General Article Sexism and sport: why body-baring team uniforms are bad for girls and women

Topic Selected: Sport Book Volume: 411

Sexism and sport: why body-baring team uniforms are bad for girls and women

German gymnast Sarah Voss, who has protested against the sexualisation of female athletes, chose to wear a unitard rather than a revealing leotard at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. How Whee Young

Sarah Zipp, University of Stirling and Sasha Sutherland, The University of the West Indies, Barbados

Team outfits and fashion were not supposed to be a big talking point at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. But protests over skimpy uniforms by two women’s teams in the months before the games have brought bikinis and high-cut leotards into the spotlight. Now these high-profile campaigns are leaving Olympians, fans and aspiring young athletes wondering: why are women expected to bare their bodies while men cover up?

In April, the German women’s gymnastics team ditched the traditional, high-cut leg-baring leotards for ankle-length unitards, protesting the “sexualisation” of their bodies. This dissent was intended to highlight an...

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