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Feminism: Sex & gender discussions

figure skating outfits

82 replies

pinkyredrose · 17/03/2013 17:38

Am currently watching the figure skating on BBC2, all amazing so far so good.

But noticed that all the mens outfits cover them from neck to toe and all the women show legs, cleavage, shoulders and arms. Anyone know why this should be?

I did get my feminist hat on a little, it obviously can't be because some outfits hinder movement otherwise the men would surely have skimpy outfits on too?

Very interested to hear opinions.

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thezebrawearspurple · 17/03/2013 20:05

Women are hot, men like admiring their bodies, women like looking as their figures are aspirational and we like comparing ourselves.

Mens bodies aren't interesting, women aren't interested in looking at their bodies and neither are the men, gays excepted perhaps but there's not enough of them, they'd lose most of the viewers if men started flashing their bits.

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kim147 · 17/03/2013 20:10

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bigkidsdidit · 17/03/2013 20:12

and gymnasts, adn athletes, and pole vaulters and ....

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DeadWomanWalking · 17/03/2013 20:29

thezebrawearspurple I like looking at men's bodies. Confused ( I could gaze at <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=img2-1.timeinc.net/people/i/2012/news/121029/ryan-gosling-300.jpg&imgrefurl=www.people.com/people/article/0,,20639474,00.html&h=400&w=300&sz=34&tbnid=qTkSgNSGK5dFqM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=68&zoom=1&usg=__IZvOMT09DAwj5sIFXMwUV1R8i6I=&docid=gcyu6n_dHU9MtM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YSdGUdiUE_DJ0AW3r4DgBw&ved=0CE0Q9QEwBg&dur=377" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">Ryan Gosling all day)!

OP I agree, I sometimes cringe at how skimpy female ice skater's outifts are. And wonder why we don't get a bit of male flesh to stare at.

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LRDtheFeministDragon · 17/03/2013 20:39

I'm with dead, sorry - I'm attracted to men. If you don't find men's bodies attractive you're obviously not, which is fair enough, but it's rubbish to ignore the fact that straight women make up a pretty huge audience for these shows.

It's plain old sexism IMO.

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specialsubject · 17/03/2013 21:06

look more closely and you will see that those bare cleavages are actually covered in American tan netting, so the outfits don't fall off.

like all 'sports' with an artistic element, the slap and the frills are part of the show.

still better than beach volleyball where there is no way that a bikini that vanishes up their bums is a practical outfit. Or an attractive one.

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PretzelTime · 17/03/2013 21:09

I fucking HATE being told that everyone think ladiez are hot and menz are ugly and we should want to look at women's bodies at all times but not men's.
NO. That's not my preference. Speak for yourself. It's just an excuse for objectification of women, and the imbalance of half-naked women and covered men. Patriarchal shit, that's what it is.

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kim147 · 17/03/2013 21:12

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jird · 17/03/2013 21:13

yeah men should ice skate in tight pants

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PretzelTime · 17/03/2013 21:23

Another reason why men are more covered is because of homophobia. Yes there is homophobia even in the figure skating word, I was pretty Confused when I first heard that, I thought it was a more tolerant sport. With all the sparkle and elegant movements and such.
btw

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pinkyredrose · 17/03/2013 21:23

The thing I'm thinking about though is even if the womens outfits contain flesh coloured/American tan inserts it's still meant to look like flesh.

Why is it that the women show alot more 'flesh' than men? There's no technical nor artistic reason to do so as far as I can see.

Yes I do realise that in gymnastics, volleyball etc the women competitors show alot more flesh than the male competitors. I can't think of one real reason why this is so.

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Lessthanaballpark · 17/03/2013 21:25

What Pretzel said.

Why does anything that starts as a compliment for women (so hot, so full of empathy, so delicate, so good at multi-tasking) end up actually being quite shitty for them?

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kim147 · 17/03/2013 21:29

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mabongwen · 17/03/2013 21:30

As a figure skater for over 16 years ill tell you why, because we like the dresses and as we get older we like to wear slightly more revealing ones. Women can skate in a all in one catsuit now, but they chose not to. Its personal choice what your dress looks like fitting with the theme of the music, figure skaters have shorter skirts than dance skaters to avoid the blade snatching in the material during certain moves.

