Why can the guys strip down, but not the girls?
Roar Rookie
By Natalie Medhurst, 5 Jan 2009 Natalie Medhurst is a Roar Rookie
- Tagged:
- Michael Clarke, netball, sex in sport
This time of year is always my favourite. There are the Christmas and New Year festivities, the fantastic weather, and the love/hate relationship that comes along with the beginning of pre-season training. And of course the international cricket season kicks off here in Australia.
As much as I love to watch the cricket, what has caught my eye since the test series began has been the Men of Cricket calendar.
Whilst I have enjoyed looking at the pictures of the players as they have flashed across the television screen, what has interested me the most is the way in which the public as well as the media have had their opinion on the Australian Cricketers stripping down for this calendar, which is helping raise money for a fantastic cause.
Recently, several Adelaide Thunderbird netballers took part in a photo shoot for Alpha magazine. The opinions of media and the public in this case, as well as other cases involving female athletes, always appear to differ greatly compared to when any photos, which may result in a little less clothing, involve blokes.
Why is it that when these cricketers take their gear off people only have a laugh at the amount of ‘foliage” on Simon Katich’s chest as well as wonder why Michael Clarke hasn’t stripped down. And yet when female athletes do something similar people say that such photos are either controversial or that they are not projecting the right image?
Now, I understand that things need to be done tastefully, but I would like to think that as female athletes, who spend many hours training and looking after themselves to get their bodies in to the best physical shape possible for our chosen sports, that they are projecting a healthy body image to young girls and other women, unlike the majority of stick thin models and actresses who choose not to eat.
With all the talk saying that females should be proud of their bodies, surely those who spend most days of the week training can show theirs off even if it does attract a little bit of male attention.
I highly doubt that the Men of Cricket calendar, as well as the Men for All Seasons footy calendar, with the strategically placed bed sheets, is aimed at being sold to male supporters.
With sponsors injecting large amounts of money into the sports, and sporting organisations wanting to reach different demographics, it is no surprise that several AFL clubs have created relationships with netball teams in order to help promote their clubs and increase their female membership base.
Whilst the male sports are doing large amounts to increase their female supporters and interest in their game, some people almost appear to believe that female athletes should just play sport and keep quiet.
Now, I am all for equal opportunities, yet I believe that sometimes it just does not work, such as female tennis players earning the same amount as male tennis players …. they only do half as much work.
But surely in this case, female athletes have as much right as men to promote their sport in the same way, without all the extra judgement.
Enjoy sports? Enjoy a bargain? All Sports Online has your favourite sporting brands at up to 70% off. Online only, premium quality sporting goods and merchandise at discounted prices. Get a deal now.
Do you have what it takes to become a sports writer? Write for the roar
Other Sports articles
- Victoria Azarenka vs Maria Sharapova: Australian Open women’s final live scores, blog (89)
- The sporting fallacy of the Olympic ‘Games’ (46)
- Sonny Bill needs to start boxing full time (46)
- Djokovic vs Nadal was great, but do we need six-hour finals? (36)
- Sonny Bill looking sharp for his first real test (29)
- Sonny Bill wins title in first round (25)
- Nadal vs Djokovic: The match for the ages (20)
- London’s Olympic Games have a long way to come (10)
- New champ Williams looking to next fight (5)
- Aust and GB aim to convert 4ths to bronze
- Young pitcher signs big deal with Red Sox (7)
- World Cup Darts heartbreak in Hamburg (3)
- Mayweather and Pacquiao have shamed boxing (13)
- Will Tom Brady’s legacy be affected by one drop? (20)
- London’s Olympic Games have a long way to come (10)
- World Cup Darts heartbreak in Hamburg (3)
- Mayweather and Pacquiao have shamed boxing (13)
- Will Tom Brady’s legacy be affected by one drop? (20)
- Sonny Bill needs to start boxing full time (46)
- Lachlan Murdoch squashing FTA sport for Fox’s benefit (4)
- Sonny Bill Williams vs Clarence Tillman III: Live updates, blog [video] (182)
- Explore:
- Michael Clarke, netball, sex in sport
sledgeross said | January 5th 2009 @ 8:58am | Report comment
I agree Natalie, in fact, I would rather see the Thunderbirds than the dead cat nailed to Katichs chest anyday. Womens sport doesnt get the same commercial and media support, so people shouldnt be so judgemental about such things.
Mr Mac said | January 5th 2009 @ 9:23am | Report comment
Natalie
I think part of the answer is the same reason that the Roar does not list any females as regular columnists and most of the correspondants are male.
Is sport still really a “blokes” world?
Forgetmenot said | January 5th 2009 @ 9:28am | Report comment
I think it has to do with the fact that people see the calendars as one of the main revenue raising activities for netball, but with cricket it is more of a fun calendar that girls can purchase, and blokes can be embarassed at having around.
I myself have no qualms about it. For netball to be more successful it needs to market itself as more of a ‘glamour’ sport in order to interest the male fans. If a calendar is the way that this can happen so be it.
Mr Mac said | January 5th 2009 @ 9:44am | Report comment
Foegetmenot
I think that maybe you have exposed another issue.
I am not sure of the numbers but I think Netball is the sport with the most active participants. Its not about marketing & “to interest the male fans” but to get more “normal” media exposure.
