To show or not to show is the question.
With the Paris Olympics approaching, the public's eyes are gradually focused on this sporting event. Major sports brands are not idle, and have launched the latest design of competition clothing for the national teams they sponsor.
If you pay attention to sporting events, you may have noticed that the dress code for many sports seems to be targeted - male athletes wear mostly normal clothing, while female athletes wear too revealing clothing.
Can you imagine jumping up and down in a bikini or the embarrassing feeling of being crotched in briefs...... In fact, in the competition, each garment is designed to meet the needs of the athletes in the competition, so that they can perform better.
For example, in swimming, the less fabric the clothing, the less friction with the water, and the athlete's swimming speed will naturally increase. Therefore, both men and women, swimmers are dressed cooler.
However, the design of briefs in beach volleyball, track and field, gymnastics and other events is often questioned by the outside world. Because only female athletes wear clothes like this, male athletes in the same event wear boxer trousers or even mid-length pants, which is simply naked and bright double standard.
Source: Xiaohongshu netizens
Recently, Nike announced the latest Olympic jersey of the U.S. track and field team on social media:
Source: Xiaohongshu netizens
As you can see, there is nothing wrong with the men's clothing, but the women's clothing looks like a "swimsuit" - no sleeves, a high cut at the crotch, too bold and unrestrained. (And the design of the high slit causes female athletes to have to do hair removal when they wear it)
Just imagine, if an athlete competes in such a costume, it may be extremely easy to walk out, which will definitely affect their concentration in the competition. And this kind of design, which is completely different from the clothing of male athletes, is clearly disrespectful to female athletes.
So many American female track and field athletes, after seeing such clothing, have publicly expressed their dissatisfaction. Lauren Fleishman, a former U.S. 5000m champion, directly criticized it on IG and said: "If this outfit is really good for athletic performance, men will wear it." ”
In the face of these controversies, Nike officials came out to explain that such a design is mainly to highlight the "difference" of women, and did not expect it to be unacceptable to some athletes. If you don't like it, you can also compete in the same shorts as the male athletes.
Although Nike offered athletes a choice of clothing, including briefs and shorts, at the last Tokyo Olympics, the brand only offered briefs, forcing female athletes to wear them that way.
Even when Nike sells girls' sunscreen clothing, it has to let girl models appear in briefs, compared with the same series of products on boy models, but it is normal wear, which makes people think about it carefully.
Source: Screenshot of Taobao
In fact, there has been a lot of controversy over the years about the competition clothing of female athletes. The relevant regulations on the field are also incredible.
For example, beach volleyball, because its competition is not as fierce as indoor women's volleyball, the attention is relatively low, in order to improve the spectacle of the event, the event organizers require female athletes to wear bikinis to attract attention, after all, there are spectators to have sponsors.
Source: Xiaohongshu netizens
At the 2021 European Women's Beach Handball Tournament, the Norwegian players chose to wear boxer shorts for the game, and were finally fined 1,500 euros (about 1.1w yuan) by the European Handball Federation. Because in the relevant documents, it is clearly stipulated that female athletes should wear bikinis in their bottoms.
Therefore, the short, tight, and undewy clothing of female athletes cannot cover anything, which is not their own choice, but is decided by the relevant functional units.
In competition, briefs (or bikinis) can indeed play a "mystical role" – to appear slender and more aesthetically pleasing, to reduce drag, to make movements easier, and to dissipate heat and perspiration...... But more importantly, it is to serve the aesthetics of the audience, especially the male audience, otherwise it is difficult to explain the great difference between the clothing of male and female athletes.
The exposed clothing and sexy and athletic bodies of female athletes perfectly meet the viewing needs of male audiences, and the fierce collision and scramble highlight the charm of female sports.
Fortunately, in recent years, there have also been brave voices who have rebelled against the patriarchal power of the competition costumes, telling the world that it is up to women to decide what to wear.
For example, at the last Tokyo Olympics, the German women's gymnastics team was "unconventional" and wore a full-body gymnastics uniform. The move subverts the tradition of female gymnasts wearing triangular high-slit gymnastics uniforms, with the aim of countering the "sexualization" of the sports world and the gaze on the female body.
During this time, there were also young female hurdlers who chose narrow briefs in order to reduce the wind resistance of 0.01, but they were pointed at by the keyboard warrior waving the banner of morality, just because this was contrary to Xia Sining's usual innocent image.
I have to mention that there was a very ironic scene at the 2016 Rio Olympics, in the women's beach volleyball match, Egypt vs. Germany - long sleeves and long pants on one side, absolutely not sexy, and ultra-short bikini on the other side, absolutely sexy.
The two patriarchal logics are head-to-head, with the female body becoming a battleground for power discipline, and some people see a clash of two cultures. In any case, they followed the dress code in the frame so obediently.
"Every woman, every woman, has the right to choose what to wear. ”
Whether you dress conservatively or hotly, there should be no hard and fast rules, and the right to wear what to wear should be handed back to the athletes.