Comments on: The Olympic Body, The Male Gaze

By: Travis

Travis — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:31:27 +0000

Athletes needs to be in shape because their training accompanies supplements that eventually resulting to their “intimidating” physique.

By: mccn

mccn — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:36:08 +0000

@Lynn – for one thing, that may not be entirely accurate. See this page – http://viv.id.au/blog/?p=2066 – and scroll down to comment 2, which shows women’s and men’s Olympic swimsuits.

For another, though – even if they do want to show off their bodies – why is it that the women want to do this? It might be because we constantly receive messages that the best thing we can be is media-image-ideal-attractive – thin and muscley and exposing a lot of skin. These athletes – the best in the world – like women everywhere, hear that what really counts is if they can look how heterosexual white men want them to, and how much booty they’re willing to expose. I think that, even if they do want to show off their boobs and muscles and butts, we should be questioning why this is so – to such a marked degree more for women then men.

I would tell kids, if I had them, that the athletes may be proud of their bodies. But I’d also have a discussion of whether that’s a good thing to be proud of – and how much – and whether the important thing to be proud of is what your body can do, not what it looks like. I’d also talk to them about why the women wear tighter and fewer clothes, and why that bothers me, and what it says to me.

By: Lynn

Lynn — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 07:50:34 +0000

Why do the vollyball players wear skimpy outfits? Because they’ve worked damn hard on their bodies and they want to show them off. Did your daughter question why Michael Phelps lower his swim suit so low you could almost see his junk? The answer is probably the same. And that’s what I would have told my kids if they would have asked me those questions: They work hard to have such strong bodies and they show them off. Nothing wrong with that!!

By: Allyson

Allyson — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:22:24 +0000

I wonder what he will think when he is getting his a** handed to him by an elite female athlete.

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:32:31 +0000

The reason that the gymnasts have small breasts is that they haven’t reached puberty yet. (duh)

By: Alyssa

Alyssa — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:37:27 +0000

Trudy, that is so great to hear! I remember the girls on our high school field hockey team; they were tough! (The football players were a little intimidated by them.) And they were amazing, confident athletes.
Yeah, male athletes are covering up more, while the women are wearing less and less. It’s pretty disgusting.

By: Trudy

Trudy — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:53:50 +0000

In High School, my daughter wanted to be involved in sports in the worst way. So, the first two years, she played basketball and softball. As she is on the short-stocky side (5ft tall), basketball wasn’t a great fit and since this was her first time playing softball, her skill sets were not as developed as the other girls……..so she pretty much rode the bench………..that and the cliques in both sports made her miserable…..

Then, the heavens opened up and she started playing rugby. What a wonderful time she had……….besides being very physical (girls play the same physical games as boys)….what I noticed was that on a rugby team, there is a place for any sized person…..tall, thin, short, fat…….and that those charactoristics were vital to a specific position. It also seemed that the attitudes were a little more down to earth and she had a wonderful time, in fact, it made a big difference in her confidence and her life.

By: kristen

kristen — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:14:28 +0000

It sounds like Guy Trebay’s perception of beauty falls in line with that of the mass media. He’s comparing the gymnasts to gnomes and saying the female swimmer looks like a man. Yes, these athletes aren’t stick-figure thin and will not be walking down a runway any time soon. But these are real people who take excellent care of their bodies and haven’t conformed to the ideals that have been shoved down girls’ throats since we were young.

Both people do have points that the bodies of female athletes are different than those of the past. It’s not just the athletes though, women everywhere have bodies that are different than they were decades ago. Love us for who we are :)

By: littlem

littlem — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 05:17:23 +0000

Man Cindy I hate those “softening of reality” attempts. I hate even more that frequently, they’re not just cosmetic. I mean, the attempt to force all women into a 19-year-old, size 00, blonde, small-nosed, silent mode is far from cosmetic — even though the ultimate result might be outwardly described as such.

But you’re right about the correlation being powerful. In a binary system, if one side increases vitality, if the other side doesn’t have the imagination to work out alternative ways to be in the world, you can bet that they’re going to try their d*mndest to force the first side back down where they were.

By: Cindy

Cindy — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 02:12:31 +0000

To me, there is a powerful correlation to the fact that in certain events — like track and field — women’s times have been getting faster and men’s times haven’t.

Women getting faster, stronger and overall more vital usually results in cosmetic attempts to soften that reality. And to make men look stronger and more poswerful in comparison.