Kazama said | January 5th 2009 @ 10:00am | Report comment
I doubt you’ll get too many people arguing against your case here, Natalie. I think though there is another side to this. IMO, these days it isn’t seen as acceptable for men to look at women the way it is for women to look at men. At an office I used to work in a lot of the female employees had calenders and posters of half-naked men displayed in their offices or pictures of men as their desktop backgrounds, but none of the men had any pictures of women (scantily-clad or otherwise) anywhere in their offices. I think this was out of fear of being called a pervert, though I never heard or saw the female employees being called this, even jokingly.
Having said that, I agree absolutely that women that pose for such calendars are seen in a different light by society as the men that do, and that is unfair and unequal. I know both a guy and a girl who have posed for calendars, and the reaction they got even from their families was very different.
sheek said | January 5th 2009 @ 11:28am | Report comment
Nat,
I’m with you, but excuse me for being politically incorrect – females are meant to be more attractive than males. Attraction leads to procreation (with a number of other factors in between!). Otherwise, we would become extinct!
Anyway, I’m all for promoting women’s sport. And I reckon they’re worth the same money as men in tennis & other comparable sports, because they put the same amount of time & effort in usually.
Okay, so women have a best of 3 sets compared to 5 for men. But when I watch women’s tennis, I’m looking at beauty & grace. I can get my power fix from watching the guys.
A women’s sports calender doesn’t have to have them half-naked, plenty of other mags do that. But done tastefully, I’m all for it. BTW, great to have female involvement on the Roar.
sheek said | January 5th 2009 @ 11:30am | Report comment
BTW, forgot to mention, several years ago when my daughter was about 12, took her & several mates to see the Diamonds take on NZ at the Entertainment. The girls were agape at the speed & power of the play from both teams. I was mightily impressed also, & came away greatly respectful for the skills of women’s netball.
Spiro Zavos said | January 5th 2009 @ 11:51am | Report comment
I agree with Natalie, and applaud an interesting article. A major problem against the implementation of what she wants is the opposition from feminists and PC men. The thought seems to be that anything that shows off a woman’s body is somehow unnecessary and unjustified exploitation.
Until we can get these killjoys (most of whom hate sports anyway, sports is equated with religion as an ‘opiate of the people’) we won’t get the same sort of body equality (within normal sensibilities as Natalie suggests) that sports women deserve.
As for the lack of female sports reporters and the lack of coverage of women’s sports, the problem again is more with women who won’t cover women’s sports, like websites like The Roar.
I wrote a column in the SMH on the first rugby Test match between Australia and NZ at North Sydney Oval a number of years ago. It was not regarded as a news or sports story by the rest of the paper or the other newspapers, even by their female journalists.
Mark Ella watched the match and remarked that the NZ women played the most technically correct rugby he had seen.
Now we have a Women’s Rugby World Cup and the Women’s IRB World Sevens. Where are the women sports journalists pumping out copy on these events?
Mr Mac said | January 5th 2009 @ 12:17pm | Report comment
Spiro
It would be nice to have women covering women’s sport but why just women?
Would the SMH give the same column ins to womens cricket as mens? Probably not.
Hence no journos (women or men) writing about it
onside said | January 5th 2009 @ 2:51pm | Report comment
Part of the problem is not so much motivated by political correctness,or even double standards per se, but
rather the ability of the public to instantly recognise a normal photograph of any athelete regardless of gender.
Mens sport dominate the ratings.Andrew Symonds is instantly recognisable even if people could not remember
his name.”he’s that Test cricket bloke that likes fishing”. People would struggle to identify a normal photograph
of the Australian captain of ,the womens Olympic Hockey team, womens Soccer team,(that play in world cups)
or womens cricket team (our national sport) .There is an rule of advertising that goes something like this;the
ad only starts to work when the viewer stops asking,’who is that talking to me ‘ and then after seeing the ad
few times feëls comfortable with the advertisement and then starts to listen to the message.It is possible that
comparitively unknown elite female athletles attract some critisism in calendar presentations more for the fact
they are unknown ,and therefore perceived to be stripping for a gimmick,than would any well recognised
counterpart ,male or female,that the general public felt they new. In other words as in my advertising analogy,
the public look at somebody unknown to them and ask,”who is this talking to me with no clothes on” whereas
they are more are likely to feel comfortable with athletes they instantly recognise and “listen to the message”
Ofcourse there are only so many years when calender promotions are a realistic promotional opportunity ,
male or female.I am long past that age where the best form of contraception for middle aged people is nudity.
lesport said | January 3rd 2010 @ 11:32am | Report comment
Interesting comment onside and nicely put. The question of course, then, is how do these women become recognisable? Andrew Symonds is recognisable, even to non-cricket lovers, because of regular media coverage. But women’s sport rarely gets media coverage, except the swimmers. The usual argument is that ‘the media only gives the public what it wants’, but this might be a bit of a chicken-and-egg argument….I would argue that the media can very heavily influence what the public wants. Compare rugby league 30 years ago versus now. And why did so many Australians get up at 5.30am in the morning in 1983 to watch an Aussie boat win the America’s Cup? Nobody could have given a rats about sailing until the media started hyping the 7-race event, as the Aussies got closer to a win we had full-on articles with photos, details etc until everyone was an expert on winged keels, Ben Lexcon etc. So it became as talked about as any footy grand final. I reckon that it would be worth an experiment to see if the media could do that to a few women’s sports, eg netball – regular newspaper articles and tv soundbites, photos and articles as big as the weekly tripe we get about Michael Clarke etc etc, a bit of drumming up about big events just like the regular hype about footy matches.
And who knows? In the process, maybe a few attitudes about women’s bodies/sport may change in the process if we make women’s sport more ‘normal’ and more recognised. Doesn’t mean less men’s sport – just more of everything!