though.

I quit gymnastics at 12 as I felt incredibly uncomfortable in a leotard and you got marked down if you competed in shorts as "its against the rules" They claimed it impeded the judges view of your body shape - I used to wear lycra shorts so a rubbish justification. I loved it and happily trained in shorts and t-shirt.

Still upsets me now