Have you ever noticed that during the summer Olympics, female athletes such as volleyball players play their respective sports wearing skimpy clothing while the male athletes are more covered up? Much of this probably stems from advertisers who want the athletes to model their clothing during their events, and most people (not just advertisers) know that "sex" sells. Essentially, these female athletes are being dressed in tiny little outfits in order to promote a certain image (that of a fit, sexy woman) associated with the companies involved. Although I am not a volleyball player, I find it hard to believe that female athletes need to wear skimpy swimsuits in order to perform at their very best. And why do the male athletes get to be more covered up?
What's Sex Got to Do With... the Olympics?
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You have a valid point but if we're talking about beach volleyball it would seem like they just wear what anyone else on the beach wears. I don't really think they dress skimpier for the Olympics. If you take that girls top off you basically have what a male volleyball player wears so I wouldn't say that they're really more covered up either (maybe a little less thigh action going on).
Well, actually if you look at what the men wear for beach volleyball events, they often wear a sleeveless shirt and a pair of longer shorts, so in reality, the women are way more exposed than the men are, even if the men choose not to wear the shirts. If you look at what the women are wearing, it's these tiny little swimsuits that ride up in the back while they play. I'm just wondering why these female athletes can't wear what the male athletes wear: shorts and a sleeveless shirt.
In your original post I thought it was interesting how you said why do men "get to be" more covered up. And then in this last one that you said why women "can't wear" less revealing clothing. I've never really heard of any rules or regulations for this. I'm sure a female could wear longer shorts and a t-shirt if they wanted to... or a one piece suit for that matter. The thing is they don't! They're on T.V., many people are watching them, they want to look good, feel good and by looking at female clothing not in general, and especially on the beach this means usually means revealing, skimpy, sexy clothing. And even if they weren't on t.v. they'd dress the same way to impress the potential people they might encounter. Do you really stray from this that much, or is it starting to sound like I'm describing you, or any other girl? As a guy I'm not opposed to this but I also can't exactly get into the head of female to see as to why this is. Men usually do different things to feel good about themselves and sexy, and believe me its not dressing up in skimpy thong (unless you're the miller lite guy haha).
You do raise some interesting points, and ones that I had thought but wasn't too sure about. Perhaps the better question to ask would be, why do women feel they need to wear these types of clothes in order to look "good"? What is it about society that furthers the obsession with what women need to wear in order to look good, and what men need to wear in order to look good?
The "sex sells" comment I find hard to believe; it's a bit of a joke / common opinion that women with muscles aren't attractive, especially compared to men with muscles.
However, after watching video clips of Olympic beach volleyball, I would conclude that men are more covered than women. Maybe the individuals simply choose to dress the way they believe is appropriate? Until an athelete decides to go against this, it's unlikely the public will know if such clothes are regulation or not.
My personal recommendation would be to leave the women's "uniforms" as they are, and simply remove the top from the men's "uniform". Objectification for all genders.