TEN CENTIMETERS

A Look at Female Sexualisation and Double-standards within Sports Renata Rîmbu

Fourteen athletes kneeling down side-by side. Seven men, seven women. The men are wearing long tank tops and shorts. The women- bikini bottoms and a sports bra. The difference in exposed skin is immediately eye-catching.

The photograph I am describing circulated the internet and news outlets this summer, when during the Euro 2021 tournaments, Norway’s women’s beach handball team decided to forgo their normal uniform and play in shorts instead of bikinis. It was a protest against the uniform regulations of the sport, with the women making use of their platform in the bronze medal match to make an important statement: (female) athletes should be allowed to wear what they deem comfortable while playing, and not be dependent on a sexist standard. The consequence? They were all fined 150 euros by the European Handball Association’s Disciplinary Commission, adding up to a sum of 1500 euros for the entire team, on grounds of “improper clothing”.

The uproar which followed is easily imaginable. Female athletes came forward with countless stories of unfair treatment, joined by women working in other fields who shared their experiences. Pop singer P!nk offered to pay the entirety of the fine, and all others that may follow. The reaction of the International Handball Federation was less decisive to say the least, with a spokesperson claiming they did not know the actual reasons for these rules and that an internal investigation was to be conducted. Once again, this goes to prove that a statement and subsequent scandal are needed in order to even proceed in the direction of changing the status quo. It makes one wonder, however, why no one questioned said rules before--some food for thought.

The “bikini controversy” sparked a heated debate, with some critics arguing that any institution, in sports or otherwise, is at liberty to impose a certain dress code. A reasonable argument to a certain extent, but then the situation must be presented in its entirety. While male players are allowed to play in tank tops and shorts no longer than ten centimetres above the knee, the regulations state that women have to wear bikini bottoms “with a close fit and cut on an upward angle toward the top of the leg” and a maximum side width of 10 centimetres. If men can play in shorts without being inhibited, why can’t women? The Norwegian team explained the bikini bottoms aren’t practical in a sport where one has to repeatedly dive into the sand, beyond them being degrading and culturally insensitive to certain countries. Why then, we might ask again, is it acceptable for men to be covered, but for women it is labelled as “improper clothing”? Many have argued that rules ought to make sense to the sport they refer to and help the athletes achieve the best results possible. Clearly, the Norwegian women’s team has a different understanding of what helps them achieve successful results.

The deeply rooted problem of socially-ingrained sexism is one side of this story, with a matter of institutional abuse of authority being at play as well. Sports associations and federations have the power to set very clear rules regarding aspects to said rules. Let us frame the aspects I’ve already mentioned above in a shorter form: in the case of the scandal surrounding Norway’s women’s beach handball team, the European Hand-ball Federation fined all the players before even conducting an investigation. Their first response was to claim that they did not know why these rules existed or what their purpose was. The team was even threatened with disqualification from the tournament by the federation, but decided to protest against the measures anyway during their last match. All of this goes to show that, unfortunately, there are cases of disregard for the well-being of the athletes and punishments are conducted without even looking into the circumstances of each case.

During the same week in July when this was taking place, track and field two-time Paralympic world champion, Olivia Breen, talked about how during the English Championships, a volunteer said her sprinting shorts were too short and inappropriate, so she should think of changing her attire. towards mental health, it has become obvious to many and been reminded to many others that the place of women is shaky at best. Yes, progress is slowly being made, but there is still a lot of ground to cover. This is precisely why I have questioned so much already.

‘‘Why do associations and federations know better what is more convenient and practical than the athletes themselves?’’

For many women in sports and otherwise, these unrelated, yet telling situations showed that women simply cannot win, due to the immense pressure put on their shoulders to look and perform a certain way. This is all part of a much larger issue concerning the sexualisation of women and the double-standards existing within sports.

2011: the Badminton World Federation states that women have to dress in skirts or dresses so as to revive interest in women’s badminton. 2012: the Amateur International Boxing Association wants to make female boxers wear skirts instead of short, in order for people to better tell the difference between female and male boxers. 2015: after qualifying for the Australian Open semi-final, Canadian tennis player Eugenie Bouchard is asked during an on-court interview to give the audience a twirl. 2021: the German Artistic Gymnastics team decides to compete in full-body leotards at the Summer Olympics to make a statement about the sexualisation of women in the sport world. These are only four examples I stumbled upon, and they were not remotely hard to find. In fact, there are many, many more out there. What is even more worrisome is that these are only the cases that reDouble standard in sports does not stop at uniforms, however. Female athletes get paid less, to start with. Women’s sport only gets 7% of media coverage and barely 0.4% of commercial investment goes to women-only sport. Women are held to a much higher standard when it comes to attitude, composure and mentality while competing. If male athletes can win over audiences by employing a “bad-boy” or “rule-breaker” attitude, women cannot get away with it. Many deemed Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka, two of the most prominent athletes in the world, weak for prioritising their mental health over competition earlier this year. A vital issue is at stake here: the way women are perceived within society and their working spaces. From clothing to attitude

Even if the answers might sometimes feel too dire or overwhelming to think about, it is our duty to keep asking the questions. The importance of sport, both culturally and socially, is immense. You don’t have to even be remotely interested in it, not to mention an avid fan, to be exposed to its existence. What we see remains ingrained in our perception of what society should look like, what is considered acceptable and what not. Even more importantly, precedents in one part of society can hopefully lead to a questioning process and finally changing the norms. If ten centimetres can help create a more equal and positive environment for everyone, maybe we should give it some serious thought, and look towards examples such as the one of the Norwegian women’s beach handball team--they show the bravery of going against the current, of standing up for your rights and questioning authority when it needs to be questioned. These women do not just literally move for a living; they actively choose to partake in the movement for equality so many of us reach for.