A sporting chance

I recently had an argument. Shocking, I know. But I’ve been thinking more and more about this argument since, and so, it is time to write about it.

To recap what I’ve written before. I love sport, I enjoy watching it. I’ll watch pretty much anything, but do find myself more often watching men then women.

But that has nothing to do with which gender I find more attractive, it is to do with the quality of the sport. And I am sick to death of hearing how women have to be glammed-up, to make them at all viable to sports marketers.

As a (admittedly very blunt) test, do a Google News search on Maria Sharapova. A week or so after she lost at Wimbledon, and more than half the results are what she wore. And her upcoming endorsements, and her grunting. With such delightful headlines as “Racy shorts can’t save Sharapova.” Charming.

Look. I’m not saying we shouldn’t look at what they are wearing, and how they look. It would be unreasonable, and extremely hypocritical of me to say that. Maria Sharapova is a beautiful woman, who seems to enjoy dressing up. Yay for her. But when she is on the court, and playing in a tournament, the focus should be on her playing, her skill, her unbelievable talent, fitness, athleticism and just general fucking awesomeness. And not belittle those things with headlines like “Kudryavtseva Turns Sharapova Into Fashion Victim at Wimbledon”.

In the argument last week, I was told that the women tennis players do it to themselves, because they market themselves that way. First of all, sure, but i wonder who runs the companies they are endorsing? Women? And aside from that, it still isn’t ok for the focus to constantly be on what they are wearing, and how they look. And frankly, if you don’t look like Maria Sharapova, you hardly get a look in. As Marina Hyde writes in The Guardian, men are doing it too, but for some reason, they still get the respect.

Professional male sports are full of manscaped ad-whores who are happy to look sultry if some high-end watchmaker or underwear designer is paying. But when they’re on the field, they get to do their job without having humpy headlines slapped above their photo. Women deserve the same.

I’m not saying, you can’t ogle sportspeople. God knows I do, and God forbid i sound like one of those hairy legged, lesbian feminists, who don’t want anyone to have any fun, we’re all so scared to call ourselves. But there’s such a double standard here. If you are a man, you can be an athlete, regardless of what you look like. If you’re a woman, you’re either a lesbian, a sexpot, or a bitch.

Clearly, not everyone agrees with me. But the thing is, because I follow sport, and spend time with people who watch, follow, enjoy, and discuss sport, I have to live with this a lot. I get to hear the objectifying, objectionable things people say. I inhabit a world where the New Zealand women’s hockey team gets more coverage when they start wearing short dresses. Where women golfers are given makeovers to show the world “there are sexy, athletic women who can play”.

“There was simply not enough pizazz on the LPGA Tour. The players had no representation to speak of, no advertisements to speak of. It’s a crime, so Wilhelmina is taking it upon itself to change that.”

Hey, um, can I make the point, that these are athletes? And so why should they have ‘pizazz’? Why should they have to be photographed in bikinis and ballgowns? Because God forbid ugly women play sport. If they players want to look good, fantastic. Who doesn’t love a good makeover? But shouldn’t they want to do it themselves?

Well, if it is a good makeover you are looking for, maybe start playing basketball. And if you have a daughter, maybe start her playing basketball. So she can grow up to play in the WNBA and get free makeup lessons! As part of her orientation!

Says the WNBA President Donna Orender:

“I do believe there’s more focus on a woman’s physical appearance. Men are straight out accepted for their athletic ability. That’s reality. I think it’s true in every aspect of the work force.”

Which, yes, it is. But how about, when you are in a position to inspire, encourage and celebrate women, instead of pandering to that idea, you try to fucking change it. How about, instead of saying “it’s nice to look nice”, you say “you know what? These women are athletes. They aren’t there to look pretty. They are there to be amazing and to run faster and jump higher, and to dunk, and to be amazing. If they are the kind of women who like to put on some lip gloss in timeouts, fantastic, but if they aren’t well, so be it. They are already healthy and tall and fit. You want to think they are all ‘ugly lesbians’? Go for it. You’ll be the one missing out.”