Sexism in Sports Uniforms
Women’s Sports uniforms have come a long way throughout history. Back in the 1900s, women were just starting to enter the sports world. According to author Patricia Campbell Warner in her book When the Girls Came Out to Play: The Birth of American Sportswear, back in the 1900s, instead of trying to accentuate the female body, uniforms tried to cover them up. A photo from 1912 shows that women’s swimming uniforms were made of cotton material to mask their curves. They wore a spandex-like material underneath. She states, “Each stands soberly with arms firmly clasped across her chest, three or four unwilling to meet the camera’s eye, even though they had just won first place. So all those years of decorous modesty had apparently taken their toll, even among these pioneers of women’s competition”. These women were completely covered, but all of the emphasis was on their bodies. This left them ashamed and embarrassed, despite just winning first place.
The 1900s cotton uniforms are almost unrecognizable compared to the modern biometric suits seen today. These types of evolutions have been made in all sports, but the unfair emphasis on women’s bodies remains the same. The most recognizable example of a sexist sports uniform is in sand volleyball. Since the London Olympics of 2012, women are not required to wear bikinis, however, most women still do. An ESPN article written by Jimmy Golen assured audiences that the bikinis were not going anywhere. He states, “Fear not, fans of beach volleyball — or of the women who play it. Top players say they won’t be switching from the beach.” He goes on to explain that many women prefer the bikini uniform since it offers fewer areas for sand to get stuck. Golen then states, “It doesn’t hurt the TV audiences, either, as television producers zoom in for close-ups of the women signaling to each other by holding up their fingers against their behinds.” This entire article is celebrating the fact that women will continue to wear bikinis, and not on the rule being changed itself, giving women the opportunity to wear what they want.
The rule change for the London 2012 Olympics was a massive change that was seemingly left uncelebrated by western culture. Many other countries like Israel and Turkey took advantage of this rule change and started wearing long sleeves and pants. The US Olympic women’s team however remains unchanged. While it is important to note that this is their choice, it raises the question of why. Author Heather Reid and Micheal Austin in their book, The Olympics and Philosophy, report that several female athletes in sand volleyball feel immense pressure to look their best during the game. They state, “Some elite players have had their breast enlarged and overtrained their stomach muscles to obtain a “washboard” abdominal look – because they desire to fit the expected ideal beach volleyball image.” The uniforms were changed, but the pressure to remain “sexy” was ever-present for female athletes.
The actual sports uniform is never taken into account, only the way that the women look wearing it. Author Eric Anderson states in his article, “The Changing Relationship between Men’s Homosexuality and Sport” that the reason women are presented as feminine as they are is that if they are viewed as powerful and strong, it threatens male hegemony. “The Badminton World Federation (BWF) instituted a rule that women must wear skirts, and an American Deputy President of the BWF defended the rule by claiming, “We just want them to look feminine and have a nice presentation so women will be more popular” The practicality of skirts is never taken into question, only the presentation. Women’s athletic abilities are often undermined for their physical qualities, and that is sexist.
Either way, for women it’s a lose-lose situation. If women cover up or if they are almost completely nude, attention is always put onto their bodies. The argument goes back and forth between saying uniforms are too tight and revealing, to the fact that it’s necessary for some sports. In running and swimming you want to be as aerodynamic as possible, so remaining sleek is a key component. In volleyball, precision when jumping and spiking is important to the game, so unnecessary fabric could inhibit performance. The entire argument is overblown, as there haven’t been any solutions or new ideas. Everyone knows uniforms objectify the body, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t sports where this doesn’t occur. However, there is one place where the emphasis is rarely placed on the body, and that’s in men’s sports.
Men do not have to deal with objectification while participating in sports. Their athleticism is never questioned based on their appearance. The closest example of men wearing the exact same uniform as women is in American soccer. Both the men and women wear relatively the same thing; a jersey, and longer shorts. There is no apparent difference between the two gender’s uniforms. American Soccer has the closest playing field for men and women, in fact, in 2012 Women’s American Soccer had a 22% higher viewership compared to men’s for their World Cup final according to author Abigail Johnson Hess for CNBC news. In her article, “US viewership of the 2019 Women’s World Cup final was 22% higher than the 2018 men’s final” she states, “According to The Wall Street Journal, U.S. women’s soccer games have generated more revenue for the USSF than U.S. men’s games over the past three years”. The women actually outperformed the men when it came to ratings, and they had no advantage with sexy uniforms. It wasn’t the eye candy keeping people watching, it was the women’s skill and athleticism.
