Comments on: What Do Fans of Women's Sport Want to See?

By: nmlavoi

nmlavoi — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:20:40 +0000

pov-I am well aware of why Venus was wearing that particular tennis dress design. My point to question that the color of a woman’s underwear becomes media fodder only when she is non-White?

By: Brethren Priestess

Brethren Priestess — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:37:39 +0000

This article makes a salient point. The athlete-person approach is used for men and for women, as corporate sponsorship and branding of teams and players takes hold, turning sport ever more into entertainment and not about actual play.

It feels to me that instead of serving to market female athletes, these images of them off the field/track/rink/court actually undermine their power as athletes. It’s like saying, ‘They’re really not so threatening, y’all! They’re just little girls! You can still salivate over them and sexualize them – you don’t have to treat them as serious athletes!’ It would seem nice to let athletes of all genders be deemed fully rounded people, but with the ways women are overly sexualized and ‘feminized’ when portrayed out of uniform belies that attempt.

And no, I don’t care about Venus’ underwear, or any of her clothing choices, actually.

By: pov

pov — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:46:11 +0000

BTW The athlete-person approach is used extensively for both male and female athletes. And the reinforcing of trad roles is also the usual approach across the board. Historically, a big part of sports in school has always been about reinforcing trad roles. This is another reason why the mere fact that so many woman athletes are well embraced by the society at large is a very positive thing.

By: pov

pov — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:37:19 +0000

This is what Venus Williams posted on Twitter about her dress:

# My dress for the Austrailian Open has been one of my best designs ever! Its all about the slits and V-Neck 2:01 PM Jan 21st

# I am wearing undershorts the same color as my skin, so it gives the slits in my dress the full effect! 2:02 PM Jan 21st

By: cindy

cindy — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:55:57 +0000

What women don’t want to see is what Venus did at the open. And what pray tell did the good doctor think of what Venus Williams wore at the Australian open? That is the person she should go after for setting women back eons with her idiot thinking of what fashion is. Makes me sad to be a woman if it weren’t for Vonn and other great atheletes like her.