By being arsey at the dress your actually commenting more on the woman who chose it than the sport. We get to choose our dresses.

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MrsMangoBiscuit · 17/03/2013 21:34

I always think the mens outfits are quite revealing too. I was going to say "at least for shape" but I know that the women's ones use tan fabric or netting, so neither show a lot of flesh.

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mabongwen · 17/03/2013 21:36

You don't want ice burn that's why the flesh net is used on arms sometimes and if you want a strapless effect you use the tan mesh.

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LRDtheFeministDragon · 17/03/2013 21:53

You speak for every single figure skater, gymnast, volleyball player, and for all the men who look at them and conclude that all other women enjoy being ogled because 'otherwise they wouldn't wear short skirts love', do you, mab?

Crikey, that's clever of you. Hmm

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pinkyredrose · 17/03/2013 21:53

mabongwen I see where you're coming from but I still haven't had a realistic answer as to why women show more flesh than men.

Can it really be homophobia? Is it that prevelant in the sport as to influence the outfits?

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LRDtheFeministDragon · 17/03/2013 21:54

Sorry, that was sarcastic of me but that did annoy me. Of course women get to choose to wear what they like. But the fact that women end up in more revealing clothes than men is telling, isn't it? And it does have an effect on how we as a society see differences between men and women.

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pinkyredrose · 17/03/2013 21:58

LRD I hear you! Yes it's very telling that women end up in more revealing clothes than the men. It's that difference that I'm challenging, I can't get my head around it.

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badguider · 17/03/2013 21:59

I think that the women in figure skating look good with their arms and legs on show and then a bit of fluttery fabric to catch the wind. It helps with the expression i think - that korean woman who won had beautiful expression in her arms and hands, so delicate..

The men look a bit daft to be honest but i'm not sure what would be better for them.... ?? leggings and a vest top perhaps? i don't know... it's tricky..

But in this case i wouldn't be arguing for the women covering up more.

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Trekkie · 17/03/2013 22:03

I haven't seen any figure skating recently but from what is in my brain certainly skimpily dressed men feature? Skin tight legging things and skin tight top or no top even.

FWIW I get much less worked up about this sort of thing if the primary objective isn't ogling - if it's dance or sport or athletics it offends me much less that just a random woman (never a man) in skimpy gear for no apparent reason eg women holding umberellas for motorcyclists, women in miniskirts walking out snooker players (when the fuck did that start anyway) and so on.

Also FWIW I am female and am more than happy to look at men's bodies. They are delicious. Anyone see the rugby yesterday? The idea that women's bodies are attractive and men's bodies are not - as a sort of fundamental rule - is just nonsense.

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kim147 · 17/03/2013 22:05

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mabongwen · 17/03/2013 22:05

I have no idea about vollyball or gymnastics, but the women have a lot of input in their dresses. My championship dresses cost hundreds of pounds some cost thousands. I wouldn't compete in a dress I didn't like it would effect my performance.

Men also wear some revealing costumes some appear topless but have the mesh on them. Attention is generally directed towards the female in a pair, she has more presentation than the man, and can up the presentation marks (note the costume has nothing to do with the score) however the more eye catching her costume you will look at her more.

Why don't men wear revealing costumes? Go on a night out, they don't dress flamboyantly or to draw attention to themselves. Female figure skaters do. Costume for the ladies is far more important than it is for the men, we like them sparkly and flashy. Men would happily skate in a pair of jeans and a tshirt if they could. For them they aren't fussed, and many pair skaters costumes are dictated by the female. What she wants and he has to fit in. He has no choice and asking as its not pink they don't really care much.

So if anything its the woman in charge of the costumes not the men, its hardly a feminist point, as the woman actually has all the power for a change.

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LRDtheFeministDragon · 17/03/2013 22:06

It's funny, isn't it, what we think of as looking daft and what we don't? My mate teaches History of Art and says you always get classes saying that those Renaissance sculptures of naked men look ridiculous because men in sexy poses just look silly. But I am guessing that to Renaissance men and women who fancied men, that wasn't so.

If someone wishes to bring in figure skating men wearing fluttery fabrics, I won't say no.

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