Current Events > Olympic broadcasts trying hard not to sexualize female athletes

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https://apnews.com/article/2020-tokyo-olympics-sports-entertainment-tokyo-sports-europe-cefbd1d45d8e495b2bf936f0c18037d2

At an Olympics aiming to set the highest level of television standards, the head of broadcasting at the Tokyo Games is trying to banish overly sexualized images of female athletes. Sport appeal, not sex appeal is one mantra Olympic officials push in an effort to reach gender equity on the field of play and on screen. You will not see in our coverage some things that we have been seeing in the past, with details and close-up on parts of the body, Olympic Broadcasting Services chief executive Yiannis Exarchos said Monday. That can be difficult with state-of-the-art technology filming sports such as beach volleyball, gymnastics, swimming and track where female athletes uniforms can be scant and skimpy. Gymnasts from Germany sent a message against uniforms they believe exploit their sexuality by competing in Tokyo wearing unitards that covered their legs to the ankle. A stronger protest was made this month away from the Olympics. At a European beach handball event, Norways women refused to play in bikini bottoms and instead wanted to wear skin-tight shorts. They were fined for breaking clothing rules. The International Olympic Committee does not govern those kinds of rules for individual sports, but it does run OBS and controls the broadcast output from Tokyo shown to the world. What we can do is to make sure that our coverage does not highlight or feature in any particular way what people are wearing, Exarchos said.

To achieve this, the IOC updated Portrayal Guidelines to steer all Olympic sports and their rights holders toward gender-equal and fair broadcasts of their events. Advice includes do not focus unnecessarily on looks, clothing or intimate body parts and reframing or deleting a wardrobe malfunction ... to respect the integrity of the athlete. The Olympic goals go beyond ending sexualized images, Exarchos said. More womens and mixed gender events are on the Olympic program and are scheduled more prominently. Womens finals are held after mens finals in volleyball and team handball. We in media have not yet done all that we can do, said Exarchos, while claiming progress over the past 15 years. This is something that we need to be frank and open (about) among ourselves. Its a theme for the Tokyo Olympics, whose adviser on gender equality was critical of Japanese media while sharing the stage Monday with the head of Olympic broadcasting. Its really biased when it comes to gender, said Naoko Imoto, who swam for Japan at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and now works for UNICEF, the United Nations childrens rights agency. Many of the channels look at female athletes (as) girls or wives or mothers and not really as pure athletes, she said. Most of it also really gives attention to the looks saying ... they are beautiful or sexy.



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Maybe it'd be easier if they weren't forced to wear incredibly revealing uniforms

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If wrestling commentators can do it I'm sure these stupid fucks can manage it

Wouldn't it be easier to simply make sure the male athletes are sexualized in equal amounts

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Lebronwon posted...

reframing or deleting a wardrobe malfunction ... to respect the integrity of the athlete.

Wait. Several women are having wardrobe malfunctions at these events for this to be a rule. Time to do some research.

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its sad that this is something that they need to try hard to do

nothanks1 posted...

If wrestling commentators can do it I'm sure these stupid fucks can manage it

Puppies!!!

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Fam_Fam posted...

its sad that this is something that they need to try hard to do

After doing research sounds like women boobs are out all the time in water polo. So it might be tough to avoid it in that sport.

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billcom6 posted...

Puppies!!!

That stopped like in 2010

This will be an interesting experiment. If you take the visual aspect out of women's sports, what you end up with is men's sports equivalent but with shorter games and easier rules and that's about it.

If this affects viewership and ratings, the bottom line of these athletes will be at stake. Will they double down or back down once money is involved? You can only shame so many people into supporting you, but you can easily entice them into supporting you.

Shadilay posted...

If this affects viewership and ratings

It won't.

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eston posted...

Wouldn't it be easier to simply make sure the male athletes are sexualized in equal amounts

Honestly this.

People dont care about the Olympics unless they can make it cool, or sexy, or there is a war on.

Dont the guys do a lot of events in Speedos?

They should have a bulge cam.

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How does this fit into that?

https://imgur.com/nywZAaq

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Shadilay posted...

This will be an interesting experiment. If you take the visual aspect out of women's sports, what you end up with is men's sports equivalent but with shorter games and easier rules and that's about it.

If this affects viewership and ratings, the bottom line of these athletes will be at stake. Will they double down or back down once money is involved? You can only shame so many people into supporting you, but you can easily entice them into supporting you.

There is a reason why women's sports that has the most attractive and/or skimpiest uniformed women also have the highest ratings like tennis, gymnastics, and soccer, while the women's sports with the less attractive and more moderately uniformed women no one gives a fuck about, aka the WNBA.

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I think it'd be more fair to sexualize the men equally, than de-sexualize the women.

