The Olympic Games. Why does sportswear still have to be sexy?

The controversy brings back a theme that never really went away. On April 11, equipment maker Nike released the first images of the kits that the US track and field team will wear during the Paris Olympics. One detail on the women’s uniform raises more than one eyebrow. strappy one piece swimsuit is very low cut at crotch level. “Women’s clothing should serve performance, mental and physical. If this outfit was really useful for physical performance, men would wear it,” exclaims former American runner Lauren Fleishman in her Instagram post. The opinion is also shared by American middle distance runner Colin Quigley, who told Reuters that this women’s clothing was “absolutely not made for performance.“.

Women’s competition outfits are still a hot topic. “I had a friend who had great gymnastics skills and who never competed because she couldn’t carry a paddle,” says former gymnast Marjolene Florey, now a sportswear designer. The dress code in this discipline, which is upheld by the French Gymnastics Federation, is simple and varies by gender. If it bans men from wearing earrings and piercings, it encourages women to adopt a leotard “if possible sleeveless” that should not be “cut above the thigh,” meaning the thighs. Any violation of this rule is worth 2 penalty points on the team or individual gymnast’s total.

The same in tennis. The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) regulations are even more precise… But stay vague. “Compression leggings or shorts can be worn without a skirt, dress or shorts as long as they reach at least mid-thigh,” it says. The dress is only allowed with a “waist” section. Or a combination of top and skirt.

A topic that is not new

Therefore, we may believe that women have always been sexualized on the sports field, but this is not the case. “In the beginning, it was a breakthrough for a woman to be able to reveal her body. It allowed them to participate in sports activities in the same way as men, to have the same performance opportunities,” explains Sophie Lemahieu, fashion historian and curator of the exhibition. Fashion and sports from one podium to another which was held in Paris from September 20, 2023 to April 7, 2024 at the Musée Arts Decoratifs. According to him, sexualizing the female body in a sports context had a purely media aspect at that time. “This idea of ​​progress became problematic at the end of the 20th century. At this point, a kind of male gaze will begin to establish itself in sports, especially because it is more publicized and therefore observed.

Indeed, it was not until 1948 that the BBC became the first channel to broadcast the London Olympics live. The broadcast radius is limited to 200 kilometers around the stadium, of course, but the technical prowess shows real progress. Except for women. now filmed, their bodies are being increasingly scrutinized. Since then, what seemed to be liberation for women seems to have turned into oppression. In 2017, German runner Alika Schmidt was nicknamed “the sexiest athlete in the world” after her performance at the U20 European Championships, almost making people forget that she won the silver medal that day. At the Tokyo-2021 Olympic Games, the players of the Norwegian beach handball team are playing in shorts. Therefore, they do not wear a bikini ordered by the International Handball Federation. With this refusal, they are punished with a fine of 1500 euros.

And the pattern repeats, over and over. A few days later, during the same Games, a new dispute broke out. This time, the German gymnasts decided not to perform in a traditional trouser, but in a full body. Team member Kim Bui explained that a full suit is “more comfortable” and comfort is “the most important thing” for performance. They were not penalized because combinations are allowed in international competitions.

For Marjolene Florey, low-cut bikinis “remain super embarrassing, in the sense that we’re very aware that eyes are more on our butt than our performance.” Aiming to offer a second choice to gymnasts, to allow those who are self-conscious, in 2017 she decided to launch her own brand called Terre de Gymnaste. “Gymnasts are obliged to wax their legs and bikini area during every competition,” he explains in a conversation with us. And besides hair growth, there is also the problem of menstruation, which worries them a lot. Not an easy time for a woman. If we add to that the fear of a stain, a piece of towel being left out… The Academician (long overalls, Editor’s note) helps in this regard. It looks like the leggings are integrated into the leotard. More and more young girls are contacting me to order.”

Defy the rules

Federations may forget it, but female athletes do have periods. And no one wants to be in the same situation as Colin Devillard. at the last world championship, the French gymnast had them for 15 days. “We’re in a diaper, we know we’re bleeding, of course we’re afraid we’ll have a stain, or worse, the tampon thread sticking out of the diaper,” she confided to the Huffington Post, explaining that she kept: shorts over her scapula during her period, knowing she would have to take them off during the test.

Unbelievable for designer Mariam Bini, who is launching Haomah, a brand specializing in period wear, in February 2024. Therefore, it offers one-piece swimsuits, bikinis, gymnastics leotards, team sports shorts, and menstrual leggings for sale. “Haomah is a mission-driven company. We want athletes not to stop playing sports because of their periods. We want it to be available to as many people as possible. We also work with associations working in disadvantaged neighborhoods in order to donate part of the money raised to the associations.” According to him, “trainers are not at all prepared to train a woman.”

Efforts to make

A challenge that is all the more important because today everything is under control. Proof of this is the Paris Games, which are broadcast live on television day and night, and every moment of which becomes an event on social networks. In TikTok, the physical appearance of women is not spared. Everything is a topic: suddenly, beauty is as important as a hairstyle or a swimsuit. Not sparing the horribly bad hype of some athletes like Simone Biles. On July 30, the American gymnastics champion was criticized for her hair during the Paris Olympics.

As for brands and federations, things need to change. Like Nike, which only makes dark shorts for the England and France national teams to respect the menstrual cycle of female footballers. Or the New Zealand Gymnastics Federation, which announced in April that its female athletes would no longer be required to wear paddles at national competitions. This is not enough for Marjolaine Floury. “Brands should move and offer something different, work against the current with the federation. For academics, it was already accepted in the regulations, it existed on paper, but not physically. The federations need to question themselves about the kits. We see it in football players, everything is very broad, but why not women?”

What about men?

Men can also be punished. If a player “removes his shirt or covers his head” during the match, he can receive a yellow card under FIFA Article 12. Men’s gymnastics rules state that if an athlete is wearing boxers, “they must not extend beyond the shorts.” However, these rules seem far less restrictive than those imposed on women…and the penalties are less severe.

For men, moreover, satirical “mistakes” are more about amusement than indignation. We remember Kylian Mbappe’s injury in the middle of Euro-2024, which forced the player to wear a mask. Recently, at the Paris Games, German surfer Tim Elter lost his swimsuit and unwittingly exposed his bottom to the world’s cameras. The incident got a lot of response on social networks and made everyone laugh. But when Tang Qianting adopts a trompe-l’oeil swimsuit with a “thin waist”, netizens make a direct connection with ozempic, an anti-diabetic drug that allows rapid weight loss. Once again, a woman’s body does not get rest.

“Sport translates and implements in its institutions the dominance of men over women and the rejection of forms of masculinity that are farthest from the hegemonic ideal,” historian Thierry Terre already expressed in 2010. Cultural dictionary of sports. From this point of view, a man who shows a piece of his backside in competition is mildly ridiculed, because he goes beyond the very essence of the sport, which, according to the expert, always “shows the expression and control of physical strength.” A woman in a sexy dress becomes a female object, followed more to satisfy the male gaze than for her performance. Fortunately, times are changing and languages ​​are on the wane. We already notice it in the stands of Paris. During the women’s gymnastics final on July 30, Natalie Portman’s neighbor wore a T-shirt that read, “Everybody’s Watching Women’s Sports.” Prophetic.