Cries of Sexism Greet a Nike Olympic Reveal

[demmiblue]

Ever since the Norwegian women’s beach handball team made it known that they were required to wear teeny-tiny bikini bottoms for competition into a cause célèbre, a quiet revolution has been brewing throughout women’s sports. It’s one that questions received conventions about what female athletes do — or don’t — have to wear to perform at their very best.

It has touched women’s soccer (why white shorts?), gymnastics (why not a unitard rather than a leotard?), field hockey (why a low-cut tank top?) and many more, including running.

So it probably should not have come as a shock to Nike that when it offered a sneak peek of the Team U.S.A. track and field unies during a Nike Air event in Paris celebrating its Air technology on Thursday (which also included looks for other Olympic athletes, like Kenya’s track and field team, France’s basketball team and Korea’s break dancing delegation), they were met with some less-than-enthusiastic reactions.

See, the two uniforms Nike chose to single out on the mannequins included a men’s compression tank top and mid-thigh-length compression shorts and a woman’s bodysuit, cut notably high on the hip. It looked sort of like a sporty version of a 1980s workout leotard. As it was displayed, the bodysuit seemed as if it would demand some complicated intimate grooming.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/12/style/sexism-nike-olympic-track-and-field-uniforms.html

...

Lauren Fleshman, a retired U.S. world champion runner, had some harsher criticism to share. In an Instagram post, Fleshman wrote, “I’m sorry, but show me one WNBA or NWSL team who would enthusiastically support this kit. This is for Olympic Track and Field. Professional athletes should be able to compete without dedicating brain space to constant pube vigilance or the mental gymnastics of having every vulnerable piece of your body on display. Women’s kits should be in service to performance, mentally and physically. If this outfit was truly beneficial to physical performance, men would wear it.”

She added, “This is not an elite athletic kit for track and field. This is a costume born of patriarchal forces that are no longer welcome or needed to get eyes on women’s sports. ... Stop making it harder for half the population @nike @teamusa @usatf.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/nike-ripped-for-risque-womens-track-olympic-uniforms

Link to tweet

[obamanut2012]

1. k n r

[mdmc]

2. ugh

nike is one of the few companies I have bought stock in

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

18. double ugh

[Diamond_Dog]

3. Kick n rec

Shame on whoever designed these womens’ outfits.

[2naSalit]

4. Beyond tone deaf.

[malaise]

5. K & R

The sponsor wants as close to naked women as possible and clearly some Federations are fine with this fuckery

[EndlessWire]

6. Make the guys wear speedos.

See how quick they demand a change.

There is no reason for that female design, which could have done with the same shorts design of the men.

This looks like a situation ripe for an SNL skit. Who's gonna be brave enough to forget to shave the offending pubes away? And, it looks like a danged thong. Thongs hurt and can be uncomfortable. I see female athletes everywhere pulling at the offending fabric trying to keep it unstuck.

[Sky Jewels]

12. Exactly

They are going to be distracted by material creeping upward, which is very uncomfortable. That will definitely affect their performances negatively. Many a race is list by a tiny fraction of a second. These bullshit uniforms are going to cost the team by producing losses.

[whathehell]

7. Laura Fleshman is spot on..

Why would the women's team agree to this ?

[obamanut2012]

9. They don't have a choice, wear it or don't compete

the women and girls who do gymnastics REALLY want a unitard, like college female gymnastics wear.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

13. Sounds like it's ripe for a boycott.

[petronius]

16. According to the article the athletes will have a choice, and there are women's uniforms

comparable to the men's. (E.g. the picture of Sha'Carri Richardson in the shorts/tank option.) I think the issue is really about the patterns that Nike chose to foreground in their public presentation: the athletes will have choices, but Nike's publicity approach sends an entirely different message...

[elleng]

8. OK, I'll say it:

[Oopsie Daisy]

10. Awful!

[Sky Jewels]

11. JFC

I’m so fucking sick of all the patriarchal bullshit and male control over all aspects of women’s lives.

[bigmonk]

14. Equal

I think the mens' and womens' uniforms should have the same style. They should both look like the mens'.

[Codifer]

15. In the first

Olympics, the male competitors wore nothing at all.

Gymnos = naked.

L

[LeftInTX]

17. Ick!!! It's so skimpy, it looks like it would ride up like a thong!

Ouch!!! And all sorts of other stuff.

[Maeve]

19. Showed this to Hubby. He loves the female form

He said "That's disgusting ". No athlete should be put in a uniform that is designed to ride up/ dig in. And thos from a guy who hates sports

[mindfulNJ]

20. I'm sorry but

if I was one of the female athletes I wouldn't do one bit of grooming "down there" before I put that thing on. I'd just let it all hang out. Let's see how that would go over.

[LAS14]

21. I've never seen such a thing!!! Ridiculous!!!! nt

[GenThePerservering]

22. Nike must have invested in a Brazilian wax company

those women's uniforms are awful and will probably feel like butt floss 5 minutes into the event.

[canetoad]

23. This drives me insane

We have an Aussie company that makes the best, most comfortable and practical undies in the world.
Wearing these right now!

I get so angry when women are denied basic human rights like comfortable Reg Grundies.

[hunter]

24. Screw the Olympics. It's a toxic cesspool of corruption, nationalism, and abuse.

Athletes deserve better.