They don't even need to try that hard. Dudes on the rugby team had some gigantic fucking thighs, yesterday. And the men in the triathlon were covering themselves in water, which made their clothes see through.

IMO best course is to sexualize everyone, instead of no one.

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DrPrimemaster posted...

How does this fit into that?

https://imgur.com/nywZAaq

LOL! Have they been taking notes from Twitch streamers?

Shadilay posted...

If this affects viewership and ratings

Just look at the topic asking if people are going to watch the olympics.

Bunch of people only mentioning volleyball and swimming and other sports solely because of the outfits. Theres a lot of people out there who Im guessing dont see stuff in person so they rely on these sports. Views and ratings would definitely go down.

thankfully thats not me and I can watch sports to watch the sport, not the people.

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Alteres posted...

Honestly this.

People dont care about the Olympics unless they can make it cool, or sexy, or there is a war on.

Dont the guys do a lot of events in Speedos?

They should have a bulge cam.

Do you believe the same amount of men wear speedos as women wear skimpy clothing? Immediate double standards that come to mind - gymnastics, volleyball, tennis, ice skating

So why are people watching men's tennis?

DrPrimemaster posted...

How does this fit into that?

Hold up, was that legit made by a team member or someone dealing with the team?

Hopefully neither and just some random person who found the video.


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gatorsPENSbucs posted...

Hold up, was that legit made by a team member or someone dealing with the team?

The question to ask who's forcing them to be recorded to upload such things to the internet.

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• Fine the Norwegian women for not wearing bikinis
• Complain that your broadcast is too sexual and has to be toned down

The IOC needs to be fucking disbanded.

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Tyranthraxus posted...

* Fine the Norwegian women for not wearing bikinis
* Complain that your broadcast is too sexual and has to be toned down

The IOC needs to be fucking disbanded.

The IOC has nothing to do with the Norwegian women's controversy.

At a European beach handball event, Norways women refused to play in bikini bottoms and instead wanted to wear skin-tight shorts. They were fined for breaking clothing rules. The International Olympic Committee does not govern those kinds of rules for individual sports, but it does run OBS and controls the broadcast output from Tokyo shown to the world.

Try reading next time.

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Tyranthraxus posted...

Fine the Norwegian women for not wearing bikinis

*For not wearing the required uniform

Got no issue with people being mad at this but at least get some of the stuff right.

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gatorsPENSbucs posted...

*For not wearing the required uniform

Got no issue with people being mad at this but at least get some of the stuff right.

And why is a bikini the required uniform for women and not men

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gatorsPENSbucs posted...

*For not wearing the required uniform

Got no issue with people being mad at this but at least get some of the stuff right.

That's like saying "All people wearing red shirts should be locked up. All black people must wear red shirts. This policy is not racist because it's about red shirts, not about skin color."

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Neon and Vegy in shambles right now.

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Shezarr posted...

And why is a bikini the required uniform for women and not men

Like I said, I got no issue with people being mad at this but at least get the stuff right.

Im not one for arguing and honestly dont really watch many womens sports so Im the wrong person to ask

Trumble posted...

That's like saying "All people wearing red shirts should be locked up. All black people must wear red shirts. This policy is not racist because it's about red shirts, not about skin color."

The only response to this I have is why the fuck would that cross your mind and think its a good comparison

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gatorsPENSbucs posted...

The only response to this I have is why the fuck would that cross your mind and think its a good comparison

Because if you replace "red shirts" with "bikinis", and replace "black people" with "women", it's exactly the same situation.

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I wonder how much viewership would drop if there was a 0% chance to see women in bikinis or short shorts or leotards that give massive wedgies

Can you make large amounts of people consistently watch women's sports without that stuff?


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I was watching it the other day and some of those female swimmers were hot >_>

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Trumble posted...

Because if you replace "red shirts" with "bikinis", and replace "black people" with "women", it's exactly the same situation.

But why would you replace women with black people and make it a race thing? Its not the exact same situation and its a strange thing to try to make a comparison with.

and what does being locked up have to do with anything? The team got like a $1,700 fine. Nobodies being locked up or facing legal issues.

again, why on earth would that comparison cross your mind

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ESPN did a very weird crop of two beach volleyball players for a tweet yesterday

https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1419470707017371648?s=19

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gatorsPENSbucs posted...

But why would you replace women with black people and make it a race thing? Its not the exact same situation and its a strange thing to try to make a comparison with.

If you're focusing on what kind of trait it's about instead of focusing on the "one rule obscuring another, and you're denying that the obscured one exists", you're missing the point altogether.

Although I suspect you know exactly what you're doing here, so I'm going to leave it at that.

