The choice between sports and sex appeal
The other day I was going through pictures trying to decide which ones to use for my website. I came across a picture of me in a bathing suit from a photo shoot I did not too long ago. It was a good picture and I wanted to use it, but I was hesitant. Was it too revealing? Was it unprofessional? Could I post that picture and still be considered a role model? My uncertainty about a simple picture got me thinking about a much bigger issue: Can a woman realistically expect be seen as a great athlete AND a sex symbol?
To begin researching my question, I Googled "female athletes posing nude." The results included a variety of articles debating whether or not female athletes posing for sexy photo shoots marginalized everything else she did on her respective playing field. Some called it insulting, saying that these women are discounting the other qualities that make them great athletes. Others argue that women are posing in overly sexual ways to compensate for homophobia and the masculine aspects of playing sports. While still others point out that these women have worked hard for their bodies, so why not show them off and gain recognition for their hard work.
So what's my take on it? Well, as usual, I have a few things to say, so here goes...
First, I don't understand why posing for sexy pictures automatically means we are denying the toughness and strength it takes to be an elite athlete. To me it means that we want people to see us in totality, as multi-dimensional women who are not afraid to embrace all sides of ourselves. The coolest thing about the evolution of the modern day woman is that we have the ability to be so many things at once: career women, wives, mothers, etc. So it seems unfair to limit a female athlete by putting her in a box pre-determined by her sport. If it would be wrong for people to see us as just a sex symbol, is it any less wrong for them to see us as just an athlete? Either way, it's only a portion of who we are as women.
Second, some say we want to be photographed in sexy and ultra-feminine ways so people won't think we're gay just because we play sports. But what if it's instead to show people how we look the other 80% of the time when we're not playing? I wear short dresses out to the club and bikinis on the beach; it's not out of the norm for me, or many other female athletes. So I look at such photo shoots as a way to represent something we are, rather than to "prove" something we're not. Plus, these days there are lots of beautiful femme chicks that like women, so it really doesn't prove anything anyway.
Another argument is that using sexual images to get publicity sets women's causes back hundreds of years by cheapening everything else we do in sports. I understand that women have had to struggle (and still struggle) to earn respect for women's athletics. And true, taking your clothes off is the easiest and quickest way to get some cheap attention. But this very blog is evidence that there are other ways to draw attention to women's sports and issues. Kara Lawson is another player representing women's athletics through a different medium: broadcasting. Yes, stripping down to a bathing suit is easier, but it is far from the only way. Why can't we be athletic enough to play at the highest level, smart enough to write about important issues, articulate enough to be a sports broadcaster, AND hot enough to pose for a men's magazine? Call me ambitious, but I think we can do it all.
As females we are judged by our looks anyway. We are commented about and ridiculed if we don't meet other people's standards of physical attractiveness. So if our looks can work against us, we should have the option of allowing them to work for us too - without being looked at as a traitor to our gender or our sport. Also, societies' definition of beauty is dangerously narrow, often convincing young women that they must be stick skinny and always "put together" to be attractive. In my opinion, it's a great thing that men's magazines are stepping away from the stick skinny models and not only featuring curvier women like Beyonce and Kim Kardashian, but also tall, lean, muscular women like the Team USA Olympians that did the cover shoot for FHM in 2004. As long as the pictures are classy and not raunchy, I don't have a problem with it at all.
Thoughts anyone? For the women, how do you feel about female athletes posing for sexy pictures? And men, while you may not mind it, would you look at her as less of a "serious athlete" for doing so?
To begin researching my question, I Googled "female athletes posing nude." The results included a variety of articles debating whether or not female athletes posing for sexy photo shoots marginalized everything else she did on her respective playing field. Some called it insulting, saying that these women are discounting the other qualities that make them great athletes. Others argue that women are posing in overly sexual ways to compensate for homophobia and the masculine aspects of playing sports. While still others point out that these women have worked hard for their bodies, so why not show them off and gain recognition for their hard work.
So what's my take on it? Well, as usual, I have a few things to say, so here goes...
First, I don't understand why posing for sexy pictures automatically means we are denying the toughness and strength it takes to be an elite athlete. To me it means that we want people to see us in totality, as multi-dimensional women who are not afraid to embrace all sides of ourselves. The coolest thing about the evolution of the modern day woman is that we have the ability to be so many things at once: career women, wives, mothers, etc. So it seems unfair to limit a female athlete by putting her in a box pre-determined by her sport. If it would be wrong for people to see us as just a sex symbol, is it any less wrong for them to see us as just an athlete? Either way, it's only a portion of who we are as women.
Second, some say we want to be photographed in sexy and ultra-feminine ways so people won't think we're gay just because we play sports. But what if it's instead to show people how we look the other 80% of the time when we're not playing? I wear short dresses out to the club and bikinis on the beach; it's not out of the norm for me, or many other female athletes. So I look at such photo shoots as a way to represent something we are, rather than to "prove" something we're not. Plus, these days there are lots of beautiful femme chicks that like women, so it really doesn't prove anything anyway.
Another argument is that using sexual images to get publicity sets women's causes back hundreds of years by cheapening everything else we do in sports. I understand that women have had to struggle (and still struggle) to earn respect for women's athletics. And true, taking your clothes off is the easiest and quickest way to get some cheap attention. But this very blog is evidence that there are other ways to draw attention to women's sports and issues. Kara Lawson is another player representing women's athletics through a different medium: broadcasting. Yes, stripping down to a bathing suit is easier, but it is far from the only way. Why can't we be athletic enough to play at the highest level, smart enough to write about important issues, articulate enough to be a sports broadcaster, AND hot enough to pose for a men's magazine? Call me ambitious, but I think we can do it all.
As females we are judged by our looks anyway. We are commented about and ridiculed if we don't meet other people's standards of physical attractiveness. So if our looks can work against us, we should have the option of allowing them to work for us too - without being looked at as a traitor to our gender or our sport. Also, societies' definition of beauty is dangerously narrow, often convincing young women that they must be stick skinny and always "put together" to be attractive. In my opinion, it's a great thing that men's magazines are stepping away from the stick skinny models and not only featuring curvier women like Beyonce and Kim Kardashian, but also tall, lean, muscular women like the Team USA Olympians that did the cover shoot for FHM in 2004. As long as the pictures are classy and not raunchy, I don't have a problem with it at all.
Thoughts anyone? For the women, how do you feel about female athletes posing for sexy pictures? And men, while you may not mind it, would you look at her as less of a "serious athlete" for doing so?
