Against the sexualisation of women athletes

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Why a man sport commentator feels he has the right to judge and criticise a brilliant woman athlete on the basis of her appearance?

Read the full story here:

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/07/marion-bartoli-john-inverdale-bbc-not-a-looker/

This is an example of the widespread sexism permeating media culture. Would you imagine a comment of the same type being made towards a man athlete?
Is this kind of messages the media transmit to girls and women on a regular basis and this is from the BBC sport commentary, not a glamour or reality TV show!
After received thousand of complaints regarding the comment the BBC released a public apology…

Was the guy penalised or sucked for his behaviour? Certainly not!

…and I guess this is the reason this kind of comments continue to exist around women athletes…

 

One thought on “Against the sexualisation of women athletes

  1. It is unbelievable how much the media has a strong influence on our thinking. Marion Bartoli what an incredible woman! It is indeed the embodiment of the winning femininity. But femininity is often interpreted in terms of weakness and submission or int erms of being an ornament for men to look at, not even often , but, as a rule, always. Most “real” woman should be with long nails painted red, long curly locks , a small waist and much more. But this is so far from the truth: the strength of character , endurance , the ability to control their emotions, ability to set priorities and fight for what she’s believe is right: that’s a real woman! and these are the qualities which should be appreciated in a woman. Such a woman is actually much stronger than men, it’s the strenght of her spirit! But society is so constructed that it is easier to position women as weak or simply sexy ornaments. Trouble is the messages are so everywhere that for girls is easy to absorb them and reduce their value to mere pretty objects to be look at. I think that if a girl like Marion Bartoli reached such victories , it means that as time her father raised her right! Developed her morale and strenght instead of body-obsessing attitudes, so this is the right education and the right direction to go for all girls!

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