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Also as someone who's not big into boobs on women, I will go out and say that trying to crop out the "sexy" parts from female athletes in an attempt to desexualize them is a futile battle. There's so many different sexual partialisms and general fetishes, that you literally can't win. No matter what outfit you have athletes wear, no matter what camera angle you use, there's going to be a subset of people out there watching because they think it's hot.

Take Judo for example. The athletes wear large, baggy, full-body gi uniforms. But they're also wrestling around on the ground sometimes. There's probably a big chunk of the audience watching women's judo just because it's effectively two girls borderline-humping. How do you de-sexualize that sport to the group of people who find it sexy?

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I can't deny noticing when a female athlete is particularly attractive but generally speaking, if I'm watching a sporting event, I'm less focused on their physical appearance and more focused on what they're actually doing. Weird right?

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LostForest posted...

Also as someone who's not big into boobs on women, I will go out and say that trying to crop out the "sexy" parts from female athletes in an attempt to desexualize them is a futile battle. There's so many different sexual partialisms and general fetishes, that you literally can't win. No matter what outfit you have athletes wear, no matter what camera angle you use, there's going to be a subset of people out there watching because they think it's hot.

Take Judo for example. The athletes wear large, baggy, full-body gi uniforms. But they're also wrestling around on the ground sometimes. There's probably a big chunk of the audience watching women's judo just because it's effectively two girls borderline-humping. How do you de-sexualize that sport to the group of people who find it sexy?

Wouldn't you agree that the smaller set of people leering is better than keeping bikinis so larger sets of people leer?

DrPrimemaster posted...

How does this fit into that?

They all have great legs and butts

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BeantownHero posted...

ESPN did a very weird crop of two beach volleyball players for a tweet yesterday

https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1419470707017371648?s=19

lol, you can tell the sole purpose of that crop was to hide their ass and legs

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LostForest posted...

Also as someone who's not big into boobs on women, I will go out and say that trying to crop out the "sexy" parts from female athletes in an attempt to desexualize them is a futile battle. There's so many different sexual partialisms and general fetishes, that you literally can't win. No matter what outfit you have athletes wear, no matter what camera angle you use, there's going to be a subset of people out there watching because they think it's hot.

Take Judo for example. The athletes wear large, baggy, full-body gi uniforms. But they're also wrestling around on the ground sometimes. There's probably a big chunk of the audience watching women's judo just because it's effectively two girls borderline-humping. How do you de-sexualize that sport to the group of people who find it sexy?

Yeah I'm watching the women's triathlon right now and a lot of the competitors here are super muscular. While I'm not into that I know some people are and that's okay. It's one thing to say people shouldn't see other people as simple sex objects. It's another to shame them for having sexual feelings towards other people whatsoever.

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NeonOctopus posted...

lol, you can tell the sole purpose of that crop was to hide their ass and legs

Sure they weren't going the other way with it? I have seen adult video thumbnails that weren't that suggestive.
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Ruvan22 posted...

Wouldn't you agree that the smaller set of people leering is better than keeping bikinis so larger sets of people leer?

No. See my previous post. I don't think leering is inherently bad. I think rather than sex-shame specific groups, give equal opportunity for sexualization. Put more dudes in speedos and do extra close-ups of gloriously toned man ass.

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eston posted...

Wouldn't it be easier to simply make sure the male athletes are sexualized in equal amounts

That would be the best way to handle things.

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so just bottoms?
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LostForest posted...

No. See my previous post. I don't think leering is inherently bad. I think rather than sex-shame specific groups, give equal opportunity for sexualization. Put more dudes in speedos and do extra close-ups of gloriously toned man ass.

And what about athletes that want to compete without being leered at? Or at least put in clothing that encourages it?

To expand, the solution to Brown vs Kansas Board of Education was not to break pipes and destroy books in white schools

The only reason I watch the women's sports is for the eye candy.

Ngl
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Ruvan22 posted...

To expand, the solution to Brown vs Kansas Board of Education was not to break pipes and destroy books in white schools

Well that escalated quickly.

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MC_BatCommander posted...

Maybe it'd be easier if they weren't forced to wear incredibly revealing uniforms

I mean since when have you ever known women to want to wear baggy clothing? Its the style to for women to wear tight and revealing clothing, especially during the summer when its hot AF out.


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So how is the sexualization a problem? I doubt the cameramen are zooming in on butts and boobs out here.

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deoxxys posted...

I mean since when have you ever known women to want to wear baggy clothing? Its the style to for women to wear tight and revealing clothing, especially during the summer when its hot AF out.

I know some. Not many and one doesnt count cause im sure she only does it cause she's one of those feminist that give the sane feminist a bad rep

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Well yeah everyone knows someone but we know the exception doesnt break the rule.

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