Tokyo Jo: the holding of sportsmen, an old injunction that sticks to their bodies
Women - Too long, too short, too guided, or too tight...The holding of women in sport will never have been talked about so much.And for good reason.At a time when questions of freedom of the body and appearance regularly agitate our society, more and more sports people mobilize against assignments to "femininity" and sexualization of their body.This was still the case during the Tokyo Olympic Games.
On July 25, German gymnasts wanted to show that each woman had "the right to choose what she wanted to wear".The sportswomen arrived at the last qualifying round by sporting a red and white combination, covering the legs and arms, and left their traditional leotard..
A position that echoes a previous one, just before the Olympics.A few days earlier, the Norwegian Beach-Handball team was indeed a fine of 1,500 euros for putting shorts rather than a bikini "adjusted and escaped" (as registered in the regulations) during amatch.In the process, many teams and personalities, starting with the French coach of Beach-Handball, underlined and openly criticized the rigidity of the federation rules in terms of the outfits of the sportswoman.
A broader movement
The common point between these two stories?In addition to the media coverage that followed these strong gestures, it is the desire to show the need to be comfortable in your outfit to practice your sport.
These demands of sports are actually part of a “broader context», that of the “feminist movement» of recent years, sometimes called “3rd feminist wave», comments Florys Castan-Vicente, teacher-researcher at Lyon University1 Claude Bernard, L-Vis laboratory.
PublicitéAnd to clarify: “Questions of freedom of the body and appearance are very present in different forms: recognition of the difficulties linked to the rules, challenge to the wearing of the bra, questioning of hair removal, claim of freedombreastfeeding in public places, the fluidity of the genre...»
The historian goes further by taking the example of the famous crop top at school, the object of many controversies in politics. “De plus en plus, des revendications se font jour pour affirmer que ce n’est pas aux filles de rater les cours pour rentrer se changer (leur éducation apparaîtrait alors moins importante que celle des garçons qu’elles “perturberaient») mais que le problème viendrait de la manière dont les garçons sont éduqués.»
Hyper feminized outfits from the 1920s
Today, some sportsmen are evoking a fed up of this hyperfeminity that surrounds their sports, especially through clothes.They only ask for one thing: put a stop at the decades of discrimination that has long affected female disciplines.Because the injunctions concerning the body and the holding of the sportsmen go back far.
Publicité“The question arises from the first champions, in the 1920s. Elles sont alors fréquemment accusées d’être laides pendant l’effort, peu féminines, ce qui est considéré comme contraire à leur rôle de femme» c’est-à-dire “plaire aux hommes, selon leurs détracteurs», analyse Florys Castan-Vicente.
Ainsi, à l’époque, la femme, assignée à la séduction, ne devait pas avoir une musculature trop développée ni pratiquer des sports dits “trop violents», au risque de perdre sa fonction maternelle et de fragiliser ses capacités respiratoires.In tennis for example, they had to wear the same clothes as those used to have tea in victorian fairs.
“Dans les sports d’origine aristocratique, comme le tennis, les injonctions vestimentaires sont encore plus fortes que dans d’autres disciplines», observe la sociologue Béatrice Barbusse, auteure du livre Du sexisme dans le sport auprès de FranceInfo.
Appearance rather than performance
Linger on the appearance of athlete women rather than their performance is therefore not new and is still perpetuated today.Even today, sportsmen are often mentioned in the media from the angle of their plastic, more than that of their results.
In 2008, a study underlined this sexist vision of female sport.Made from images filmed during the Beach-Volley games of the 2004 Olympic Games, it revealed that more than 37% of the plans were centered on the chest or the buttocks of the players. “Une telle analyse confirme que le sexe et la sexualité ont été utilisés non seulement pour promouvoir les athlètes, mais aussi pour vendre le sport aux téléspectateurs du monde entier», peut-on lire dans la conclusion.
Another size and persistent problem: that of the low rate of women in decision -making bodies.Not to mention the fact that financial issues weigh heavier than ethical issues.“Some elements move very little: the number of women in a decision -making position in the bodies, as well as in the economic and marketing fields.So, the question of outfits can arise in a meeting, but the one that then arises, it is financial, it is that of sponsors. Donc la décision sur les tenues des athlètes ne pèsera pas lourd», expliquait récemment l’enseignante-chercheuse Sandy Montañola au journal Ouest-France.
What has recently changed was nevertheless the speeches of the first concerned by these discrimination that have multiplied. “C’est une revendication fréquente de la part des sportives d’être considérées comme des athlètes réalisant des performances et non pour leur apparence physique», explique Florys Castan-Vicente, qui a consacré une thèse aux liens entre les débuts des activités physiques des femmes et la première vague féministe en France.
Other taboos, linked to women's bodies, have also been highlighted by the sportsmen themselves.They approach certain inconvenience or difficulties that can accompany their daily life as sports.“In 2016, the swimmer Fu Yuanhui breaks the taboo of the rules in sport.In 2018, Serena Williams created the event with her tight outfit designed to help her overcome physiological problems linked to his delivery. Cette année, Ona Carbonell demande à pouvoir allaiter », expose Florys Castan-Vicente.So many words and acts that we have to hope.
To see also on the HuffPost: Tokyo Olympic Games: the athlete Ona Carbonell forced to leave without her son that she is breastfeeding
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