(conclusion)
References
AbigailJHess. “US Viewership of the 2019 Women’s World Cup Final Was 22% Higher than the 2018 Men’s Final.” CNBC, CNBC, 10 July 2019,
Anderson, Eric. “The Changing Relationship between Men’s Homosexuality and Sport.”
Golen, Jimmy. “Bikinis Here to Stay in Beach Volleyball.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 9 Apr. 2012,
Harrison, Frances Rosseland. “Volleyball, but Make It Sexy: Mediated … “– Duke University.
Reid, Heather Lynne, and Michael W. Austin. “The Olympics and Philosophy.” University Press of Kentucky, 2012. Warner, Patricia Campbell. “WOMEN ENTER THE Olympics: A Sleeker Swimsuit.” When the Girls Came Out to Play: The Birth Of American Sportswear, University of Massachusetts Press, 2006, pp. 84–103. JSTOR Accessed 17 Oct. 2022.
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Counterintuitive Fall 2022 
Hey, I was looking for feedback on this regarding both wordiness, and just general strength of content, regarding how strong the points I’m making are and what I could do to improve them.
Those are good choices for a first round of feedback (on a first draft), Oni. We like to concentrate on content and argument in the early going, and to save style and rhetoric tuning for later drafts.
Hey, I don’t know how I did this but I just realized I commented this on the wrong post. I am rubes and this was meant for my Definition rewrite, not Onis! Sorry for the mistake!
What do you think, Oni? Do you stand by Rubes’s request?
Haha sure i’ll stand by their request
The style sheet for this class is APA, Oni. The word Sources is replaced by References (centered on the page, no punctuation, not bold).
We DO NOT use parenthetical notations after quotes. You must have missed the class(es) we spent on Informal Citation technique. Review this:
And this:
And if you still need help:
Oni, this is a very difficult read. Your claims are almost always phrased in terms of WHAT ISN’T instead of WHAT IS. Your favorite rhetorical approach appears to be: “You could say X, but you’d be wrong.” In every case, try starting with “Y is sexist.” Then tell us why. If there’s a counterargument worth mentioning, you can mention it briefly, but save your big rebuttal for the Refutation argument.
Times you fail to make a Positive Case:
P2. Negative evidence: The tightness of uniforms cannot be used as a solid argument for sexism.
P3. Negative evidence: The revealing nature of women’s uniforms also falls apart if you use it in an argument.
P4. Positive evidence: The unnecessary feminine flair seen in women’s sport uniforms is sexist. Skirts, for example. “We just want them to look feminine and have a nice presentation so women will be more popular”
P4a. The hegemony argument belongs in another paragraph. It interrupts P4.
P5. A “non-proof” that offers a rational alternative to sexist “costuming.” It’s not a proof of sexist uniforms. Call it something more probative than “the best example for similarity
p5. Negative evidence: You could try to make the argument that sex-sells, and women need to wear skimpy outfits in order to get the same viewership ratings as men do [but you’d be wrong].
P6. A brilliant insight into the “either way we lose” aspect of female sport uniforms. This is the counterintuitive example that best illustrates the dilemma women athletes face. It should lead your argument from the top. I would also recommend you incorporate visuals.
Maybe start with the swimwear example to show that whether covering everything or uncovering everything, women athletes are considered first of all as bodies to be seen or not seen, as athletes only afterwards if at all.
Offer the soccer example as a solution once you’ve gotten all you can out of the clearly sexist “problem sports.”
Helpful?
Looking for images of competitive women’s swimwear from history, I chanced upon this clever paragraph at Wikipedia. Good food for thought:
The FINA clue is helpful. Sport uniforms are carefully regulated by such agencies and their justifications might be very helpful to know.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_competitive_swimwear
This is my second draft. I want to note that I haven’t done my intro or conclusion, as I want the body to be decent enough before I do. I also am completely stuck on how to do either haha.
Anyway, for feedback I’d appreciate knowing how this paper has improved considering my first draft. You pointed out that all of my points were negative, and that it was kind of hard to get through. Any feedback on clarity or wordiness would also be appreciated.
Your November revisions show massive improvement, Oni. You’re developing a clear narrative and organizing your material for the most part effectively.
I’m not sure I see a need for an ADDITIONAL introductory paragraph. The top of the essay could be tweaked to provide an appropriate opening.
A sloppy section remains:
The “bridge section” about men’s uniforms that spans both paragraphs feels very intrusive. Give it a paragraph of its own.
And the Either way paragraph contains about four Howevers, which make following your through-argument difficult.
I would like a quick regrade, although I can’t remember if I’ve changed it much since last time. Just want to make sure.
Changes since November 8 were not significant.