It’s all so predictable I can hardly be bothered to comment
on it.
The Olympics is nearly upon us, which means women in
sportswear, which means lots of articles and adverts on what their bodies look
like and not what they can do.Already Jessica Ennis is advertising Oil of Olay, because God forbid she should excel at her sport and not have soft skin, and she and the British beach volley ball team have been criticised for being fat (i.e. don’t look like FHM models) and now Victoria Pendleton and Zara Dampney have posed naked for GQ magazine.
Victoria says she has a nice bum and it’s not really any different to competing in a skin suit so why not? Well, in one example she is competing in a sport and wearing appropriate clothing to assist her, and in another she is posing naked in a sexual manner in a mens magazine. Quite a bit different I would say.
Why reduce their hard work and ability to what they look like? I just don’t get it. A recent article about Chris Hoy focussed on his amazing thigh muscles and detailed the diet and exercise regime he follows to get them. A recent one on one British tennis player Laura Robson called her the incredible bulk, musing on her change from “slender” to athletic. No wonder girls drop out of sport at a young age.
The final insult which made me get off my bum and make the effort to comment on this was the fact that Zara Dampney says likes her body but dislikes the grooming regime required to wear the outfits. The volleyball team is actually sponsored by cosmetic surgery group who carry out their hair removal for them. An advert in InStyle magazine featured three of the team in knickers and bra tops, advertising hair removal at the sponsors clinic. The strap line is “successfully treating laser hair removal patients for 15 years.” Patients? Since when does having pubic hair make you a patient in need for treatment? It can’t only be me who thinks it would just be easier to wear slightly bigger pants?
I would love it if these high profile female athletes just said enough is enough, we will either be interviewed about our sport just as the men are, or you can forget your article.
