Less asses: the time has come to end sexism in sports broadcasts – News – Social

The objectification of women athletes is a reality that professionals in disciplines such as volleyball, handball, gymnastics or tennis have to deal with on a daily basis, although it only becomes news when one of them decides to reveal themselves and protest against this habit of turning them into sexual objects. This is what happened last year when the players of the Norwegian beach handball team were sanctioned by the European Federation. The reason: to wear shorts instead of the regulation bikini in a competition. They took the fine, but their claim achieved the goal, since the body ended up approving a new regulation that allows women to also wear shorts similar to those used by men. Shortly before, some athletes from the German artistic gymnastics team had made headlines by choosing to wear leg-covering leotards at various competitions.

A few years ago, the Badminton World Federation came to approve a new regulation that stipulated that players on the international circuit had to wear a skirt or dress with the strange argument that these garments “would make the sport more attractive”. , the organization had to back down. Before, the International Basketball Federation had already proposed (fortunately, also without success) to narrow the uniforms of its players so that they fit more closely to the body. “They are great athletes, but also athletes very beautiful, and there are no reasons not to show it”, he came to defend his secretary general.

The problem lies in the clothing that athletes are forced to wear, but also in the media coverage of some competitions. The media not only give much less time to women’s sport, but also devote unjustifiable attention, especially in the case of television broadcasts, to the bodies of the athletes.

Consequently, women are ten times more likely than men to be objectified by the media. The beauty brand Lux, owned by Unilever, has launched a campaign denouncing the use of abusive angles and close-ups of the body of athletes on television. The initiative, developed in collaboration with the creative agency Wunderman Thompson Singapore, starts from a real example, a volleyball tournament held in South Africa, the Durban Open. The event was broadcast live on SABC, South African public television, reaching an estimated audience of 19.7 million viewers. The broadcast included no less than 17% rear shots and 20% breast shots. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case: 2,500 images objectifying women were registered at the Tokyo Games.

The players participating in the Durban Open wore QR codes on their uniforms which, when scanned, directed viewers to a film created by Lux in which some athletes ask networks to change the angle from which they are portrayed.